Re-examining the role of the U.S. media in the Vietnam War

Abstract

The paper discusses the influence of the news media on war outcomes using the example of U.S. media reports during the Vietnam War. Towards the end of the 1960s, as the war began to see no end with escalating death toll of U.S. troops and enormous war expenses, public and the media’s support for the Vietnam War wobbled, which gradually caused heavy pressure for the U.S. government. The anti-war movement, which grew fiercely due partly to the negative portrayal of war by the media, did affect Washington’s decisions to certain extent. Nevertheless, it was not the media that was responsible for America’s stalemate in Vietnam, but stagnant war progress, instead, reported itself to American people, disappointed them, and urged them to demand immediate military disengagement. After carefully analyzing the media’s influence on American people’s perception of the war, the paper concludes that America’s failure in Vietnam was, after all, more of a consequence of unsound decisions by the leaders in Washington rather than a direct outcome of unamicable media coverage and anti-war campaigns.