Tell It Like It Is
Posted: Friday, July 06, 2007
by David Tanguay
“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them." Patrick Henry
During the Nixon administration, Vice President Agnew had strong criticism for the news media, and attempted to censor a lot of what they were saying. However, this only prompted the media to stand up for the rights of the American people.
A personal experience of mine using Vietnam as a scenario “I was in the marine corps during the Vietnam war. One day as our company engaged in an operation was settling in for the night, we received supplies from helicopters before dusk set in. I was able to get a copy of the “ stars and stripes" newspaper. (A popular newspaper published for the U.S. military over seas; in fact, “ Andy Rooney" [of "60 minutes"] was a reporter for this newspaper during world war 11) Before darkness set in, I read an article in the newspaper regarding a letter found on the body of a North Vietnamese soldier, who was killed in action. I don’t remember in detail all the contents of the letter however, I do remember this part. The soldier was writing to his girlfriend, It went something like this “There comes a time when the mother land [North Vietnam] is torn by bombs, I am the mountain standing against the Americans, pushing them back to sea."
Now here I was out in the field where I could have become engaged in a firefight at any time and killed by one of these soldiers. This letter was heart felt however, I did not take this situation for granted. I asked myself why was this American newspaper printing this story, which was actually making the enemy look good?
Because the reporter writing this particular story had, “ Freedom of the press" instilled in his/her conscience to tell it like it is. Not only the freedom however also the duty to report the news accurately and honestly, they could have given me a bunch of B.S. but no, they laid it on the line. This action taken by this particular journalist brought to my mind what our country stood for, it actually strengthened, and encouraged me for at that time I did believe I was fighting for something.
Only A Few of The Media Giants Who Told It Like It Was
David Brinkley (NBC news) (BIO)
Chet Huntley (NBC news) [BIO]
John Chancelor (NBC news) [BIO]
Walter Kronkite (CBS news ) [BIO]
Peter Jennings [BIO]
(Biographies are a courtesy of wikipedia encyclopidia)
This Article has been viewed 348 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)hi david, thanks for a good article. how horriffic war is, for everyone involved. thanks for giving us a glimpse into one of your nights, and letting us know that there are still some honest and compassionate people out there, like that journalist. best regards, sue thomPlease log in to respond to this comment.You know Susan I'll tell you a story. One time in Vietnam we were engaged in a firefight. After everything calmed down some, I looked up at a hill and saw a north Vietnamese soldier looking down at me. We stared at each other for a moment then he smiled at me and ran off the hill. I couldn't see a bad person there. he was human just like me maybe someday we as people will wake up to the fact that were all human. "I read your latest article it kind of sounds like what I'm saying here don't you think?Please log in to respond to this comment.
i didn't think about it, david, but now i see your point about the articles. if everyone could just treat one another the same exact way they want to be treated, if that was even a worldwide law, so much would be different. now, go write, best regards, susan thomPlease log in to respond to this comment.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.