IF JOURNALISM were a profession, Peter Braestrup’s 1977 book Big Story would be required reading in every journalism school. Braestrup’s long subtitle is a little dry: “How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington.” But his analysis was memorable. Braestrup showed that the press blew the story of the Tet offensive, portraying a major American battlefield victory as a disaster. In the introduction to the 1994 edition, Braestrup characterized the coverage as “an unusual media malfunction,” one “on a scale that helped shaped Tet’s repercussions in Washington and the Administration’s response.”

Many have noted the media’s efforts to portray the the current war in Iraq as a replay of Vietnam. These efforts date back to R.W. Apple’s invocation of Vietnam on day 24 of the campaign in Afghanistan: