Specter of Stalemate: Vietnam War Perspectives in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report, 1965–1968

Abstract

Several months prior to the military offensive by communists during Tet 1968, an event generally considered a turning point for news coverage of the Vietnam War, readers of Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report already had learned that victory seemed unlikely. Until summer 1967, each newsmagazine had provided different perspectives on the status of military progress. Negative commentary by the newsmagazines played a part in the decision by the Johnson administration in August 1967 to begin a campaign to persuade journalists the war was going well, a strategy that prompted a media backlash at Tet 1968.