Inside television's first war : a Saigon journal / Ron Steinman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steinman, Ron, 1934-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Steinman, Ron, 1934-.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Television and the war.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Journalists--Biography.

War correspondents--United States--Biography.

War correspondents.

Journalists.

War and television.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

262 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri Press, [2002]

Summary:

Inside Television's First War recounts Ron Steinman's tenure as head of the NBC news bureau in Saigon from April 1966 until July 1968. This was a time during the Vietnam conflict that included the major American buildup and the Tet Offensive and saw much of America turn from support of the war to opposition.

During this period, television journalists learned how to report war in a distinctly new way: through the eye of a camera on the front lines, in the countryside, and in cities, towns, and villages. The experience of a living-room war was new, and its effects are still being felt today. Yet in our own era of high-tech journalism and hasty judgment, Vietnam's lessons are all but forgotten.

Steinman and his colleagues, mostly quite young, were covering an increasingly controversial war. They were going places and doing things that had never before been done on such a scale for an international audience. They used film that had to be shipped and then developed because satellites were rarely used before 1968. Correspondents and crews often drove to their assignments in rented cars, whether covering a battle, a riot, a political event, or a military briefing. When necessary, they resorted to military flights or erratic, unsafe commercial airlines.

The author also provides glimpses into his personal life. He writes of his courtship of Josephine Tu Ngoc Suong, a young Vietnamese coworker who was seriously wounded and near death in 1967. After her recovery, she and Steinman were married and now have three children together. And he tells the story of his brother-in-law, a prisoner in a Communist reeducation camp after the war, to whom he tried to smuggle money and medicine during a visit in 1985.

Inside Television's First War is a behind-the-scenes look at how the Vietnam conflict influenced young journalists, and how their coverage of the war influenced the American public. Steinman offers an intimate portrait of what became the biggest story of many people's lives. History buffs and general readers alike will benefit from this valuable contribution to understanding America's coverage of Vietnam.

Contents:

1. A Changed City 11

2. My Arrival: 1966 21

3. The Bureau 32

4. It's a Wonder Anything Works 40

5. Women in War 45

6. Steak and Contour Flying 49

7. Fighting Cocks and Politics 52

8. Routine and Then Some 57

9. Siestas and Demonstrations 62

10. Tipsters and Informants 70

11. Inside the Labyrinth 79

12. Saigon City Desk 86

13. Breakdown 131

14. Inevitable Changes: 1985 150

15. My Apartment: 1966-1985 155

16. To Eat Is to Live: 1985 165

17. Courtship 177

18. Laurie and Lan 186

19. Happy New Year: 1968 197

20. Fatigue 224

21. Reinforcements 236

22. Life Would Never Be the Same 248.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0826214193

OCLC:

49952460