Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Peer review/U.S. news media and the Vietnam War

News Media and the Vietnam War
This began as a media section of the Tet Offensive article. Have expanded it up somewhat and am looking for some constructive criticism.RM Gillespie (talk) 04:11, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Blnguyen
Good article I think. I'm just going through the Ngo Dinh Diem era, since I know about that specifically. Some things might be generally applied.
 * Just from a general stylistic viewpoint, I think it's rather strange that you don't link to terms much, eg Homer Bigart, David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, 1963 South Vietnamese coup, Arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm are relevant links, among other parts so that people can continue reading about the related topics. The aritcle is generally very sparsely wikilinked.
 * With all the intricate details and many things all happening at once in Vietnam, it might be difficult for a person who doesn't already know what the incidents were about to understand the context. eg, the Buddhist crisis section doesn't tell us at all what it is or how it came to be. Also, in such situations, I think seealso and main should be used so that the reader can be guided to articles like Hue Vesak shootings so that they can understand the background.
 * The same applies to Ap Bac I think. The reader needs to know that the battle was significant in that it was the first open confrontation with the VC and that the US generals had claimed that the VC would be easily routed if they stood and fought. Also the reader will not know from the text that the official US army report claimed a victory whereas Sheehan etc claimed that the ARVN was outmanoevred.
 * Notable incidents that might be dealt on in more detail (perhaps)
 * 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing - one of the pilots involved used an anti-Diem article in Newsweek to convince his colleague to join in. Diem later accused the American press and government of encouraging his ouster
 * Thich Quang Duc - Diem accused Browne et al of bribing TQD into self-immolating
 * Xa Loi Pagoda raids - US journos debunk Nhu's propaganda that the regular army did the raids.
 * Double Seven Day scuffle - Nhu's secret police punch up reports
 * Also, the other thing is that the Buddhists often tipped off the reporters before the demonstrations and such. Do you have the book by William Prochnau about the US journos in VN?


 * Other generalities:There should probably be more photos of the people being discussed in the article, eg Diem. Also I am surprised that the photo of Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a VC prisoner is not included since it is usually cited as a media photograph that heavily swayed public opinion.
 * Some parts are sparsely referenced.

Apart from that, it was an interesting read.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 08:19, 3 January 2008 (UTC)