Facts of Life in Viet Nam

In addition to the hawk-dove controversy, Viet Nam is debated on other levels. Critics complain that U.S. policymakers do not have enough facts upon which to base wise decisions or, if they do, they are keeping those facts from the public. And the press takes a beating for not supplying the facts that the Administration is accused of hiding. In self-defense, reporters in Viet Nam complain that the U.S. Government and military are making their jobs tougher than necessary with unwarranted censorship and restrictions. Last week, reporting from Saigon, TIME Southeast Asia Bureau Chief Frank McCulloch assessed the situation:

"The greatest difficulties besetting newsmen arise from the nature of the war itself. It must be remembered that this is the first modern war involving Americans with scarcely any units to which correspondents can be attached. In three previous wars, correspondents were attached to armies or corps or divisions or air wings or some other military unit. That unit assumed basic responsibility for the correspondent's billeting, food, transportation and, let it be remembered, censorship of his copy."

Exasperating but Predictable. "Moreover, this is not a war with fixed lines. What is black at noon is white by nightfall. I doubt if there is a reporter in the country who has not found himself arguing vehemently in support of something one day and just as vehemently against it the next day. It has been the experience of many a correspondent to spend an exhausting and fairly dangerous week in the field and have nothing more to show for his efforts than an account of how a few men on each side were killed or wounded. There is no way of knowing where the news may be. "It is this fact of life which has led to the necessity for daily Saigon briefings jointly conducted by military men and USIS representatives. Frequently information provided has been found to be shaded. Often it is incomplete. Sometimes, although not as often as critics allege, it is deliberately misleading. This is an exasperating but thoroughly predictable practice. I think a reporter should expect the Government to gold-plate what it tells him, and assume it is his job to do what he can to temper it. The practical solution would seem to be to attend the briefings, regard them as a reportorial starting point, then go out and crosscheck. Certainly, that is the way the best correspondents in Viet Nam function."

A Right to a Voice. "There is still another complication. This is not an American war in Viet Nam. It is still essentially a Vietnamese war. Therefore the Vietnamese government feels it has a right to some voice in the reporting of the war, and that sometimes makes things tough for the USIS. Not only is there the problem of two conflicting governmental views; there is also a marked difference between American and Asian concepts of freedom of information.

"Application of military security has been neither more nor less abused in this war than in past ones. Putting the NCO club at Danang off limits for reporters, for example, only reflected the view there are too many kid soldiers who can't keep their mouths shut after they have a few drinks, and too many young reporters who can't resist slipping into their files what they have heard during drinking sessions. I think pointing a finger of blame at any of the exasperated parties in the press-USIS-military conflict is a serious mistake. No one is really at fault. It is just Viet Nam."

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