The Extent of the U.S. Media Coverage Aroused Anti-War Public Opinion

THE EXTENT OF THE US MEDIA COVERAGE AROUSED ANTI-WAR PUBLIC OPINION
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The Extent of the U.S. Media Coverage Aroused Anti-War Public Opinion
On January 30, 1968, North Vietnamese communist troops and the Viet Cong started the Tet Offensive against South Vietnam and its American forces. The Tet Offensive was a series of unexpected strikes during the Tet, the Vietnamese New Year festivals. The attacks caught the South Vietnamese military off guard since many were on holiday. Media coverage during the Vietnam War had a considerable impact on American public opinion. However, it was not the only element that led to substantial foreign changes in policy in later conflicts in which the United States participated. Bush's decision to alter media access was inspired by public opinion formed during the Vietnam War. Suppressing and manipulating media coverage allowed the administration to depict a military victory as a triumph of good governance. This thesis aims to investigate if it is true that the press access and media consumption greatly influenced the public opinions of the Vietnam War to the U.S. during the international warfare. 
The Tet Offensive had ramifications well beyond Vietnam's borders. The invasion targeted important U.S. military and political facilities in South Vietnam, such as the U.S. embassy. Although the North Vietnamese suffered a strategic setback when they were pushed back by American forces. They could not retake any of the targets they had targeted; the images and videos released to the press were enough to damage the American public's view, undermine American morale, and inspire the anti-war movement.⁠ Rob Due to the international media's lack of preparation, many problems were misrepresented or oversimplified. Americans landed in Saigon with no linguistic knowledge, culture, background, or customs of Vietnam, although the U.S. Department of Defence provided a brief introduction to the country's history and culture. The television broadcast of Communist assassins hiding within the American embassy in Saigon impacted public opinion. It had a significant impact on America because of the invasion's television images and news accounts. It was a powerful symbol: the beating heart of the United States' war effort was being physically attacked. The magnitude of the shock was enormous.⁠[Lori Robertson, “Images of War: This Year the American News Media Have Displayed Pictures of Burned Bodies in Fallujah, Flag-Draped Coffins Coming Home from Iraq and the Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners at Abu Ghraib. But Were They Too Squeamish When It Came to Showing the Carnag,” American Journalism Review 26, no. 5 (2004): 44–52.] [Miles Hudson and John Stanier, “War and the Media: A Random Searchlight (Bodmin” (Sutton Publishing, 1999).]
Historians say up to 50,000 communist forces died fighting for control of the south. The American people were naive to the realities of battle and knowledge about the war, as the news earlier was dominated by good media propaganda.⁠ These photos shattered the earlier impression of America's "greatest generation" of warriors who fought in World War II decades earlier. Public view of U.S. engagement in Vietnam bega...