Essay on "Photojournalism Was a Defining Feature"

Essay 4 pages (1245 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The new political economy that Kennedy (2008) refers to is "one that was very immediately responsive to and regulated by the American and other Western markets' large appetites for war imagery." Viewers expected to turn on their televisions daily -- perhaps not with as much frequency as now given the twenty-four hour cable news cycle and the Internet -- but with a level of frequency previously unknown. Media agencies, keen to lure viewers for their own budgetary reasons but also to garner journalistic recognition, fed the cycle of continual reporting on the war.

Reporting through the lens was, as much wartime reporting, one-sided in nature. The reports were, for example, only from South Vietnam. This sent the message that did not go unnoticed: that the war was a murky and nebulous one in which the American government might be hiding something. "The absence of the North Vietnamese in so much of this photography was a fitting visual reflection of a war of insurgency, with no clearly defined frontline or enemy," (Kennedy, 2008).The soldiers were keenly aware of how the presence of photographers might influence their actions, that of their fellow soldiers, or even of the enemy. Some might have also thought it through more, extending the fact that the presence of photographers meant that Americans at home were seeing the truth about the war. The war was an increasingly senseless and futile endeavor. "Many soldiers, aware of how photographs were influencing public perceptions of the war, were wary of any media presence (Gist, 2012). The soldiers were not immune to viewing the photographs, either. Those sent home, or those about to be deployed, might have reconstructed a version of the war that was much different from the story given to them by their commanding officers. With an increase in disillusionment among soldiers in Vietnam, more and more Americans were burning their draft cards. Low morale in Vietnam became a major issue, and photojournalism was instrumental in fomenting the necessary tension that ensued in the minds and hearts of all Americans.

Interestingly, Hubert Cookman & Stolley (2008) claim that until the Tet Offensive in 1968, "most of the press, including most of the photographers, supported the war effort," (p. 133). That would change when the media revealed the extent of the North Vietnamese incursion, to the dismay of the American government. "Critics," state Hubert Cookman & Stolley (2008), like Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and President Johnson, "had been assuring the American public that the war was almost won," (p. 133). In short, they were lying outright.

The media exposed the truth of the Tet Offensive being a decisive victory for the North Vietnamese and the turning point of the war in their direction. Photojournalism offered the proof, however, unpalatable, that the war was going to be unwinnable. The media was creating a public relations disaster that led to the gradual demise of public opinion for the war. As a result, the media itself became more cynical and also more honest. Photojournalism of the Tet Offensive showed that Americans were not faring as well as they were told they were; and that American military methodologies and war tactics were often morally objectionable. Media responsibility as the Fifth Estate grew, in the true spirit of democracy and freedom of the press.

References

Gist, D. (2012). The photographer's war: Vietnam through a lens. The Conversation. Retrieved online: http://theconversation.edu.au/the-photographers-war-vietnam-through-a-lens-8759

Hubert Cookman, C. & Stolley, R.B. (2008). American Photojournalism: Motivations and Meanings. Northwestern.

Kennedy, L. (2008). Photojournalism and the Vietnam War. Photography and International Conflict. Retrieved online: http://www.ucd.ie/photoconflict/histories/vietnamwarphotojournalism/

Lamb, D. (2009). A Photo-journalist's Remembrance of Vietnam. Smithsonian. Retrieved online: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Indelible-Images-Saigon-Requiem.html

Page, T., Niven, D. & Riley, C. (2002). Another Vietnam: Pictures of… READ MORE

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