07 Apr ProPublica, CPJ Host ‘Dateline-Saigon’ Screening & Talk on Holding Government Accountable

During the early years of the Vietnam War, five young reporters from American news outlets struggled to get the truth out about what was really happening in Vietnam in the face of government resistance and disinformation. With the reality on the front lines sharply diverging from the official White House story, their controversial and groundbreaking reporting ushered in a new era of journalism that sought to hold the government accountable.

Thomas D. Herman’s acclaimed documentary “Dateline-Saigon” chronicles the work of these Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists – The New York Times’s David Halberstam; The Associated Press’s Malcolm Browne, Peter Arnett, and photojournalist Horst Faas; and United Press International’s Neil Sheehan: the lies they exposed, the government’s attempts to discredit their reporting, and their determination to get the true story out.

ProPublica and the Committee to Protect Journalists, in partnership with New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, are hosting a free screening of “Dateline-Saigon” on May 4 at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at NYU.

The screening, the film’s New York City premiere, will be followed by a discussion exploring its lessons on the importance of an independent press in preserving democracy, particularly in the face of government officials who seek to suppress information. With contemporary attacks on the press from the White House, and officials who embrace “alternative facts,” these lessons remain chillingly relevant and crucial today.

Moderated by ProPublica managing editor Robin Fields, the panel will include “Dateline-Saigon” director Thomas D. Herman, Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon, and NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen.

By Cynthia Gordy, ProPublica
Read the article here: www.propublica.org