Aspell began his career as a scriptwriter and cameraman in 1970 with Visnews. He was among the few foreign journalists who remained in Southeast Asia when Saigon fell to communist forces on April 30, 1975. From 1975 to 1978, he was a freelance cameraman in the Middle East. In 1978, he joined CBS News as a cameraman covering Beirut, where he then worked as a producer for ABC News from 1981 to 1983.