Controlling the Media is Necessary to Win and Prevent Wars (5 rounds)

I will compare and contrast my examples. my opponent missed one important fact that when the US formally declares war the legality of the first amendment changes so that the government can control the press to aid the war effort. this would explain the lack of conspiracy theories regarding this matter because ti was all perfectly legal. spanish american war newspapers prosperously misrepresented the spanish and their treatment of the cubans to start a war. when the USS maine exploded the US was already clambering for war and was looking for an excuse so the newspapers reported it an act of spanish aggression and started the war that we both agree was wasteful/unnecessary to protect/presence all that mishmash. it has not been proven that the spanish id cause the explosion of the maine but send me the evidence and i can change my mind. WWII after Perl harbor the american public wanted to hear how great the war effort was and about the heroism of the troops. letters were censored legaly by the government and reporters were not allowed to publish photos or articles that showed how bad the war was. the war remained popular throng the strategic bombing of civilian targets, the destruction of dresden, the firebombing of tokyo, the atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki. so the media was controlled to some extent but not strictly because a newspaper criticizing the war would not sell well anyway. vietnam LBJ overreacts to an incident in the gulf of tonkin that plunges the US into war. this war was different in that war was not formally declared that would of allowed for the legal restriction of the media. the Media using new technology like TV and videos showed the american public the true horrors of war. naturally the war that began as a popular tuned sour. soon under increasing public pressure the US pulls out without achieving its objective. we can debate over the vietnam war but that is another debate that i would love to participate in. here are the facts. when the US left millions of vietnamese fled the country to escape the oppressive communists. those left behind were placed in reeducation camps where hundreds of thousands of south vietnamese died of hunger and exposure compared to the 50 thousand Us troops that had died so far. the south thrived while the US aided them drive out an forigen and oppressive invader producing more and sustaining a stronger economy than its northern counterpart. this all collapsed when the US left. we can debate the motives and whatever another time. is this evidence that i presented show that it was a mistake to leave? the suffering and death that we left in our wake is that right? i say no. if we entered for the wrong reasons i say we leave for the right reasons. that is when we have won or we lost. neither happened but the war ended for the wrong reasons because of pressure from home as a result of the media. we gave up because of the media. lets compare WWII and vietnam and the role of the Media. a reporter broke the story of an platoon of American troops that massacred over a hundred vietnamese civilians. this caused an uproar because the media portrayed it so strongly and negatively. that the war was a horrible and nefarious thing that made Americans into monsters. two atomic bombs are dropped on the japanese cities of hiroshima and nagasaki killing over 150,000 civilians instantly. america celebrated as this action of inhumanity brought japan to its knees. as you can see the power of the Media can make a small incident seem huge and a horrible action seem humane. other examples of american barbarity i listed above that killed millions. no such incidents happened in vietnam but we all remember it as a war of countless atrocities. interesing.... i will refute my opponents argument. my opponent argued that the controlling the media is a violation of human rights and that is why it should not be controlled. however, this argument does not adress my argument. i argue that its necessary to control the media to prevent it form guiding the american people in a misguided direction and to war and to loosing wars. i ask my opponent to adress my argument. i will admit defeat if my opponent can provide sufficient argument that if the Media is given free reign it will report accurately and relatively to the actual events to inform and not to just make money in times of war.