Reporting Vietnam: Media and Military at War

Chess lovers will relish every move and countermove in this exhaustive unearthing of the machinations between the military and the press during the Vietnam War. Hammond, senior historian with the U.S. Army's Center of Military History, depicts the tension between the armed services and the media as a game of strategy, with the Pentagon trying to impose order on a bevy of reporters, only to find that the journalists got the scoop anyway. The author points out that the military's efforts to control the way the war was perceived were determined at times not by the public's need to know but by the political fortunes of the president and presiding military officer. Drawing on a thorough examination of military documents and newspaper and broadcast reports, Hammond explains how the press allowed the military to bring back tear gas for use in the war; how various news organizations contradicted themselves and one another in describing the war's unfolding; and how much of the American public came to feel that the war was a hopeless effort. The book would have been stronger had the author done more to personalize the reporters. From the Baltimore Sun's daring John Carroll to the AP's resourceful Peter Arnett (who even today finds himself embroiled in controversy), the reporters are left faceless for the most part, because in the battle between Pentagon and Fourth Estate, Hammond focuses mostly on institutions, not individuals. Still, the author has turned his academic search into a highly readable account of one-upsmanship and high-stakes jockeying. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)