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Censorship - Revisited
February 2017
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeals
All ye former AFVN news editors,
My most memorable “censorship” issue related to a young Lt. who killed a story I had in my newscast. It related to Dean Rusk saying we were not bombing in Cambodia. The Lt. said I could not run the story of Rusk saying that because his denial meant we were not bombing and thus it was a non-story. This same Lt., name not remembered, said after the Army he planned to run for Congress. Too bad, because I’d like to find out if he did and the result.
And remember “Vietnamization?” We all had to do reports of how the Vietnamese were taking over and were “Hacking” it. We all knew it was not the case, but we had to deliver. Mine was to go to Nha Trang and report on the Air Force academy there.
The real story we could not report- how the South Vietnamese military, except for their Marines, would never measure up. You could have asked any Military Advisor and get a story every day. Such as, Navy guys reporting the SVN warships were not able to get underway, the Captains did not want to leave their mistresses, ship emergency pumps had no gas because it had been stolen. Advisors learned to have only minimal gas in their vehicle tanks because during the day the South Vietnamese would steal it.
Frank
From: Bob Morecook
Dated: February 9, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeal, Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Uh Dickie...? like working for AFVN again --- news? I can honestly tell you that at the end of the war which is to say 72-73--that if AP ran it, AFVN ran it. No censorship. Controversial articles were 'attributed'. We were also instructed to always stick the word PRESIDENT in front of Nixon -- but after two or three days we would go back to calling him Nixon again [after the first usage of his title] .
Best wishes
Bob Morecook
AFVN news 72/3
From: Ken Kalish
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeal, Wednesday, February 10, 2017
Ah, Dickie? Your Daily Appeal appears to short the midsection of our great nation. Are you implying that the “grain belt” is somehow political and unworthy of such great weather as are the coasts?
Ken Kalish
Carma Llama Rescue
AFVN Group Conversations
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeals
Good to know. But, did you set you hair on fire with a Pepsi?
Frank
From: Mike Jackson
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeals
Twice. But that was in a bar in Hong Kong. Don't ever want to tell you how they put it out.
MikeJ
BTW, are all you other guys so busy that you can't CONTRIBUTE? Sometimes I feel there are only 9 or 10 of us who are still alive on this network that can type! Jump in! We won't laugh too much and we'll even divert our eyes. Hell, you might even enjoy the water.
From: David Pinto
Dated: February 8, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeal, Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Bob,
Why do the three or four paragraphs of news which used to begin The Daily Appeal no longer appear?
David
From: Bob Morecook
Dated: February 10, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeal, Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Sorry Captain Bob.... That was not the case in the 60's...we had to give credit for each combat action to the South Vietnamese Army..."assisted" by American Marines or American Forces...and on and on.... I also saw several news releases and photos marked.Not in the best interest of the military." I was also instructed to never mention drugs when interviewing the USO stars..even if they brought it up. Didn't bother me...I was getting paid to be a PR guy for the Army and that's what I did.
Dickie
From: Mike Jackson
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeals
Frank, I just want you to know . . I was never a Lt in Vietnam and I never ran for Congress.
MikeJ
From: Dick Ellis
Dated: February 9, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeal, Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Hi David.
I am the editor of the Daily Appeal. I am the marshal of the NC Court of Appeals...(Daily Appeal) the newsletter is done every morning for our court and the state Supreme Court across the street. I then started sharing with friends....and eventually it was suggested I share it with our AFVN network. Unfortunately our chief judge is a very liberal female who sees a conservative behind every bush. I have worked very hard to keep the newsletter non-political so during the campaign I never used a Trump story.... But now that he is in the White House some of the things he does is actually news.... After all he IS now Commander-in-Chief for all of us. She called me in and instructed me to leave the news headlines out of the Daily Appeal...that each reader should choose their own news headlines in the morning. Thus...no news...almost like working for AFVN again ain't it?
All the best,
Dickie, Editor
NB: Beginning the following day, February 9th, Dickie began to put a few
"highly non-controvsial" news articles into the Daily Apearl. Webmaster
From: R. M. Jackson
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeal, Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Bob,
I think a lot of what Dickie experienced changed significantly after Bob Lawrence did his deed on the air in 1970.
When I arrived in Saigon in early 1971, Col. Souville said I would be the network OIC of news and therefore I should get my butt over to General Creighton Abrams' office at Tan Son Nhut for a briefing, ASAP. When I got there, I was told by his adjutant that the General had an order he wanted to give me. I entered his office and General Abrams simply asked me if I was the new OIC of news over at AFVN. After I said, "Yes sir", he then gave me an order: "You will have full and unequivocal decision-making power over what news is broadcast at AFVN. And that means, if any general--even one with as many stars I have--calls you and says you should do this or that, you respectively ask that general to call me!"
I said, "Yes Sir!", did an about face and got out of there as fast as my shaking legs would carry me.
So, the entire time I was at AFVN, I only killed two network actualities (both from CBS--and the filing reporters agreed with me) and I also changed the word "claimed" to "reported" in every AP B wire story that covered what the American Forces said were our casualties during the previous 24-hour period. It's funny, in all of these same stories, the AP always used the word "reported" when they were mentioning what the NVA was saying about their casualties during the same period. I felt if our people could watch it in Omaha, then our people could watch it in Saigon. Host nation sensitivities? . . . hmmm.
MikeJ
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: February 11, 2017
Subject: The Daily Appeals
T Y, 3 9 (Both mean "Thank You")
Oh, and by the way, now on the subject of names, I was in High School with a girl named Sandy Range. There must be many other unusual names we know.
Frank
NB: "T Y" is easy, it means "ThankYou." But "3 9" may be a bit of a problem for anyone who doesn't know how to count in Japanese. To explain, the numbers "3" and "9" are pronouced "San Kyu" in Japanese. Since the Japanese have a problem with the "th" sound in English as well as a problem in ending a word without a vowel, "Thank You" is pronounced "Sankyu" by most Japanese. I think that Frank is trying to show off.
Another NB: I know a woman named Shelle Pettapiece. Don't ask me how she got through high school with her sanity intact.
Jim White, Webmaster