For those with a historical memory, what grew to be massive dissent from America’s participation in the Vietnam War arguably began when then-CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, returned from a trip to Vietnam as war raged during the Lyndon Johnson administration, took to the televised airwaves to say:
“To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.”
LBJ was said to be so disturbed by Cronkite’s reporting that he is supposed to have said that “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
The reason this moment at the relative dawn of TV news is important to look back on is that it signaled a change in the role of the media. It was no longer reporting the news, it was seen by many in the day as seriously shaping policy. With Walter Cronkite wielding raw media power to affect that policy.
Time has moved on. It isn’t 1968 anymore. An era when there were three TV network newscasts plus a few major newspapers like The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times is long gone. Then came CNN, and MSNBC, and Fox, and the internet.
In today’s 21st century media the media is all over the place. It even has a different name - that would be “Social Media.” Wikipedia defines Social Media as follows:
Social media are new media technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongst virtual communities and networks. Common features include:
- Online platforms enable users to create and share content and participate in social networking.
- User-generated content such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through online interactions.
- Service specific profiles that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
- Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.
In other words? In other words “Social Media” is not about simply reporting the news. It is now all about power. Raw political power to shape the news according to the likes and dislikes of those who run various Social Media outlets. On one hand, that's allowed conservatives to go around the media and highlight stories and narratives that the Left would like to smother. On the other hand -- and this is what our traditional media can't stand -- the "professionals" can be outweighed by the "influencers."
Remember that the so-called “Cronkite Moment” of 1968 made such an impact because it was seen not as one of America’s most famous anchorman simply reporting the news. It was quickly seen as one of the most popular, trusted television anchors going out of his way to exert power to influence and shape policy. In this case President Johnson’s Vietnam War policy.
All of this history comes to mind as President Trump is out there, ala LBJ, trying to run a war policy. In this case a war in Iran and the larger Middle East. Only to find today’s Social Media trying, in effect, to run the war and related goings-on in Iran and the rest of the Middle East themselves. The Internet is flooded with videos, columns and more that are designed to not only oppose President Trump’s Iran War policy but to shape it as we go down the road.
And there’s another complication that simply did not exist in the Johnson era. Videos from who knows where are flooding the Internet purporting to show horrific scenes from the war are, it is being said, fake - AI generated. Or simply taken out of context.
But the similarity is nonetheless clear. The media of the Johnson era - as witnessed by the fabled “Cronkite moment” - is seen in history as the media of the day trying to use raw power to change the American policy on Vietnam.
In today’s world, any media-savvy teenager sitting in his mother’s basement can construct videos for the Internet that purport to be from Iran or elsewhere on the current battlefield, post it on You Tube and ….presto! All manner of gullible people out there around the world can believe what they see, think it is genuine, and join a growing chorus to change the Iran war policy.
Is there an answer for how to deal with all of this Social Media war “reporting”. To deal with what Trump himself famously calls “fake news”?
If there is an answer, no one has yet found it.
So the 21st century equivalent of the “Cronkite Moment” goes on.
With no end in sight.
