Impact of the Media in the Vietnam War

Impact of the Media in the Vietnam War By the spring of 1975, the Vietnam War had ended in victory for the enemies of the United States and ever since this, historians have been preoccupied with explaining why America failed in Vietnam. In the most part, the Vietnam War has been portrayed as a military failure, and whilst this is true it ignores the highly decisive role of the media. Hanson recognises that there is a distinctive lack of theoretical assessment of the impact of the media on foreign policy. Therefore I am to prove amongst other facts that it was the role of the media which inevitably led to American failure in the Vietnam War. As James Reston concluded; Maybe historians will agree that the reporters and the cameras were decisive in the endand forced the withdrawal of American power from Vietnam. Firstly it will assess why the American press stopped supporting American intervention in Vietnam. The Tet offensive in 1968 is often pin pointed by historians as the event from which the perception of the wars success changed. I will then assess how the media affected American withdrawal and how much influence the media had on policy making of the American government. Another key question that this dissertation will address is what and how other deciding factors caused American failure. Many historians have focused on the military failures and I will assess how this is an accurate assessment of American involvement. By addressing these questions I will, furthermore, be able to argue whether or not American failure in Vietnam was inevitable which has become the argument for many historians. However further research on the subject highlights that domestic issues such as the growing anti-war movement affected withdrawal. From this I would like to assess the nature in which the press reported on such groups and if the media influenced their growth. Many primary and secondary sources have been used to research this dissertation. I have focused my attention to The New York Times as it is a liberal broadsheet published across America and is considered to be a paper which was highly critical of the war. During my research into secondary sources I have noticed that particular articles have often been selected from this newspaper by various historians. I will use some of these articles alongside others that have not previously been included in research to deepen the understanding of the medias role. By using a variety of these articles I will be able to support or disprove current historical thought on the subject. The positive of using newspapers in my research, is that I easily uncover patterns in reporting styles and can map the changes of opinions. Negatively however, newspapers are generally as biased; reporters can often use their articles to air their own personal opinions and may not reflect their audiences beliefs. They may also be bias as they are producing an opinion that will have been dictated from the papers editors and will follow their policy on the war. I have also used the Museum of Broadcast Communication, which is an online archive that has stored radio and television broadcasts from America. Current research into Vietnam focuses on newspaper articles and by using these broadcasts I hope to find a greater understanding into the role the whole media played. Hallin believes that using television in assessing the role of the media is vital as it made Vietnam politically unique. The advantage of using these broadcasts is that the tone used by the reporters indicates how they perceived the war at that time and mean that there may be less misinterpretation of their view. Again, like the newspapers, there will be a degree of bias and this does not always reflect the American publics opinions. In some cases the television reports are often accused of enforcing particular views of the war on the public. One criticism of American intervention in Vietnam is that America failed to learn from its mistakes in the Korean War. The hindsight that we have after such conflicts can make it seem as though a particular decision was gravely needed or acted as a catalyst. However, as historians, it is vital that whilst studying the Vietnam War, we do not assess the war in a modern day context but from the position at that time. Therefore I shall assess how the conflict is placed on the global scene during the Cold War, and how it places within American society at the time. The development of the media is also an issue I had to consider in my research due to the technological advancements that it has faced. The nature in which media is used is also subject to change, and therefore its role must be effectively defined and evaluated. McCormick argues that the role of the media did not begin after the cold war but that it expanded within it, with coverage reaching into peoples homes. Another example would be from the First World War, when photography was used for reconnaissance purposes and data collection. The army later used photography as a form of propaganda to recruit men for the war. This example shows the changing nature of photography and the Vietnam War was no exception. Photography takes on a new role and Susan Moellers study on the effects of three iconic images highlights that photographs begin to sum up entire wars and that they make war comprehensible to American civilians and the wider world. Photography and other media forms are always used for a particular purpose and it is important to consider their purpose in the interpretation of the sources. America had prospered greatly in the World Wars; industry had grown significantly and as a consequence Americas economy was achieving new heights. This therefore shows that America had much to lose if it no longer controlled the markets of the world. The ideological subtext of the Cold War is imperative in understanding the failures of America in Vietnam. This helps to explain how it was perceived that if communism was to gain power, that the economy of said country would be hostile to the free market system; and so a policy to