Associated Press Reporting Handbook Chapter 23 Using the Internet

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Associated Press Reporting HandbookChapter 23
Using the Internet

• Still Stuck in Vietnam, 25 Years Later
• By JERRY SCHWARTZ
• AP National Writer

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• This story is about retired professor Robert
  Blackburn in Missoula, Mont.
• What was the malady Blackburn said caused him to
  suffer?
• Emotional Numbness
• What was the paradox
• He could remember, but he couldnt remember.
• I do not remember the name of any person I ever
  served with in Vietnam.
• He served two tours.

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• What was the anniversary that sparked Schwartzs
  story.
• 25 years since Saigon fell.
• Was the specter of Vietnam buried forever?
• It returns in shattered lives and our scars keep
  us second guessing our responses to provocations
  overseas.
• Jimmy Carters pardon of draft evaders was a slap
  in the face to some veterans.
• Jane Fondas actions not appreciated, either.

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• The Vietnam War will be a major force in in our
  lives until the entire baby boom generation dies
  out -- and even after, according to John Hellman,
  author of American Myth and the Legacy of
  Vietnam.
• Its like the Civil War.
• Lou Szaris experience was different from that of
  Blackburn.
• Kent State student teacher.
• Four students shot.

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• Liz Troshane saw it happen.
• Something died in me.
• Jay Hatcher found he was surrounded by a mob.
• He never supported the war.
• He became a hippie.
• Quit school, dodged the draft, but still wound up
  going into the Coast Guard.
• Hatcher remembers
• Troshane remembers

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• Liz Troshane saw it happen.
• Something died in me.
• Jay Hatcher found he was surrounded by a mob.
• He never supported the war.
• He became a hippie.
• Quit school, dodged the draft, but still wound up
  going into the Coast Guard.
• Hatcher remembers
• Troshane and Szari remember

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• Its the American hero were rescuing, the
  American hero who has been unaccountably trapped
  and cannot get out, Hellman says.
• Much like America itself. (American Myth and the
  Legacy of Vietnam.)
• Mark Basinger lost his father in Vietnam.
  Basinger was only 17 months old. Capt. Basinger
  was 24 years old.
• There were 58,178 American deaths in Vietnam.
• 2,043 still missing when this was written.

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• 3,403,100 served in Southeast Asia.
• Vietnam was weeks of tedium -- monsoon rains,
  smells, heat, long hikes through tall elephant
  grass with 75 pounds on your back, leeches
  everywhere
• There are some things I have to keep to myself,
  Blackburn says.
• He wants to explain every casualty.
• He has no illusions that his work will help him
  put Vietnam behind him. He will work to help
  those who can.

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• Jerry Schwartz was the editor of Penn States
  student newspaper when the Vietnam War ended.
• This story was an anniversary piece.
• He had lived the history.
• I didnt want this story to be a parade.
• I chose to rely on a reporters tool that did
  not exist when the last American choppers
  departed Saigon The World Wide Web.
• This story was researched almost entirely on the
  Internet.

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• Blackburns Web site.
• Searched for Vietnam widow
• Discussion groups
• Tripped over a site devoted to Kent State
  shootings.
• Hatchers oral history was posted.
• Names on the Kent State library site.
• Tracked Hellman and bought his book online.
• Statistics on Vietnam were online.

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• Richard Basingers name is on the Vietnam
  Memorial on the Virtal Wall on the Web.
• Only Allen Comba, the New Jersey veteran and
  lawyer had no Web connection.
• He was the lawyer who handled the closing on
  Schwartzs house.