Mr. Friedman's comments well taken. Amplifying upon same:
   1.One reason news media could not tell truth is that so many "reporters" were astoundingly ignorant and ill-informed about matters SE Asian, military, etc. Having no comprehension of what is going on around them, too many reporters fell back on crowd contagion and group think and simply reported the consensus party line. Few reporters knew or wanted to know anything about SE Asia's essentials: three-phase protracted war, Hanoi's "dich van" campaign, the comparative characteristics of 155mm and Soviet 130mm guns, ad infinitum. Most reporters thought VN was arithmetic; it was differential calculus.
   2.New York editors did slant and distort things even more, many having a pronounced political agenda and outlook. They wanted more blood and gore because it boosted ratings and advertising rates, and would not tell their reporters to comprehensively examine such subjects as land reform in VN, an incredibly successful venture after several false starts in the Diem years. There was NO network TV coverage on land reform. It was important to the people of VN but didn't provide enough visual "drama"-read blood, gore, explosions, etc.-to satisfy NY editors and producers.
   3.If-IF-one digs hard and long one will find commentary on reporter performance (?) and behavior, such as it was, in Laos and Cambodia. Robbins' THE RAVENS includes an observation on draft-dodger reporter T.D. Allman, and his being "bored to death" upon visiting a hospital built for Hmong people under US auspices. He should have asked the patients if they were "bored" with having medical care. He didn't because he didn't care, and because it wasn't as much fun as being a self-indulgent "anti-war" messiah. Reporter experiences in Cambodia revealed in San Ansom's WAR NEWS and Jacque Leslie THE MARK. Anson w/Time Magazine; Leslie w/LA Times. Both recount tales of abundant reporter drug use and other examples of assinine "Ugly American" behavior. Ansom thought Cambodia was a great war because he could drive out to see the NVA in action ("truly fantastic!") and then return to Phnom Penh for good food, drugs, parties, etc. Swell guy. He admits, in his book, to being filled with ideas he picked up at "anti-war" demonstrations years earlier as a student.
   3.Many veterans of SE Asia remember coming home and hearing profoundly stupid questions and comments from Americans who watched from afar. The reason these questions were infantile is because the news media never told anyone anything of substance about SE Asia. Nothing. If there were justice in this world, Cronkite, Rather, Arnett, et al would have been remanded to live in a refugee camp until such time as no more refugees exist in SE Asia. The bitter irony of all this is that these self-absorbed people actually think they know something about Viet Nam.