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Abstract Lars Klein
This project is not mainly concerned with media politics or propaganda. Instead it is examining the significance of the journalistic self-image for the way in which wars from Vietnam to Iraq have been reported on. Therefore, the development and adjustments of self perceptions in relation to reporters from earlier generations is of special importance.
The war in Vietnam especially helped developing roles and ethic beliefs of war correspondents by which the Vietnam-Generation has not only influenced their successors in the 1980s but does so until today. Consequently, the main task of this project will be to investigate the ways in which experiences of Vietnam were inscribed in self-perceptions of the following generations of war correspondents. Which generation a correspondent belongs to is scarcely a question of age. Rather it is important which war he or she regards as the main point of reference. For correspondents such as David Halberstam, Peter Arnett, or Horst Faas the Vietnam War has been "the indelible experience". By continuing to present life and work in Vietnam as exciting, singular, and irretrievable they shape the view of this war for the generations to follow. What is more, the war in Vietnam has been regarded in the US as a conflict which was lost by the media. Halberstam and others declined to take responsibility for that, but for younger correspondents it only seems to underline the media's importance. Given that example, it is the more evident that David Rieff or Roy Gutman experienced their engagement to end the war in Bosnia as "failure of the journalists". In the war correspondent's self-image nothing seems to be the same after Vietnam: They could neither report that freely nor extend such an influence.