10. The Vietnam War was seen on television nightly
Unlike the wars which preceded it, the American involvement in the war in Vietnam was broadcast on the evening news of all three American major networks, with extensive coverage beginning in 1965. In the early days of TV coverage the reports were typically upbeat in nature, and the events presented about five days old by the time they were seen on television screens in America, due to the need to have the film processed and edited before broadcasting at a time when all three major networks broadcast primarily from New York. While many blame the newscasts of the time for being unsupportive of the American war effort and focusing on the deaths of American soldiers, most of the reporting was supportive of the troops, but skeptical of their leaders.
The protests against the war received increasing coverage as they increased, which angered and still angers those who believed them to be anti-American. Television presented the war at all levels as it occurred, and with the war in American living rooms in one form or another on a nightly basis there was no escaping from its divisiveness in American society. After it became apparent following the release of the Pentagon Papers that the weekly body counts, presented to reporters on Thursdays, were exaggerated by American leaders at the highest levels in Vietnam, the clear majority of Americans supported the United States getting out of Vietnam.