The endless appeal of media-driven myths rests largely in their supposed affirmation that journalists can be powerful actors whose work and words can have great and decisive effects on war, politics, and public policy.
Cronkite in Vietnam
This thread runs through all prominent media myths, from William Randolph Hearst’s presumptive vow to “furnish the war” with Spain at the end of the 19th century to the dominant narrative of the Watergate scandal, that exposés by two Washington Post reportersbrought down Richard Nixon’s corrupt presidency.
The thread also defines the presumptive “Cronkite Moment” of 1968, when CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite declared on air that the U.S. military was “mired in stalemate” in the Vietnam War.
Cronkite’s assessment, which came after he visited what then was South Vietnam in the wake of the communist-led Tet offensive, was unremarkable for the times. Even so…
View original post 1,206 more words
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments