Media and the Military :: Media Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Media and the Military During the Vietnam War the media was left unchecked and brought the state of warfare condemnation images of death and carnage into Americas living room. Theseimages served as esprit de corps killers and eventually turned much of the publicagainst its own government. During the Gulf War on the other hand, themilitary filtered what reached the publics eye and morale was kept to alltime highs. In wartime the government should be able to manipulate publicopinion by controlling the media. War is not pretty, and it is not for the weak at heart. Images ofwar should not be broadcast into living rooms live. During the Vietnamconflict this is what happened. Pictures and real time video of our troopsbeing slaughtered during battles of the Tet offensive and the siege of KheSahn were sent internal for all of America to see (Klein 50-51). Again, war isnot pretty and the way you keep morale up is you dont let the public knowhow noisome war really is. Television is one of t he most powerful tools of media and by themid 1960s television had become the most important source for news formost of the American public, and beyond that, perhaps, the most powerfulsingle influence on the public. (Hallin 106) So people trusted whatreporters like Walter Cronkite were telling them. They believed it whenNBC journalists told them things like, the Marines are so bogged down in modify that nobody will predict when the battle would endmore than 500marines have been wounded and over 100 dead since the in Hue began. (Klein51) Dont get the wrong idea though, these things really happened but thepublic didnt need to know it. The constitution and 1st amendment still mean something butnational surety should come first. People rioting all over the unpolishedin anti war protests should be an issue of national security. Without thesupport of your homefront no country can win a war, especially a foreignwar (Franklin 250). It is impossible to get support at home when NBC isshowi ng them pictures of their boys getting massacred each night on thenightly news. On the other hand, during the Gulf War in Iraq the horrors of warstill existed, maybe not to the same extent, but they were on that pointnonetheless. These horrors however where kept out of our living rooms bysystematic filtering by the US army. Now the army didnt just seize tapesand erase bad parts. Very few reporters and cameras were allowed to thefront lines.