The Effect of Media Coverage on Public Opinion

The rise of television popularity and technological advancements of film make Vietnam the first televised war.  Writer Michael Arien coined the phrase, “The living room war”, to describe the infiltration of visual media into American homes. The effects of visual media provided a new, more personal response by the American public to news events.  Lack of media censorship resulted in highly graphic images of brutality, gore, and death entering American homes. Angered with the negative portrayal of American involvement in Vietnam, U.S. government officials attempted to pass a formal law on censorship for media coverage of the war. To their disappointment, the Vietnam War was never officially a declared war and therefore no official regulation on censorship could be established (Evans).

Media coverage of the war changed dramatically after a series of surprise attacks on Southern Vietnam and American troops by the communist Viet Cong in 1968. The surprise attacks on Southern Vietnam are known as the Tet Offensive and mark a monuments turning point for the American public support of the war. The following research aims to address the subsequent questions: how did media coverage of the Tet Offensive affect public opinion toward U.S involvement in the Vietnam War? What factors contributing to media coverage during the 1960’s and 70’s made it unique and possibly more powerful than any media reporting prior to this time?

News headlines run a photograph depicting military policemen ducking for cover from a car fighting at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. A Viet Cong suicide squad occupied parts of the embassy for six hours on January 30^th, 1968 during the Tet Offensive, before being removed by a counter attack. 

BACKGROUND: A Brief Timeline of the Vietnam War:

The Vietnam War was fought over communism. Support for and against communism divided the country into two opposing halves. The North, occupied the city of Hanoi and was known as the Viet Cong, and the South, later supported by the United States was pro-democracy and occupied Saigon. The 21 year war resulted in an unfathomable number of casualties for both Americans and the Vietnamese. It is estimated by the end of the war 58,000 American soldiers were dead and some 1-3 million Vietnamese were killed (Streitmatter). The majority of the war was fought using guerrilla warfare in the jungles of Vietnam, a territory that proved extremely disadvantageous to American soldiers whom were unfamiliar with the terrain (Evans).  Below is a brief outline covering a few of the events that will be discussed in more detail further forward.

1950’s: President Truman initiated U.S involvement in Vietnam

1954: Vietnam is divided in half

1963: Network evening news expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes

1964: Vietnam entered the scene for Americans with the Gulf of Tonkin: North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on U.S destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. President Johnson ordered a strike on Northern Vietnamese and the protection of U.S. forces in Southeast Asia.

1965: President Johnson sent first ground troops to Vietnam (175,000 by end of year). Morley Safer from CBS documents the burning of Cam Ne.

1967: 500,000 total troops in Vietnam (Sent by Johnson, determined to finish the war).

1968: Tet Offensive: television’s portrayal of the war dramatically changed, as did public support of the war. Anchorman Walter Cronkite states his personal stance on the war on CBS Evening News.

1969: 1/3 of all TV is in color, blood can be viewed.

1970: Over 25.3 million color TV sets in American homes. Most effective media circulation of news.

Technological Advancements Change Journalism:

The advancement of technology is largely responsible for the transformation of American news coverage during the 1960’s and 70’s. With the development of the 16 mm camera, lighter filming equipment, and air travel, war correspondents working for the Associate Press were able to record footage and turn news events over for broadcasting within 48 hours. As television viewing in American homes grew in number during the 1960’s, it replaced radio as the most affective media for news circulation. The birth of television gave rise to three television networks ABC, NBC, and CBS (Evans).

CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite 

Extensive documentation of the Vietnam War was possible due to the lack of military censorship. Unlike WWII, there were few restrictions for journalist’s travel abroad. Reports were only required to obtain a passport, immunizations, and a letter from a broadcasting or publishing group before travelling overseas to document the war (Evans). Due to the lack of censorship, American reporters were everywhere during the war. The military attempted to combat the press through usage of prepared reports when interviewed or filmed. Journalists were quick to question the validity of the prepared military statements, and soon began to refer to the reports as, “the five o-clock follies” (Time Magazine).

These negative connotations portrayed by the media towards U.S. military involvement in Vietnam angered the military. Heated conflict over censorship that arose between the press and the U.S. military throughout the war has prevented any further wars from occurring without censorship and has left a lasting tension between the press and U.S. government to this day (Streitmatter).

