Over the decades the way we receive our news and information has changed. There was a time when all of the information we got was from a paper or the radio. Then televisions were in every home and things got really interesting. No event changed Journalism and the way we looked at the world more so then the Vietnam war, for it was the first war to be broadcast live to everyone.
“ Reporters and photographers in the Vietnam War changed the style of reporting the war for future journalists. They went from reporting directly off of press releases and forming happy, enthusiastic stories to investigative reporting and writing cold, hard truthful stories. The stories coming from Vietnam and the photos coming from the front line did more than sway public opinion, they helped end the war.” Yahoo.com
The Vietnam war was the first of its kind. Journalists were never allowed on the forefront of battlegrounds the way they were during this war. Now people were watching first hand accounts of the situations from their couches. Many were not liking what they were seeing. Television was changing the perspective of what people thought about war. Soldiers were not being seen as heroes. Watching a crying child run from a burning village was not sitting well with the American public and they decided to let it be known.
People took to the streets in protests. They made signs and boycotted local and federal governments. Americans wanted to see this war end. They felt our soldiers were not fighting a good fight. The images on their televisions were scary and disturbing. These news specials were unlike anything they had seen before.
“Vietnam may have been a watershed, when coverage reached a turning point of graphic and cynical intensity, when correspondents concentrated on more than the pathological madness and savagery that accompany the call to arms. “ The American Journalism Review
For a long time the way news got to people was thru the radio and the newspaper. There were no live people. There was only single images in black and white or singular voice coming over the radio waves explaining how much ground was lost or gained. People were not prepared for what the television was going to bring when it brought the news. The information too life like, too intense.
“How do you learn to cover war? In some ways, you never do. But you learn by doing, by asking many questions, and by coming to grips with fear. Knowing that fear is real often provides enough protective covering when the unexpected takes place, which it always does.” In The Digital Journalist Ron Stienmen explains how even for the news reporters going into Vietnam this was something not even they were prepared to report. It not only changed the way viewers looked at war but also the journalists themselves.
Television changed everything for America. They would never look at war the same way. The military would never be able to hide the brutalities of war the same way. People would never unsee the images of battle. In many ways it seems the introduction of investigative television journalism were not good. However I see this as a gateway for people to become more involved with the things going on in their world and in the worlds around them. People were more informed then they ever were before and their was no going back.