protect Americas interests was needed. Walli believes that the hysteria and myths created by Truman were necessary for the American and global public to support America in its actions. Truman is said to have used the media to create this hysteria in the first place and shows how the government manipulated the media. In which case, this statement may explain why the government resented the media during the conflict as they were unable to control and manipulate it so easily. As Smith states, the Vietnam War was a product of a global pattern of conflict and must be discussed in the context of global developments for information to be correctly used. So, the Vietnam War must be assessed as one of a number of conflicts after the Second World War. America played a leading role in several of these cold war conflicts, such as, Korea, Cuba, Laos, Greece and the Berlin. As literature of the time reflects, America was portrayed as the guardian angel of these countries freedoms against the evil of Communism. This echoes the position of the elites like Nixon, who pleaded for anti-communist faith, Communism is evil because it denies God and defies man. However real the threat of Communist expansionism actually was, to the people of America it posed a serious threat to the freedoms that they had become accustomed to. When, in reality, the Soviet Union was far from being in a position to begin colonising and spreading the Communist ideology. It is also naà ¯ve of Ame rica to have believed that every revolutionary group was a puppet of the Kremlin. This dissertation will examine the role of the media as the agent of American failure. It would be naive to blame the media alone and the dissertation will also look at other factors that contributed to American failure and assess which ultimately led to American withdrawal. Historiography: The Vietnam War has drawn the attention of many scholars since Americas intervention in the war. Caprini believed that this is because where lines between consensus, legitimate controversy and deviance become blurred, such as in the Vietnam War, that debate expands. As Herring points out many of the issues still contested today are the issues that Americans debated during the war. There are many questions which are regularly debated between historians on this topic such as why did America involve itself in Vietnam? Did America fail in Vietnam and was American intervention doomed to failure? Most importantly for this study is the question, why did America fail in Vietnam? Previous studies on the Vietnam War have often made assumptions and judgements on American intervention. This has therefore led to two different schools of interpretation on the nature of the war and Cohen believes that a historians judgement on the nature of the war will determine the tone of their research. For example revisionists believe that the war in Vietnam was that the war was an act of aggression by the North Vietnamese on the South. This would therefore lead to the historians such as Smith, who justifies American escalation of the war in Vietnam. However other historians believe that America were not justified in their actions and that it was in fact a revolutionary war and that the Vietnamese where fighting for their independence against the French and then the Americans. Historians such as Kolko and Kahin have heavily criticised American intervention in the Vietnam War as immoral and that America was trying to preserve economic interests. These different interpretations will therefore influence how they view successes and failures of America, or even if the same event is a success or a failure. Devine believes that more recent analysis of the Vietnam War has lead to a growth of resentment for American involvement in the Vietnam War and consequent failures. Historians such as Lens and Kolko seek to evaluate Americas motives and efficiency. However, Lens is overly critical of the American motives within the war and the methods that they use in the wider global context. This therefore reflects Devines statement of growing resentment for American involvement, but also demonstrates that literature on the Cold War in general has growing resentment for America. Schreckers investigation into McCarthyism in the United States can similarly be seen as overly critical. However, after reflecting this book, many can sympathise with her well constructed argument. Nonetheless, there is literature on the subject of resentment of American involvement evident in the emotively written book, Vietnam North, by Burchett. This is a written documentary constructed during the period focusing on the experiences and opinions of the North Vietnamese. Whilst extremely useful to historians for its insight into an area which previously lacked much attention, if looked at in isolation, it can paint a very bleak image of American involvement. Pieces such as these most definitely influence the works of modern day historians as they reach to new sources for information. The sources which historians use will also effect of they construct their arguments. Research into Vietnam has become more enlightened in recent years with the release of more sources. However there are still many sources still unavailable or insufficiently used, whilst historians have begun to use more Vietnamese sources Kiernan highlights that this is an area which needs much more attention and will contribute the most to historical understanding. It is also important to consider that interpretations of sources can be widely different according to historians perspective on the war generally. Therefore it is important to remain neutral in the analysis of primary sources and to consider them within the context of the cold war period. Hallins work focuses on the use of media sources, he clearly recognises that media was not the same all over America, and the provenances of the source can change how and why they were written. The Vietnam War can not be analysed in a simplistic form as there are many different dimensions to it. Fisher highlights that America was not fighting one enemy; surface level