Daniel C. Hallin

Television was still in its infancy during the Korean conflict; not until the Vietnam War did the major networks get a chance to cover another war. Daniel C. Hallin, the author of The "Uncensored War": The Media and Vietnam, describes the controversy over what effect TV coverage of the war had on public opinion toward Vietnam. The conventional wisdom is that TV brought home the "horror of war" and thus turned people against the war effort, but Hallin notes that graphic portrayals of violence or suffering were rare in TV coverage of Vietnam. He also describes television series of the 1980s that dealt with the war.

VIETNAM WAS THE FIRST "TELEVISION WAR." THE medium was in its infancy during the Korean conflict, its audience and technology still...