Because U.S. politicians and commanders had oversold progress in the war as a way to quiet domestic dissent, the savage Tet fighting shocked millions of Americans and widened Washington’s “credibility gap” on Vietnam.
But Tet had another long-term consequence. In the years that followed, U.S. conservatives would insist bitterly that critical news reporting about the war in general but particularly the Tet Offensive caused the American defeat, that the U.S. news media had betrayed the nation, that reporters had gone from being the Fourth Estate to acting like an enemy fifth column.
Official Army historians would conclude eventually that the war was lost by poor strategy and excessive casualties, not by disloyal reporters.
But by then, the “press-lost-Vietnam” charge had become an article of faith to many conservatives. That certainty fueled the vitriol of rightist anti-press groups and led deep-pocket conservatives to pour billions of dollars into the construction of an ideologically right-wing media, now one of the most potent political forces in the nation.
In those days, there were no 24/7 news channels or cable TV and communications satellites, yet the war was in everybody's living room every night on the network news. All three of 'em. As time went on, war protests were on the news every night. Still, U.S. combat involvement in that war went on for five more years after Nixon won office with his "secret plan" to end the war.
God only knows how much longer the Iraq occupation will continue what with the wingnuts not wanting to lose another already-lost war and the Democrats afraid of losing elections.
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