analysis by historians has led to a basic review of cold war ideology. The war in Vietnam is not a clear cut battle between capitalism and communism because there is also a strong nationalist movement, the fight for independence being strong feature in the Vietnamese war. Some historians believe that the war actually stems from a civil war within South Vietnam, between southern rebels and a Saigon government with far heavier foreign backing. Therefore the assessment has been made that America failed in Vietnam because they assumed that dividing Vietnam in half would automatically make the South all obey Diems regime without question. Whilst this may be an important dimension to consider, the division of Vietnam is not why America failed. The importance of Diem and Americas failure to hold elections in Vietnam i s a plausible beginning to American failure. Most importantly, current studies on the subject ignore the medias influence on America with regard to the Diem regime. Hammond recognises that American reporters were disliked by Diems regime because they reported freely about their opinions of the war and often criticised the role the South Vietnamese were playing. Where many historians have ignored this dimension Hammond explores it and concludes that these negative reports acted as catalyst to disenchant the war with the American people. This assessment does not mean that the reports were a hate campaign against Diem but that reports were not complimentary to the South Vietnamese forces, and instead fully supported the American troops. Caprini reiterates this point with the example of the Buddhist crisis in May 1963 which questions Diems regime but not the overall goal of American involvement. Kleins collection of essays in, The Vietnam Era; Media and popular culture in the US and Vietnam take an orthodox and post-revisionist view of the war in Vietnam. This is evident from the outset of the book as Klein criticises the American government for creating the atmosphere of anti-communism to lure the American people into conflicts. The book assesses the importance of the role of the media and how the anti-war movement grew. There does seem to be little attempt to address the military failures or strategic decisions which would have ultimately led to the reports of the press and protests of the anti-war movement. However, Klein does recognise that the popular culture was influenced and flooded by material from novelists who tend to stereotype the Vietnamese as dehumanised others and criticises their stance as ignorant. Again such statements as these led to criticism of American government involvement in the war as imperialistic and non-accidental. The in depth study of non pres s material by Klein has greatly added to the knowledge on the debate of the effects of media materials on American perceptions of the war. He assesses more the creation of those images and perceptions before the book focuses on the development of anti-war movements. A key question raised by Caprini in a following essay in Kleins book reveals that the lack of anti-war movement may be because the media did not consider Vietnam news worthy until 1961. Therefore there is less coverage to convince people to stop supporting the war effort. This may reveal why the media had no influence in American withdrawal earlier in the war or as Caprini states that coverage before 1961 was limited to propaganda style film segments. Hammond seeks to examine the relationship between the media and military during the Vietnam War. The main argument in these books are that it was the militarys strategic decisions which led to American failure, but it is the press who were seen as responsible for making the American public aware of these issues. This reflects many of the military leaders opinions of the time as well as the governments and as another historian, Hallin points out even the enlisted men where beginning to resent the press and view them as their enemy. Hammond seems to be aiming to highlight relationship problems between the press and the government to prevent future conflicts. In contrast Hallin examines the changing role that the media played in the Vietnam War and does recognise that the media played a vital role in the changing of American policy in Vietnam. However instead of blaming the failure on the strategic decisions of the military as Hammond does, Hallin believes that it was the presidential a dministrations fault for not creating restrictions for the media in the form of censorship. Although these historians both vary on what they believe to be most important in the medias role and effect, there are points of agreement. For example, Hammond also believes that there were some attempts to censor information released to the press, that this had little affect, but that America ultimately did not set into place any system of censorship in the media. Many historians have laid the blame of American failure to different presidents. For example, Hammond asserts Kennedys importance as he was preoccupied in Europe and Cuba, and he postponed decisions through compromise and didnt efficiently quash mid-level officers from airing their views to the press about American policies. Smith, although not really assessing why America failed in Vietnam, does begin to discuss how each president led to escalation of the war. Beginning with justifying Kennedys actions Smith believes that it was ultimately Johnsons fault for his inappropriate approach to the war which did not contribute to American success. There is a great deal of discussion over this issue and another perspective is that Truman planted the seeds of failure with his policies. Even earlier though is the presidency of Eisenhower, and Gardener and Anderson believe that it was Eisenhower who created the ideological approach which constantly dictated American policies of the post second world war period which created problems for following administrations. How Did the Media Cause American Failure?