Book Reviews -- Paper Soldiers: The American Press and the Vietnam War 2nd Edition by Clarence R. Wyatt

Wyatt, Clarence R. Paper Soldiers: The American Press and Vietnam War. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2nd edition, 1995. 272 pp. $14.95. It seems that everything has been said, shown or written about the military and the media in Vietnam. So one might wonder why a young historian would ever want to write yet another book on that subject, at the risk of repeating what others have already said. Clarence Wyatt, nonetheless, has successfully undertaken such a task. In his review of American press coverage of Vietnam, Wyatt has developed a refreshing approach that systematically looks into daily press operations and professional standards to explain the press' behavior and main trends in coverage. Wyatt argues that the press tailored coverage to fit its perception of the American public's taste. As a result, the press sharply increased its coverage whenever U.S. troops were directly involved and focused on American combat operations According to Wyatt, such editorial choices slanted coverage by focusing on sensational and simplistic actions at the expenses of more complex political and social issues. This theory provides an interesting explanation of the 1968 Tet offensive coverage. No subject of Vietnam-era military-media relations has provoked more controversy than the American press coverage of this event. Many studies, such as Peter Braestrup's Big Story (1977), have shown that the press did not accurately depict events. But much remains to be said about the causes of this discrepancy. Many in the military argue the press chose to distort the reality. Journalists, on the other hand, consider that they covered what they saw and rarely accept any critical examination of their work. Wyatt, offering a much more plausible explanation, argues that the press faced major logistical constraints and competitive pressures that were so strong that they sometimes led to inaccurate reporting. Moreover, because of its ethnocentrism, the press focused on American operations (such as in Hue, Khe Sanh, and at the Embassy compound in Saigon). This created a distorted impression that combat activities principally involved American forces (though most of the targets were South Vietnamese) and lasted several months all through South Vietnam (whereas most of the invasion forces had been rapidly repelled). Paper Soldiers' other main quality is the careful, lively and well-documented description of the ambiguous (some would say incestuous) relationship between officials and reporters. Most accounts state that the press government relationship in Vietnam was adversarial from the earliest days of the U. …