Dateline: Saigon Review: Fake News, Nothing New

 Though the notion of fake news has a specific connection at this moment in time to the sitting president lashing out at media reports unfavorable to him, that concept has a surprisingly much longer and secretive tarnished US history - with no particular party affiliation in collusion with the media as well. And Dateline: Saigon, the documentary delving into the Vietnam War as covered by fearless journalist back then, simultaneously reveals a huge trove of US state secrets conducting that war covertly as if, say - directing a Hollywood movie.

Written and directed by first time filmmaker Tom Herman and narrated by Sam Waterston, Dateline: Saigon revisits the efforts of Viet Nam war correspondents - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, Malcolm Browne, Peter Arnett, and photojournalist Horst Faas, to record the truth on two war fronts, not just one. In other words, struggling against US government censorship bent on discrediting them, pressuring to report the Viet Nam War their way dishonestly, and as a winning venture.

And revealing not just about what transpired decades ago in that regard, but that nothing has changed - no matter which political party. And by extension, what the past can reveal concerning our present time, both historically and about the media.

While in the case of Peter Arnett,  covering Middle East US invasions and wars, along the US assault on Viet Nam - the JFK/Johnson government, CIA and Hoover's FBI were bent on destroying Arnett by shutting him down professionally, And necessitating personal protection as well for reporting the truth.

Dateline: Saigon - A rigorous and scathing chronicle of devastating defeat: The US War on Viet Nam, and on the US media.

Prairie Miller