In watching Ken Burns' Vietnam War docuseries it becomes obvious, after a certain point, that Vietnam is unique in its media coverage.

Reporters are delivering stories live during the fighting in Saigon, bullets flying around their heads.

One man is talking to the camera sitting in the rubble on a street and notices his leg is bleeding through his trousers.

Both a cameraman and an AP photographer witness and document an execution, and its broadcasted on the news and put on the front pages of newspapers.

It really begs the question, why were they allowed to get so close?

Is it just because the government hadn't learned how bad it is for national opinion to show the brutality of war in the media?