NEWSPAPER

NEWSPAPER

During the war, journalist reports changed their point of view. Originally, they praised the United States and its decisions; but with Vietnam they showed that the war was violent and unjust. Nothing was held back from the American people and the newspapers rebelled against the government. They showed sides of the war that newspapers never did before as they revealed what was usually hidden about war. The government was angered and put pressure on news correspondents. A debate was made with the basis being whether or not what the newspapers said were true or if the information was misleading. The public was reading into every newspaper produced throughout the war because they never had the chance to do this before. Believing that the public would automatically accept that what was written was true, authors of the papers felt free to write whatever they pleased. In Vietnam, US reporters were able to obtain any information that they cared to have about the war. The Joint United States Public Affairs Office in Vietnam provided the reporters the opportunity to gain information from their government. Back at home in the United States, the government had very little control in censoring what newspaper articles said. there was no law forbidding the reporters to write what was actually happening in Vietnam. The Office of War Information in the US tried to maintain control over the papers and what pictures they published, yet this act of censorship was not followed. Cruel pictures would be published in papers creating mixed reactions from the public. With the truth of the war being revealed to the public, opposition against the war began to increase. Seeing dead soldiers and what was really happening in the war helped the public see the truth and the affect the war was having over them as a country.