I had no idea who Halberstam was. I see I missed out on something great.

Good journalists will find a way to publish the important stories.

Not only has the underground / alternative media of the 1960s and 1970s given rise to many journalists’ careers, but the mainstream media consistently troll the alternative media (now blogs) for their stories. In addition, brave journalists who had important stories didn't simply let the mainstream sit on them out of their pseudopatriotic cowardice.

Remember My Lai? Surely people don’t think the New Yorker or the New York Times were first to print with this story.

The Myth of the Media’s Role in Vietnam

by Jeff Cohen

Common Dreams, May 2001

Of the many myths that mushroomed from the carnage of the Vietnam War perhaps none is more specious than the fable about how a bold, aggressive mainstream media turned America against the war. As the pundit class sinks into a new quagmire debating former Sen. Bob Kerrey’s Vietnam mission, it’s a good time to dissect the myth.

Let’s begin with the My Lai massacre of March 1968, where hundreds of Vietnamese civilians were executed by American soldiers. My Lai would later be cited as proof of a mainstream press bent on sensationalizing U.S. atrocities in Vietnam.

The reality was just the opposite. Beginning months after My Lai, evidence of the massacre was presented to top national news media by Vietnam veteran Ron Ridenhour and others, but not one outlet would touch the story. It wasn’t until November 1969, more than a year and a half after the My Lai slaughter, that the story was finally published by the small, alternative Dispatch News Service and dogged investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0506-09.htm

I believe that since the role of liberal & lefty blogs have become so prominent now, that the next time “all” the major media are sitting on a story, you’ll see a few pro journalists bring them to the blogs to get the story out.

Before everyone ELSE jumps on it!

Halberstam:

The best of the military men there knew what was happening, knew that it was not going well, that we had not dented the other side's dynamic, and that we were fighting the birthrate of the country.

Boy howdy!