We should blame the media for the cause of the Vietnam War, do you agree?

Question

I need someone who agree with me about this statement to tell me why we should blame the media for the Watergate scandal.

Answer 1

Your broad question about a 15-year war is difficult to address.  Assuming you are referring to media coverage of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the news media cannot be blamed for reporting accurately the statements of President Johnson and the U.S. Navy.  Both parties in Congress also accepted the White House position, and this was reported in the news.

The news media does not on its own cause much of anything to happen.  The role of reporters is to report what leaders and participants say happened.   The media never "say" -- people say and the news media reports these statements.

Watergate is linked to the Vietnam War through the "Pentagon Papers."  The Nixon White House tried to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and block free speech.  A year later, the news media was very hard on President Nixon and aggressively covered the Watergate break-in.

I do not see how the news media can be "blamed" for the Watergate scandal.....the actions were caused by the leadership in the White House.

Answer 2

I don't blame the media for the Viet Nam war but I credit Dan Rather and Walter Kronkite for us loosing the war and causing the deaths of many American soldiers. They should have been strung up for high treason.