Vietnam War: "What a journalist dies for," 50 years ago in "Le Nouvel Obs"
By Olivier Todd
Published on
Reporters cover the final battles on April 28, 1975, on Newport Bridge, two days before the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. LUDWIG/SIPA
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Archives A general's mocking remark about a journalist wounded in Vietnam in 1975 sparked outrage. Olivier Todd responded by recalling the many deaths among reporters, photographers, and cameramen.
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"Get down, General Brasart!" Journalists wounded or killed while covering wars, "members of a professional international that is as good as that of the military, beyond differences of opinion, have taken as many, if not more, risks than you. Each one, with their doubts and convictions, knowing that the profession includes its margin of error, that objectivity is a point at infinity that is never reached, has worked hard and conscientiously enough to put an end to romantic myths and crude insults."
The general to whom Olivier Todd replied, in the article we are republishing, had commented on the injury of a journalist in Vietnam with a "He didn't steal it!", triggering a wave of indignant responses. Like those of Henri Amouroux, director of "France-Soir": "39 journalists were killed in Indochina. How many generals?" Olivier Todd (who died in December 2024) himself covered the Vietnam War for "Le Nouvel Observateur...
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