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NOTES TO PAGES 161-169
Why an Italian Spy Got Closely Involved in the Billygate Affair," Wall Street August 8, 1985. 43. The comprehensiveness of the Times's protection of its disinformation sources was shown amusingly in February 1987 when Charles Babcock, of the Washington Post, revealed that Ledeen had very possibly been dismissed from Washington University in St. Louis in 1972 for plagiarism. On the very same day, an article by Stephen Engelberg in the Times, on Ledeen, describes Ledeen's history as follows: "Mter being denied tenure at Washington University in St. Louis in 1972, Mr. Ledeen became.. .. " This was all the news fit to print about a useful asset. 44. "McNeil-Lehrer News Hour," program of May 27, 1985. 45. See our reference earlier to its wholly uncritical presentation in the Newsweek article of January 3, 1983. 4 6 . For a discussion of the compromised character of the photo identification of the Bulgarians on November 9,1982, as well as the general conduct of the case by Investigating Judge Martella, see Herman and Brodhead, Bulgarian Connection, chapter 5. 47. On the likelihood that this Antonov photo had been "manufactured" as an instrument of disinformation, see Howard Friel, "The Antonov Photo and the 'Bulgarian Connection,' " Covert Action Information Bulletin 21 (Spring-Summer 1984), pp. 20-21. 48. This was treated outstandingly in the ABC "20120" program of May 12, 1983; and Agca's shifting testimony was also discussed well by Michael Dobbs in the Washington Post, beginning in June 1984. These were exceptional, however, as pointed out in note 26 above. 49. Dobbs is an honorable exception, although he remained very cautious in generalizing about Martella's handling of the case, and, as noted, he failed to take seriously the obvious alternative model. 50. Initially, Sterling suggested obliquely that any retracted claims had already been "corroborated"-a falsehood. Later, Sterling followed Italian prosecutor Albano's solution to the problem: that Agca really was in Antonov's apartment but was denying it to signal the Bulgarians that they had better break him out of jail.
Journa~
Chapter 5: The Indochina Wars (I) 1. Among these, the most comprehensive, to our knowledge, are unpublished studies by Howard Elterman: The State, The Mass Media and Ideological Hegemony: United States Policy Decisions in Indochina, 1945-75-Hiscorical Record, Government Pronouncements and Press Coverage (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1978); and The Circle of Deception: The United States Government, the National Press and the Indochina War, 1954-1984 (ms., n.d.). See also Daniel C. Hallin, The "Uncensored War": The Media and Vietnam (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). The latter is based on a complete coverage of the New York Times from 1961 through mid-1965, and an extensive sample of television network news from August 1965 through January 1973. Elterman's work covers
NOTES TO PAGES 169-173
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the New York Times and the newsweeklies, contrasting their coverage with that of the "alternative press." The most extensive analysis of a particular incident is Peter Braestrup, Big Story, 2 vols. (Boulder: Westview, 1977), on the Tet offensive, published in cooperation with Freedom House. For detailed examination of this highly influential study, to which we return in "The Tet Offensive," pp. 2II-228, and appendix 3, see Noam Chomsky, "The U.S. Media and the Tet Offensive," Race & Class (London) XX, 1 (1978), and an excerpted version in the journalism review More (June 1978); also Gareth Porter, "Who Lost Vietnam?" Inquiry, February 20, 1978. 2. Inside Story Special Edition: Vietnam Op/ED, Press and the Public Project, Inc. (1985), transcript of the AIM critique with discussion; Robert Elegant, cited from Encounter by narrator Charlton Heston, on camera. Transcripts of the PBS series Vietnam: A Television History are published by WGBH Transcripts (Boston: 1983). See also the "companion book" by the chief correspondent for the PBS series, Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (New York: Viking, 1983). 3· Samuel Huntington, in M. P. Crozier, S. J. Huntington, and J. Watanuki, The Cn"sis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission (New York: New York University Press, 1975), pp. 98, 102, 106, II3. The final remarks are from the summary of discussion by commission members, appendix I, 4. 4. "Introduction" to Braestrup, Big Story, p. xviii; the latter phrase is the title of a 1967 Freedom House pamphlet inspired in part by Vietnam War coverage; see also p. vii. 5. John P. Roche, Washington Star, October 26,1977, commenting on Braestrup's study. 6. John Corry, "Is TV Unpatriotic or Simply Unmindful?" New York Times, May 12, 1985. Corry alleges that this is true with regard not only to Vietnam but also to Central America-and, in fact, generally. 7. General Kinnard, now a military historian, was field commander for the 1970 Cambodia invasion. One of the commentators is the French historian Philippe Devillers, elsewhere a critic of the war but appearing here only in endorsement of one element of the AIM critique. 8. In Braestrup, Big Story, I, xix. 9. Bernard Fall, "Vietnam Blitz," New Republic, October 9, 1965. A French military historian and journalist, Fall was one of the few genuine experts on Vietnam writing in the United States at that time. He was also an extreme hawk, although he turned against the war when he saw that it was simply destroying the country and society of Vietnam. 10. Hallin, "Uncensored War," pp. 192ff. II. Editorial, New York Times, May 7, 1972. 12. "An Irony of History," Newsweek, April 28, 1975; final document in William Appleman Williams, Thomas McCormick, Lloyd Gardner, and Walter LaFeber, America in Vietnam: A Documentary History (New York: Anchor, 1985)· 13· Lewis, New York Times, April 21, 24, 1975; December 27, 1979. For these and similar comments by perhaps the most outspoken critic of the war in the mainstream media, see Noam Chomsky, Towards a New Cold War (New York: Pantheon, 1982 ), pp. 28, 144f. and 417n.
