1968: The Global Revolutions

The Vietnam War was fought in the media, as well as in combat areas. TV news reports brought battlefield footage into American living rooms on a nightly basis. Increasingly skeptical of optimistic official reports, journalists often wrote critically of the conflict. North Vietnamese press outlets similarly strove to manage and control messaging related to the war. The Vietnam News Agency, founded in 1945, was – and remains – the official media outlet of Vietnam. The English-language Vietnam Courier was published by the North Vietnamese Ministry of Information, and was intended for consumption by foreign readers. Headlines such as “Revolutionary Heroism, Secret of our Success” suggest the propagandistic tone of the journal.