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Failure of America in the Vietnam War can be accredited to the medias portrayal of the conflict. Current discussions on America intervention and what caused the failure can all be linked with the media explosion during the period of critical and investigative journalism, which forced American withdrawal and changes in policy making. Within Powlick and Katzs reviews of literature on this subject they believe that it was in fact the elites with in government that argued what the media articulated to the public and that foreign policy was not affected by public opinion. Previously investigated factors such as the role of the South Vietnamese and American governments and the military strategies employed in the failure of America in Vietnam can all be attributed to the media coverage which surrounded the conflict. This chapter will critically assess each of these factors in relation to media primary sources and which will pro duce the conclusion that the media did have play an important role in American failure. How did the media cover the war? As previously stated, the nature of media coverage was ever changing and during the Vietnam War these changes increased the impact that the reports. The coverage of the Vietnam War was not always at the same intensity throughout the conflict and may explain why America failed as intensity grew the prospect of failure grew. There is a consensus among historians that press coverage of the Vietnam War only began to grow after 1961 and reached its height in 1968. However, Edmond notes that after 1968 coverage of the Vietnam War by the press and television had greatly declined. Parallel to the rise of media attention to the war between 1961 and 1968, was the rise in more critical reports about American policies and South Vietnamese forces impact in the conflict. The reports were not wholly positive or wholly negative regarding Vietnam, but there was a rise in criticism as the war progresses. However, before 1965 most of the coverage was mainly positive which may coincide with the fact tha t only after the summer of 1964 did American foreign policy change in Vietnam. At this point Johnson begins escalation by introducing retaliatory air strikes against the North Vietnamese. Interestingly, during the early stages of the conflict, reports that were deemed too controversial were edited to suit the papers stance on the war. H. D. S. Greenway, a reporter for Time magazine and The Washington Post from 1967 to 1975, felt that before the Tet offensive that we would write something and the magazine would ignore it if it wasnt upbeat. This shows that the papers were fuelling the deluded optimism, which in effect when removed in the Tet offensive, led to huge disillusionment of the American public. It also displays how in the most part press, television and radio all followed the official line. It is recognised by John Shaw that Many American editors ignored what their correspondents in Vietnam were telling them in favour of the Washington version. Cleary this statement by Shaw is sustained by comments like that of Greenwoods and other reporters who testify that their stories are not being published. This hesitancy within the media to report the negatives as well as the positives in the earlier stages may have been the reason for prolonged American involvement as since the level of criticism increase more pressure is asserted onto the government for policy changes. In this case it is not the reporters who are to blame for American failure in the war but their editors. This is because had the American public realised the truth behind Vietnam earlier then government policy may have changed and consequently America may not have failed. It is still believed today that the press will reflect the norms and accepted thoughts in society. It will rarely go against popular assumptions for fear of damaging business. As a consequence of these theories, one would assume that it would also affect the way in which articles were written and determine how the television and radio represented their stories. For example Chomsky and Herman believed that the anti-communist ideology provided the media with a framework to report within. If you were seen to question the reports, you may be accused of being unpatriotic and so you would be socially excluded whilst McCarthyism was at its height. This is best illustrated in the earlier articles on the Vietnam War by supporting the war effort and that following articles retain the a half hearted optimism. Due to the heightened fear of Communism through McCarthyism any questioning of the American policy in Vietnam would have been greatly disapproved of. An interpretation of this information would show that the media propped up American success due to the social conditioning of the period. The tone of the reports were also generally optimistic during the early stages of the war because the majority of the information that they were given was from the government. Another reason for the positive reporting may be due to the fact there were no permanent reporters based in Saigon initially, so they were unable to report everything as they saw it, and instead had to rely on official reports. The only daily newspaper with a full-time correspondent at the time was the New York Times, whilst other papers had to rely on news agencies. This may explain why this paper took a particularly critical line on Vietnam as they were able to see the escalation of American involvement in the war first hand. The article by Jacques Nevard in the New York Times in July 1962 displays this official line of optimism coupled with some questioning. The article remains positive about the success of the helicopter mission, reported to have swept about twenty miles. Reporting at this time largely focuses on a quantative method to measure success, and the large area covered here praises the American forces. These figurers were widely accepted when published whilst later on in the war there is a criticism of the figures used in these reports. This positive and supportive tone continues through to 1965 where Mohr reports that the United States is still in a defensive