Manufacturing Consent_ The Political Economy of the Mass Media - Edward S. Herman [151]
Television typically presented events in terms of “a kind of morality play, . . . a dramatic contrast between good, represented by the American peace offensive [in 1966], and evil, represented by Hanoi.” Reporting was relatively bloodless, focusing on the successes of “the ‘good guys’: American boys in action,” regularly depicted as “brave men,” “the greatest men in the world,” “heroes,” exuding competence, humanity, and high morale as they fight against “Communist aggression” in the “battle for democracy,” and “win hearts and minds” by caring for sick and injured civilians after a village “was burned and blasted to death”—properly, because ammunition had been found there, which “was enough proof of its being used by the Vietcong” (Greg Harris, NBC-TV, Oct. 27, 1967). The issue of racism “was apparently too sensitive to touch,” Hallin adds, noting that he found no “comment on the hostility that many American soldiers felt towards all Vietnamese, . . . a prominent theme in veterans’ recollections of the war.”
The focus of coverage was the Americans: soldiers bravely defending Vietnam, medics caring for the wounded, pacification officials rebuilding after the damage for which Communist terror bore responsibility. “Our South Vietnamese” were virtually ignored, with virtually nothing on political, economic, or social affairs, and “the peasant figured in the news mainly as a victim and prize of the conflict.” The political opposition in Vietnam was portrayed with considerable hostility, “like the antiwar movement at home.” They were “forces of anarchy . . . on the march” (Walter Cronkite, CBSTV, Mar. 31, 1966). The utterly fraudulent elections were portrayed as a triumph as democracy, courageously carried out in defiance of the disruptive attacks of “Vietcong terrorists.”88
Civilian casualties were downplayed, or regarded as unavoidable side consequences of “a job that had to be done,” raising no moral question. Observing an air strike on a village of “unabashed” Viet Cong supporters after a column of American soldiers had drawn fire, NBC’s Jack Perkins commented: “There was no discriminating one house from another. There couldn’t be, and there did not need to be. The whole village had turned on the Americans, so the whole village was being destroyed,” as is only right and just. In a follow-up on the Cam Ne incident, Dan Rather offers a comment that Hallin cites as an example of “a muckraking tone,” the harshest he presents: the marines are holding Cam Ne
by force, not through the pacification program . . . [which] hasn’t taken hold in Cam Ne. And until it does take hold here and a lot of other places in South Vietnam, nobody can feel very good about this dirty little war.
In short, as long as there is still resistance to American violence, we cannot feel good about proceeding with our necessary chores; such comments as these presumably account for Rather’s reputation among the “doves” as a courageous opponent of the war, and among the “hawks” as a dangerous leftist. Walter Cronkite reported “an urgent plea from the Vietcong for medical and surgical supplies” to the International Red Cross, “an indication that our bombing raids and infantry sweeps are taking a heavy toll of all kinds of Red equipment.”89
Reporting of civilian casualties rose from 1966 to a peak in early 1968, then declined sharply as the United States turned to the murderous accelerated pacification campaign, which Hallin does not discuss, presumably because it was largely ignored by television, which had shifted attention to the negotiating tables in Paris in accordance with Washington priorities. The coverage rose again in 1972, when casualties could be attributed to a North Vietnamese offensive and the U.S. “response.” In a 1971 CBS documentary entitled “The