The Vietnam era is often held up as an example of the media’s independence and/or liberalness, but at the beginning of the war, and throughout it for most media sources, the basic framing of the conflict as between freedom and totalitarianism was not questioned. The rules of discussion were set, going outside them wasn’t going to get you space in a mainstream newspaper or network. Our involvement in Vietnam was questioned only after large amounts of American deaths and primarily for that reason. There was actually a lot more reflection about the wisdom of the conflict before the Iraq War than there was for Vietnam.