War Correspondents: Rebuttal & Reply

When the New Leader published his critical report on the press corps in Viet Nam last month, veteran Military Reporter S.L.A. Marshall said, “I hoped there would be a strong protest.” Out of positive rebuttal, he felt, “may come some better understanding.”

Protest there was. In last week’s issue, the New Leader printed rebuttals from eight correspondents (including two from Time Inc.). Almost to a man, Marshall’s critics objected to what they felt was a suggestion that they shunned danger. Too many of them have been killed or wounded, they argued, for their courage to be in question. The war in Viet Nam, they said, is different from any other war, and Marshall did not seem to understand that overriding fact. He wanted too much attention paid to purely military matters, to the detriment of a much broader story.

Once more, Marshall was disappointed. He had not asked for more military coverage, he said, just better coverage. “The key problem,” he went on, “is not cowardice but superficiality.” Whenever he criticized the military, he added sadly, he always received a serious hearing. “When I have criticized the press, the reaction has always been violent outraged emotion.”