The primary purpose of this study was to examine the historical evolution of news censorship in the United States, the current military information policy in Vietnam, and media performance in reporting selected crisis combat events of the Vietnam conflict to determine the necessity of censorship in the area of combat operations during periods of low intensity warfare. A secondary purpose was to explore the psychological effects of established media performance on the national will to persist in this form of conflict. A content analysis was conducted of two combat actions, the Tet Offensive and Ap Bia Mountain (commonly referred to as Hamburger Hill), as reported in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicles, and The Kansas City Star. First, the three criticisms of position reporting, uninformed reporting, and erroneous reporting, as indicated in previous research, were noted, and criteria within these areas were then postulated in an attempt to systematically analyze the news content.

ADA 067326 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)