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Television let Americans back at home see what the war was really like. For example, President Johnson was telling the people of America that we were winning - when we were not. For the first time, television let Americans know the truth. Everyday people saw pictures and video of POWs (prisoners of war), dead Americans, dead Vietnamese, and the bombings of Vietnamese civilians.

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12y ago
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14y ago

It was the first truly publicised war, people at home could see what was going on without it being censored, this meant that there was a lot more opposition to it because people could see how truly horrible it was to be there.

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15y ago

The free and unfettered access that media was given during the war was

unprecedented. Reporters found that if they wanted to report the facts

they would have to skip the daily briefing called the "follies" and hop a

chopper ride to where the action was. This quickly indicated differences

between the facts and the Saigon briefing available MACV. Reporters had

to find creative ways to get the story out of the country since none of the

communications technology of today existed. When the folks in the States

began to see the war on the evening news there was a shift in the public

opinion about US involvement in Vietnam. The modern military learned a

real lesson on media control from the Falkland War. They now control the

flow of "real time" reporting to their advantage. The most famous example of medias effects during the war came during the Tet offensive. Film of the chief of police for Saigon shooting what appeared to be a random person was shown to the public. Something not commonly known or reported at the time the film footage was shown was that the shooter was the Chief of Police for Saigon, that the man shoot had been one of the member of a Vietnamese Communist Political Squad that had killed the Chief of Police's second in command (Including his second's family and children). The sound of the shoot was also a edited sound that was added because the camera at the time was not recording sound.

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12y ago

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Brought the Vietnam battlefield into the average American's living room (household) in living color, including the sound effects, and seldom censored (since the system was new at the time).

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Q: What role did television play in the Vietnam war?
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What role did television and fulbright hearings play in the war in Vietnam?

Television brought the war into your living room. Furthermore, television opened Americans' eyes to the Vietnam war's actual position. people were at home thinking that the U.S was going to win the war and t.v gave the u.s the actual facts and the occurences of the position of the u.s in the war.


When was the first war covered on TV?

The Vietnam war from 1959 to 1975.


Did the us stance on communision play a huge role in getting involved in the Vietnam war?

It was the only role. Otherwise the US would have stayed out of it.


Why is the Vietnam war sometimes referred to as living-room war?

The Vietnam War was a part of the daily news where Americans often viewed the war on TV in their living-rooms .


What role did john smith play in the Vietnam war?

John Smith is a common US name; he was a US Serviceman.

Related questions

What role did television play in increasing Americans doubts about the war effort?

Vietnam was the first war in history that played out nightly on national television. The pictures and video from the war zone were shocking to many Americans and caused disillusionment for our role in the fighting.


What role did television play increasing Americans doubt about the war effort?

Vietnam was the first war in history that played out nightly on national television. The pictures and video from the war zone were shocking to many Americans and caused disillusionment for our role in the fighting.


What role did television and fulbright hearings play in the war in Vietnam?

Television brought the war into your living room. Furthermore, television opened Americans' eyes to the Vietnam war's actual position. people were at home thinking that the U.S was going to win the war and t.v gave the u.s the actual facts and the occurences of the position of the u.s in the war.


What role did TV play in the war?

This will depend upon what war you are asking about. In the United States, the first war to be shown regularly on TV was the Vietnam War. The images of fighting, of soldiers dying, of the jungles and civilians being burned and destroyed, caused a societal backlash against the war. This is generally considered one of the major reasons why the US public, and young adults in particular, turned against the war in Vietnam.


What role did Vietnam War play in US history?

around 1950


When was the first war covered on TV?

The Vietnam war from 1959 to 1975.


What role did public protest play in the end of the Vietnam war?

The public was drafted, the public resisted.


What role did the US economy play in this change of public support during the Vietnam war?

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Why is Vietnam not famous on American TV?

Because Vietnam war was fake and it never happened. Whatever teachers tell you about Vietnam War do not believe them.


What does it mean that the Vietnam war was a television war?

sriracha sauve


Did the us stance on communision play a huge role in getting involved in the Vietnam war?

It was the only role. Otherwise the US would have stayed out of it.


Why is the Vietnam war sometimes referred to as living-room war?

The Vietnam War was a part of the daily news where Americans often viewed the war on TV in their living-rooms .