Infiltration of the Vietnam War into American Homes: “The living-room war”

Color television infiltrated the homes of Americans in 1969. With color television now available, the violence of the war was a red bloody horror.  The press fully exposed the blood shed brutality witnessed by soldiers and journalists in Vietnam. The three primary news programs aired scenes of American troops torching Northern Vietnamese villages, dead charred Vietnamese bodies, and fleeing women and children. Prior to the Tet Offensive American soldiers were typically shown mortal and bleeding or mutilated in an effort to escape chaos or tend to wounded friends.

Muckraking CBS journalist Morley Safer exposes the burning of Cam Ne in August of 1965 (PBS). He reports the Zippo lighter story, a story of a young Marine cavalierly torching civilian homes with his Zippo lighter. The coverage of this story gives rise to American opposition towards the war. Peace movements begin in the states against the military and white house.

The Tet Offensive greatly shifted the media’s portrayal of the Vietnam War to the public. The Tet Offensive, a series of surprise attacks on Southern Vietnam by the Viet Cong, was interpreted by the press as a defeat to the Americans. Evening news continued to express further criticism towards American involvement, which drastically shifted public opinion against the war. One story largely responsible for the shift in opinion was that of a Saigon execution taken a few days after the Tet Offensive. Eddie Adams’ footage of the bloody assassination was aired on the evening news.

"Saigon Execution" 1968.

Americans at home were shocked by the violence that was aired on evening news, particularly considering that the scene was aired at a time many children may have been watching (Evans). Such brutality and exposure of to violence performed by U.S. American troops heightened public suspicion of the U.S. troop’s intentions in Vietnam. Vietnam War supporter, Walter Cronkrite was one of those viewers whose opinion changed after the Tet Offensive.

Walter Cronkite's Report from Veitnam in 1968

After Cronkite's speach on CBS America’s love and trust for their nightly news reporter Walter Conkrite left the nation strongly in favor of ending the war. President Johnson, whom had fully supported the war, reluctantly stated, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the war.” Less than a month later, Johnson announced that he would no longer be running for reelection (Streitmatter). The effect Conkrite’s statement had on the American people sheds light on the power of the press. The invention and success of television during the Vietnam War acted to enhance the circulation of news to the American people. With broadcast television transmitting news into American homes, the press was able to act as a watchdog on the government and provide truth to the masses.  

 It is debated to this day whether media coverage during the Vietnam War went too far. Beginning in the days of Pulitzer and Hearst, it was discovered that crime, trials, and violence all generate excitement in the eyes of American people, and more importantly, greatly increase circulation. Alternatively, the goal of most saints in journalism is to portray truth to the masses by providing a voice for those that have none. The freedom of the press often walks a fine line between boosting circulation to provide truth and boosting circulation to increase business.

Does media coverage during the Vietnam War provide an example of this struggle? Journalists would argue against this accusation, stating that it is important for American citizens to see the full extent of the war, bloody truth and all. The military, on the other hand, argues that the press coverage during the Vietnam War acted as negative propaganda towards the war. Due to the lack of censorship during the Vietnam War, the media and public opinion were largely responsible for the war’s outcome. As a result, high tension between military and the press exists to this day.  

Works Cited

Adams, Eddie. Saigon Execution. 1968. Photograph. N.p.

"Artifact: Morley Safer’s Middle Name Is Danger." News and Politics. New York Times, 15       June 2008. Web. 22 July 1965

Evans, Harold. ""Reporting Vietnam"" Newseum: War Stories Technology. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.

James, Tobin. "Walter Cronkite: On Censorship." Reporting America at War: An Oral History. PBS, 2003. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/weta/reportingamericaatwar/reporters/cronkite/>.

Streitmatter, Rodger. "Vietnam War." Mightier than the Sword: How the News Media Have Shaped American History. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997. N. pag. Print.

"The Press: Farewell to the Follies." Time. Time Inc., 12 Feb. 1973. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. <http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903831,00.html>.

"Vietnam Suicide Mission Wiped Out at U.S Embassy." The Globe and Mail [Toronto] 31 Jan. 1968: n. pag. Print.

"Walter Cronkite Broadcast." Walter Cronkite Broadcast. Reporting Vietnam, Part 1 American Journalism, 1998. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.

<https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/cronkite_1968.html>.