Censorship of Media Reporting of U.S. Wars
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The Vietnam conflict and the Persian Gulf War were landmarks in the evolution of media coverage of international conflicts. In Vietnam, where war was never officially declared, the press enjoyed greater freedom from military censorship than it had in previous engagements, such as the Korean War and World War II. In addition, the growth of television reporting in Vietnam made this the first war whose sights and sounds were quickly available in American living rooms. Though it may be an overstatement to credit the media with turning public opinion against American involvement in Vietnam, it is true that, by 1968, the Johnson administration's framing of the situation in southeast Asia was superseded by the media's influential conviction that the conflict was permanently stalemated. By the time of the Persian Gulf War, 24-hour-a-day, real-time coverage had become a reality, yet all reporting was also subject to intensive military censorship. Television played a vital role in shaping Americans' overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the Gulf War. But, despite vastly improved means of covering the war, the various media were left with little to report other than exactly what the Allied leaders wanted people to see and hear. Careful management of media access to the war meant that political and military leaders were able to frame the story in their own terms and, in effect, use the new technology for their own ends. In "framing" a newsworthy story, political and military
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epresented a shift in popular opinion but did not cause it." Public support had already been declining for two years, as the war dragged expensively on, and American casualties mounted. Yet, the change in the public's perception of the war, after exposure to the televised portions of the Tet offensive, was primarily a rise in the number of Americans who were willing to admit that America's involvement was a mistake. Over half these people (55%) still felt the U.S, should take a tougher military approach in order to win the war and leave, and only 24 percent favored merely winding down the war and getting out.
Far more importantly, support for the war effort had never been particularly strong among the nation's political elites. President Johnson's notion of a "limited war" had only "fragile" support which began to fragment when active troops were sent to Vietnam in 1965. After the surprise of the Tet offensive, support for the war began to collapse among "media commentators, business executives, educators, clergymen, and other 'elites' whose voices resonated more forcefully in Washington than did the voice of Middle America." . Johnson, realizing that he stood little chance of reelection, declined to run for another ter
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Gulf War, Persian Gulf, Information Agency, Kurds Saddam's, Lewis Jhally, Events Gulf, Richard Nixon, Walter Cronkite, South Vietnamese, Hitler Schwartzkopf, gulf war, tet offensive, persian gulf, political military, persian gulf war, real-time coverage, support war, manipulation information, vietnam war, coverage war, withdrawal american, george gerbner herbert, mowlana george gerbner, hamid mowlana george, ed hamid mowlana,
Approximate Word count = 2801
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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