The Anniversary of the Tet Offensive, but Not Much Has Changed

I asked my dad, a post-WWII Air Force photographer, and his cousin, a WWII B-29 crewman, whether the media today, as contrasted with pre-Vietnam days, are truly as appallingly negative and anti-American as they seem to me. Their responses indicate to me that I was naive -- today's media are far, far more negative and anti-American than I thought.

I don't know where it all went wrong, but by Vietnam, journalists had begun to believe that their job was not to report mere facts, but to present a case for their own worldview. The Tet Offensive in 1968 showed how powerful their jettisoning of any ethical standards could be: an American military victory was successfully portrayed as a defeat to the folks on the home front.

Today, that can't happen, thanks to the blogosphere. But it sure isn't changing the behavior of the MSM -- their news out of Iraq is essentially entirely negative, regardless what is actually happening on the ground. Just one more thing to think about before you re-up for your local paper, or switch the channel to that network news show.