The Legacy of American Photojournalism in Ken Burns’s Vietnam War Documentary Series

Abstract

This is a foray into The Vietnam War, the documentary series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and released by PBS in September 2017. Through this new historical retelling, the directors aim at reconciling the nation with its painful history. New documents are revealed and old documents are reconsidered. The role of the media during the war, which has been subjected to much historiographical debate, is viewed from a different angle. Iconic photographs used to be deemed influential and have deeply impacted the social memory of the war. They are now reinserted into history to contribute to a new educational approach. This is a new stage in the general historiography of the war in Vietnam.

Keywords

• antiwar movement
• historiography
• iconic photographs
• influence
• news media
• press photography