MEDIA COVERAGE
The First Television War
In the 1950s, only 9% of American homes had televisions. By 1961, this number had risen to 93%. By 1964, 58% of those surveyed said that they got most of their news from television.
Early Years
1960 - 1964
During the early years of the war, there was very little press coverage. Any attention from the media was focused on the Cold War and the rise of communism in Vietnam.
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In 1960, civilian deaths in a coup against President Diem attracted the attention of the New York Times, who soon sent their first reporter. They were followed by many other journalists, and this changed the tide of media coverage on the war.
American press coverage of the Vietnam War increased during this time period, and the divide between the official U.S. government position and the media grew.
In 1964, the U.S. Mission and Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) appointed an "information czar" to advise in information policy and attempt to keep correspondents in Vietnam from espousing anything other than a positive viewpoint.
Escalation
Large scale news coverage of the Vietnam War began after the U.S. sent 200,000 troops in 1965. By August of 1965, there were 419 press corps in Vietnam, as opposed to only 40 during the previous year.
Tet Offensive
January 1968
The Tet Offensive is regarded as the turning point in the Vietnam War, as well as a political and psychological victory for communist forces in North Vietnam, although they were militarily defeated. The attack disproved the myth put forth by the U.S. government that the North Vietnamese were incapable of launching a large military effort. The American public began to doubt that the end of the war was near, as they had been told by leaders. Support of the war among Americans began to wane.
In 1968 there were about 600 journalists in Vietnam. The Tet Offensive was represented in the media as a victory for the communists. After this attack, the majority of media coverage of the Vietnam War became negative. Footage of civilian and military casualties was shown more often, and the number of U.S. victory stories being told decreased.
Losing Walter Cronkite
February 1968
Walter Cronkite, a CBS news anchor known as "the most trusted man in America," closed out a special broadcast on the Vietnam War with a statement expressing that he thought the war was unwinnable, and that the U.S. should get out of Vietnam. It is said that President Lyndon B. Johnson responded to this by saying, "if I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America." This broadcast was reflective of the American public's decreasing support for the war.
My Lai Massacre
March 1968,
uncovered November 1969
The My Lai Massacre, the horrific mass murder of 500 women, children, and elderly people in My Lai, South Vietnam, was covered up until over a year after it occurred. Inflammatory media coverage both reflected and caused public shock and mistrust of the U.S. government that had been building since the Tet Offensive. American soldiers were called murderers and baby-killers.
Withdrawal from Vietnam
1969 - 1973
President Nixon began withdrawing troops from Vietnam in 1969. Consequently, the media began to lose focus on Vietnam in the early 1970s. The number of American reporters in Vietnam decreased to under 200 in late 1971, and down to only 59 by late 1973. The percentage of television news stories about combat decreased to only 13% between 1970 and 1973.