Embedded Reporters Vietnam Vs Today

Running head: EMBEDDED REPORTERS VIETNAM VS. TODAY 1

Embedded Reporters Vietnam vs. Today

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EMBEDDED REPORTERS VIETNAM VS. TODAY 2

Embedded Reporters Vietnam vs. Today

News reports are important people in the daily life of an ordinary citizen. They provide

information that is crucial for the well being of the social order within a scope of disposal of

citizens of a given nations. Journalists work in all situations whether in peace or at the time of

the warfare. They strive by all means to bring on board imperative information that happens on

the ground. However, in such obligations, it always becomes hard when news is to be reported

from a battling war ground. Therefore, the paper entails differences between embedded news

reporters during Vietnam War against today’ embedded news reporters. The paper will entail

their freedoms and their restrictions on the delivery of war field report.

Embedded journalists are news reporters attached to military units involving in armed

conflicts. An in-depth scrutiny of the organization, practice, and purpose of embedding enables

assess of changes in the embedding news productions in comparison of Vietnam war military

campaigns and of today. Whilst for such, embedding reporters increases access and at the same

time reduces censorship. However, their integration as persons into various units of the military

makes them acclimatize, internalize military sense, and identify themselves with troops. On the

other hand, Embedding can gains from both sides; from the media, and from military, and assist

to improve their traditionally troublesome rapport. The jeopardy of embedding depends on its

ingenuity; by fulfilling their economic and professional demands and needs by being guaranteed

the freedom of the press (Vu et al. 2017).

There are a number of similarities and differences between freedoms and restrictions of

embedded news reporters during Vietnam War and of today. The most common similarity is

that, news reporters of today and those at the time of Vietnam War are subjected to be killed in

battle or in ambushes and are even targeted as well as murdered in the retaliation of their

EMBEDDED REPORTERS VIETNAM VS. TODAY 3

reporting. Additionally, are subject to kidnapping by criminals, militants, guerillas, and

government forces and are either blatantly murdered or just made to depart after have been being

in the custody of the government.

However, during Vietnam War, there were no media restrictions. They were allowed to

cover a wide extent of news to their scope of disposal. The America Military permitted the

unprecedented right of entry for journalists, with no restrictions on the press. Unlike in the

current conflicts where new reporters are not allowed to outline news of a certain level; claiming

it as confidential and will be used for security services. Like in 2001 during an American war

with Iraq, news reporter were limited to access some important areas where there was massive

killing of both militia and civilians. However, open entry in the Vietnam war for the journalist's

was factors that shaped military coverage in a form which was never and will as well never be

seen or projected, with explicit reporting of human suffering. Thus lacking restrictions, reporters

from a number of media houses and outlets were sending out to Vietnam, having a number of

correspondents that surpassed 500 at the climax of the war. However, due to the nature of such

form of war, about 70 lost their lives before the clash came to an end (Grossman, 2017).

Similarly, due to high degree freedom of embedded news reporters, a number of people

in the American Government and outside the world could blame the embedded news reporters

for the U.S failure in Vietnam, having claims that, media only focused on atrocities, the combat

horrors and impact on military was a dented morale and reduced war support at home (Heine &

Herr, 2013). Unlike in the contemporary warfare like one that occurred in Iraq where allied

embedded news reporters were almost unanimously supported across the world and engineered

the war efforts.

EMBEDDED REPORTERS VIETNAM VS. TODAY 4

On the other hand, journalists during Vietnam War Theater were often ruthlessly dealt

with the American military, and they painted an extremely miserable depiction of the war. When

comparing to this current era where the media is an ambassador of peace and can end the war,

the media is already playing a considerable responsibility in domestic actions such as the

Movement of Civil Rights. The war communication in Vietnam could have one of the most

important impacts on the U.S political landscape. However, some great thinkers argued that the

demeanor of the combat correspondents for the war of Vietnam is to hold the responsibility of

tightening restrictions on the journalists by the America. Thus in wars that followed later such as

the conflicts in Iraq along with Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf War, America tightened laws

that barred journalists to capture important information.

Also, another restriction in the current embedded news reporters, especially during the

Gulf War was that, all journalists were kept far away from the scene front line. The Gulf War is

believed to be the third world largest tank combat in the global history but there lack the

authentic images of it. The armed forces were at such a time aware of the clamor plus humming

of the embedded news reporters. However, in comparison, the general overview in Vietnam

warfare was that the media got too close and almost put up the shutters of the war. The armed

forces felt pierced in the flipside by the coverage that was seen as a sensationalistic (Foster,

2017).

Similarly, in the current state of warfare, the media has been limited to a number of issues

to report. However, they have other issues that they must bring into the timeline and public

domains. To name a few, the media currently reports on the issues of civilian emergency needs

in which it targets international organizations to offer basic needs to support those displaced

persons. Also, the media has the freedom to update the public a number of causalities of the

EMBEDDED REPORTERS VIETNAM VS. TODAY 5

affected side of the combat for the immediate intervention of both local and international

organizations. This is contrarily in the case of Vietnam War where every step of the fight was

given a green light on the spot by the media.

In conclusion, the embedded reporters during Vietnam never reticent away from

recounting the war horrors; the structural settings of the Vietnam embedded program reserved

them mainly focused on the dreadfulness. This was facing the troops from both sides of the war,

rather than upon the thousands of Vietnam who died (Espiritu et al. 2016). This was as well

witnessed in 2001 during American battle with Iraq. Finally, by comparison, independent news

reporters who were at liberty to roam fruitfully and can freely interviewed coalition armed forces

for Iraqi civilians. They, at all times coverer major war events and the human-interest account of

the civilians.

EMBEDDED REPORTERS VIETNAM VS. TODAY 6

References

Foster, K. (2017). False Memories and Professional Culture: The Australian Defense Force, the

Government and the Media at War in Afghanistan. In Memory and the Wars on Terror

(pp. 21-47). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Grossman, L. R. (2017). All the News That's Worth the Risk: Improving Protection for Freelance

Journalists in War Zones. BC Int'l & Comp. L. Rev., 40, 141.

Heine, M., & Herr, H. (2013). Volkswirtschaftslehre. doi:10.1524/9783486717501

Le Espiritu, Y., Tran, Q. T., Nguyen, V. T., Duong, L., Nguyen, V., Mason, R., ... & Schlund-

Vials, C. J. (2016). Looking Back on the Vietnam War: Twenty-first-Century

Perspectives. Rutgers University Press.

Vu, H. T., Duong, H. T., Barnett, B., & Lee, T. T. (2017). A role (in) congruity study on

Vietnamese journalists’ perception of female and male leadership. Asian Journal of

Communication, 1-17.

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