Question

Write a paragraph explaining at least two ways in which the media was influenced by the public and the public was influenced by the media during the Vietnam War.

Answer 1

The horrors of war entered the living rooms of Americans for the first time during the Vietnam War. For almost a decade in between school, work, and dinners, the American public could watch villages being destroyed, Vietnamese children burning to death, and American body bags being sent home. Though initial coverage generally supported U.S involvement in the war, television news dramatically changed its frame of the war after the Tet Offensive. Images of the U.S led massacre at My Lai dominated the television, yet the daily atrocities committed by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong rarely made the evening news. Moreover, the anti-war movement at home gained increasing media attention while the U.S soldier was forgotten in Vietnam. Coverage of the war and its resulting impact on public opinion has been debated for decades by many intelligent media scholars and journalists, yet they are not the most qualified individuals to do so: the veterans are. Journalists based in Saigon daily reported facts about battles, casualties, and the morale of the troops, yet only a soldier could grasp the true reality of war. Veterans understand what really occurred in the jungles of Vietnam, and only they can compare the truth to what was portrayed on television. Furthermore, their homecoming stories most accurately reveal how the American public has cruelly mistreated the Vietnam veteran. Therefore, after having researched the power of television and its coverage of the war, I interviewed four Vietnam veterans in order to understand how they interpreted the coverage and how they feel it contributed to the image of the Vietnam Veteran.

Answer 2

During the Vietnam War, the media was influenced by the public while the public was also influenced by the media. This happened for various reasons, but an important one is that the war was one of the first ones to be properly televised and people were receiving constant updates of the situation in Asia.

People were generally against the war, and it very soon became an extremely unpopular idea. The media realized this, and much of its broadcasting focused on tragic stories and horrifying images.

Naturally, this created a cycle, because the images and reports produced by the media increased the dislike that people had for the war. Therefore, the media in turn influenced the people, decreasing support for the war.