Media and the Military :: Media Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Media and the Military During the Vietnam warfare the media was left unchecked and brought the war quantify images of remnant and carnage into Americas living room. Theseimages served as morale killers and eventually turned untold of the publicagainst its own g all overning body. During the Gulf War on the other hand, the army filtered what reached the publics eye and morale was kept to alltime highs. In wartime the government should be able to manipulate publicopinion by arbitrary 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 house for all of America to see (Klein 50-51). Again, war isnot pretty and the style you keep morale up is you dont let the public knowhow atrocious war really is. Television is one of the most powerful tools of media and by themid 1960s television had become the most important source for news formost of the Ameri bay window public, and beyond that, perhaps, the most powerfulsingle enamour 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 inHue that nobody will shout out when the battle would endmore than 500marines have been wounded and over 100 dead since the in Hue began. (Klein51) Dont get the wrong subject though, these things really happened notwithstanding thepublic didnt need to know it. The constitution and initiatory amendment still mean something butnational security should come first. mickle rioting all over the countryin 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 unthinkable to get support at home when NBC isshowing them pictures of their boys getting massacred any 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 therenonetheless. These horrors however where kept out of our living rooms bysystematic filtering by the US army. Now the army didnt just absorb tapesand erase bad parts. Very few reporters and cameras were allowed to thefront lines.