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Media and the Vietnam and Iraq Wars

Despite the differences in American culture from the time of the Vietnam war to the Iraq war , similarities exist in the way Americans perceived both wars . Vietnam and Iraq both raised questions about the appropriateness of U .S . involvement in foreign affairs and , in some cases , resulted in negative perceptions of the U .S . military . As the link between those fighting the war and those at home watching and reading about the events of the war

, the media played an important role in both cases

Relationship between the media and the military

During the beginning of Vietnam there was no official policy of censorship . Censorship would have been difficult to manage because as a guest of South Vietnam , the U .S . would have had to allow the South Vietnamese to control the censorship . Additionally , according to Daniel Hallin , the U .S . administration wanted to deny that there was a war happening there , and to impose censorship is one of the signs that a country is really going to war . 1

By 1963 , reporters in Vietnam had begun receiving increasingly contradictory information about the war . Military officials in Saigon maintained that the war was going well , while personnel in the field told a different story . One glaring example was the defeat of the South Vietnamese at Ap Bac . Eight days after the incident , military officials declared the operation a success . Reporter Mal Browne recalls that when the astonished press challenged this statement , they were told by the Commander in Chief of U .S . forces to get on the team '1 This was the beginning of a more strained relationship between the media and the military

It was in 1963 also that news programs were extended to a half hour and began showing footage of the war . This was the first time American viewers were able to experience the war right in their living rooms . In 1965 , Morley Safer brought the Cam Ne report to viewers . The Cam Ne incident marked the first time the average American was exposed to images of their soldiers engaged in activities that were less than noble - burning huts in a small village as women and children ran away screaming . Though not officially tied to the report , shortly after it aired the government issued new rules of engagement designed to protect South Vietnamese civilians

By the time the U .S . engaged in war with Iraq , the world had become a different place . The military had learned the value of public perception and the need to manage it . Restrictions were placed on the press limiting where they were allowed to go and what they were allowed to report . Unfortunately for the administration , what they couldn 't manage was the amount of amateur footage that made its way into the public eye .Digital cameras and the internet made it possible for anyone to post photos and other footage in front of a broad audience . Some...