How the media was, during the vietnam war
Vietnam is unlike any war ever fought, unlike other war that we fought none before that brought so much controversy as to how it was covered by the media, it forever changed the way we the public looked at war. As technology evolved so did the ability to cover news. In the years prior to Vietnam there was only radio and television was not yet in every household, not to mention there wasn't no color televisions and very few color pictures. The media not only improved with their technology but they also were bigger than they had ever been. It was not so much the size of the war that really made an impact as to how we saw war afterward, in other past wars there were many more casualties, it was the coverage of it.
In past wars such as Korea and World War II there was coverage but it was more restricted and biased. The media would portray the Americans as heroes and men were proud and to join the service. The movies of the past portrayed that heroism, an example of that was John Wayne who starred in many of the war movies made at that time. By seeing so many movies that portrayed Americans winning all the time and not showing the brute reality of real war it was easy to convince young men that war was not that violent and that every battle we went into we would win. Wife's and girlfriends were supported it to because at the time of war it brought back the economy out a depression. So while most people living the United States had no clue what was really going on in wars prior to Vietnam. Very few films ever portrayed the death of American soldiers or if they did they would not show the faces of those who did die. The media was restricted to showing the real images for fear of what the Americans people living in the states would think. The means of showing those images was not quite there, most people would listen to the radio or those moments shown on television that portrayed the war were recorded and already edited.
