Witness to War -- Episode Five

"We became caught between the traditional definitions of loyalty, patriotism, salute the flag and a higher definition, it seemed to me, of democracy, the need to tell the truth."

- David Halberstam

EPISODE FIVE:

The Changing of the Guard

The Cold War and Vietnam

            After a brief period of no press censorship, the situation became much the same in Korea as it had been in World War II. 

            When censorship was imposed, reporters grumbled about the restrictions and the military countered with complaints about purported bias.  But overall there was a sense of trust and unity of purpose. 

            It all came unraveled in Vietnam in the 1960's.

            Vietnam would be the most thoroughly covered War in history.  The reporting came at a time of national soul searching about the American way of life.  By the time the United States signed a peace agreement in 1973, the spirit of the nation had changed.  The confident, buoyant innocence that had marked the country since the end of World War II was gone and had been replaced by cynicism and distrust. 

            In 1962, when Peter Arnett first got to Vietnam there were only seven or eight reporters in the country.  The small band of correspondents began to see failure written all over the face of the war even before it escalated.

            The new breed of reporters felt they couldn't trust the official reports handed out in Saigon and began to rely almost exclusively on their own eyes and the experiences of the troops in the field. 

            An adversarial relationship quickly developed between the military, which had the support of the older generation of correspondents, and the young turks of the press.

                       

            As the war grew, so did the corps from television and newspapers -- there were soon 400 reporters in Vietnam -- and with them came increased criticism, to the consternation of Washington and the White House. 

            Lyndon Johnson believed they had been taken in by communist propaganda.  Television was particularly upsetting.  Vietnam was the first war seen on television.  Network news producers in New York demanded action, so the correspondents sent back graphic films of battles and wounded soldiers.

            Young people took to the streets in protest, clashing with police.  Four students were killed by National Guard troops during an anti-war protest at Kent State University in Ohio. 

            To counteract a tide of negative stories from Vietnam, the administration applied pressure on the Washington Press Corps.   To a large extent, the Capital Hill press bought the administration's line on Vietnam. 

            While the field reporters weren't supported by their counterparts in Washington their critical stories and attitudes were noticed by the Pentagon.  Reporters were seen as the enemy.

            Finally, in April, 1975, the last American helicopter pulled away from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and the war ended.

            But the sting and divisions left by Vietnam remained for a generation.

            To many in the military, the media lost Vietnam. 

            They believed that most correspondents were biased and inaccurate and stressed defeats to erode public support. 

            Scarred by Vietnam, the Pentagon vowed that this would never happen again.  They began to take steps to limit the correspondents' freedom to write and film at will.