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Essay / The importance of television as a propaganda tool...
The Vietnam War is remembered as a war that captured the hearts and minds of the American public through the painful images broadcast on television. television every evening. With the world mired in a Cold War, America wanted to continue its war against the threat of communism, even if it took it into areas of the globe that had no direct importance to American society. To never give the impression that America was directly involved in the fighting, the government sent military advisors instead of troops, even though it became impossible to separate the roles of these individuals. Many Americans refused to view Vietnam as having any significance to America, and after the Tet Offensive in 1968, many participated in anti-war protests across America. These anti-war protests are one of the main reasons why the war was considered lost by both direct combat and public opinion. The common view is that what was filmed by television networks fueled this anti-war sentiment, creating what is known as "parlor warfare", but this view has been widely debated among historians. Television is often used as a propaganda tool due to the ease of its use. to use. Getting a message to the masses becomes relatively easy when the majority of people who live in a particular area already own a television. This technique is outdated compared to the showing of propaganda clips in public cinemas during World War II. Instead, owning a television makes the subject of the propaganda easily accessible to the message without even having to leave their house. TV channels also believe that "their viewers are more interested in political coups, wars and corruption in third world countries." This widespread media coverage of wars... middle of article ......ttp://www.jstor.org/stable/261124 [Accessed March 21, 2014]. pp. Diplomatic History, 34 (3) [online]. Available at: http://dh.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/3/555.full.pdf+html [Accessed March 21, 2014]. pp. 555-565.WebsitesElert, G. nd Number of televisions in the United States. [online] Available at: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2007/TamaraTamazashvili.shtml [Accessed: March 19, 2014]. Macdonald, F. nd TV and the Coming of the Vietnam War. [online] Available at: http://jfredmacdonald.com/trm/ivtvvietnam.htm [Accessed: March 19, 2014].Shah, A. 2003. Media, Propaganda and Vietnam — Global Issues. [online] Available at: http://www.globalissues.org/article/402/media-propaganda-and-vietnam#Television [Accessed March 19 2014].