CNN's Tailwind Tale: Inside Vietnam's Last Great Myth

by Jerry Lembcke

On June 7, 1998 CNN broadcast Valley of Death, the story of a 1970 raid into Laos by U.S. Special Forces. According to the report, Operation Tailwind had used sarin nerve gas to kill U.S. soldiers who had defected to the North Vietnamese. After a firestorm of controversy, CNN retracted the report, ruining the career of rising star April Oliver and compromising the network's credibility. Called "the TV news story of the year" by TV Guide, CNN's Operation Tailwind fiasco was the biggest news scandal of the 1990s.

Hearing about the story after its broadcast, Jerry Lembcke was struck by its resemblance to war legends and myths. His search for the origins of the tale, and an explanation for why top-level journalists would believe it, led him into the shocking world of political paranoia, where conspiracy theory, popular culture, religious fundamentalism, and the fantasies of war veterans cross paths. Approaching the story as a case study in why people believe what they do, Lembcke reversed the normal inquiry into how journalists shape what the rest of us know, to ask questions about the social forces that shape what journalists know.

With a likeness to Herbert Gans' 1980 classic, Deciding What's News , Jerry Lembcke's CNN's Tailwind Tale is at once a study of American journalism that opens a window on America itself.
Special link to the author's interview on Radio Nation discussing this new book -

Genres: Politics

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2003

About the author

Jerry Lembcke is associate professor emeritus of sociology at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, as well as the author of several books.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read, not just for military historians or media buffs, everyone should read it. The first chapter is difficult to get through, kind of boring actually, but continue reading. Lembcke points out that "Hollywood" has affected peoples' memories especially war memories. He also apprises us of another problem, the monopolization of media outlets and the merging of entertainment and news organizations. The author also points out that reporters' objectivity is affected by their upbringing and understanding of history. Perhaps the most disconcerting takeaway from this book is Neil Postman's idea "the danger of a public misinformed by government or corporate propaganda might now be surpassed by the nightmare of a populace that can't distinguish between truth and lies--and doesn't care. Just after reading the book I read an editorial about Rupert Murdoch's empire and wonder if the template for their news came from CNN Reporter April Oliver's research for her piece on Operation Tailwind.