position, although a strong one. This consistency shows that the illusion that America could still win the war was still believed by most of America. Therefore, the media could be blamed for pursuing information and a line which would ultimately lead to great resentment from American public on the war in Vietnam, particularly after the T et offensive as victory becomes unlikely. The Media and South Vietnamese Government: The medias relationship with the South Vietnamese Government also undergoes rapid changes during the Vietnam War. For example the Diems regime treats the media with suspicion and there are many restrictions in place to prevent reporting on the conflict by internal press and external press. However this does not remain the same as the war progresses, with the removal of Diem, the new government is weary of losing the support of its press and lifts restrictions. These two approaches to the media have had many consequences and caused the failure in Vietnam for America. Nevards article shows the freedom of reporting before Diem imposed his restrictions in its releasing of military mission details and shows early criticism of South Vietnamese forces. Typically, the report is mainly positive about American involvement, following the official line of optimism, but does criticise the South Vietnamese forces; Some United States officers here are alarmed over the growing dependence of Vietnamese army shows the criticism of the army whilst referring to the American army as sophisticated support. The article also shows how the media would release what Diem believed to be important strategic information relating to numbers of troops and new missions, e.g. 1,000 Government troops were landed yesterday and Forty-one Air Force helicopters were used in the operation, which if intercepted by the North Vietnamese could be used to plan attacks and strategies. This could therefore lead to the military defeat of American and South Vietnamese military forces. Reports lacking in success stories for the South Vietnamese or American troops may also be as used as propaganda pieces of the enemy. This psychologically would give the North Vietnamese insurgent forces an advantage which would lead to American failure. Johnson for example recognises doom and gloom dont win wars, which reiterates the importance psychology in fighting the war in an interview with Cronkite. Moreover the gallop polls construct a narrative of American support for the war which corresponds to how American intervention is going. Diems request that America censor their media becomes an issue as historian Hallin concludes that if the Kennedy administration had censored the media, it could be interpreted that America was running a war and which would contradict its public relations strategy. However three months later in the New York Times, Halberstam reports that Diem is enforcing his own measures to create censorship. Some historians believe that these measures acted as an irritant and actually increased more critical reporting in Vietnam as the reporters felt that their freedoms were being removed. The torrent of articles criticising Diems regime are best illustrated in Halberstams article, feel they are being muzzled by the South Vietnamese Government. The choices of words such as muzzled in this report are fundamental in the understanding of the stance of the reporter, as they are emotive. Therefore the animosity of the reporter to Diem can be seen whilst representing the idea through the military opinions. The entire negative reporting surrounding Diems regime eventually leads to the American government having to distance itself as the American public begin to see that the South Vietnamese government is corrupt and prejudice. Furthermore this is all brought to a head during the Buddhist crisis in which reporters are heavily criticised for their role and two reporters are expelled. The South Vietnamese governments reaction simply demonstrates how the media are obviously an effective force in the creation of public opinion. This also highlights Americas inability to have created and sustained a new government in South Vietnam, which can be measured as a failure caused by media coverage. The affect of the media in this situation also creates numerous discussions by the Kennedy administration in building up anti-Diem forces in Saigon and consequently implementing the coup to remove Diem from office. The new government in Vietnam took on a very different approach to the media and wished not to come under heavy criticism from the press. In a memorandum from Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Special Assistant to the Under Secretary in 1963, it highlighted the South Vietnamese government has: In part, fear of criticism in the foreign press has inclined the new government to lean over backwards as regards press freedom. Also, there is some suspicion that those with power over the press are using it selectively against preferred targets. In any case, the performance of the press has not improved matters greatly and some better balance between freedom and license is urgently needed. This would highlight that the media has directly affected policies of the South Vietnamese government. The fact that this is reported within the Kennedy administration could show that this concern may have effected communications with the American government and South Vietnamese government. The Media and United States Government:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There appears to be great tension between the government officials and the media during the Vietnam War, McMahon stresses that the President Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy all believed that the press was their worse enemy. Herring and Robinson equally refer to how the media was opposed to the American Government. This is due to the growing criticism of the media on the Government which is at its height between 1968 and 1972. Although it is argued by Edmonds that the media had no effect on the policy making of American administration, it is clear from a memorandum from the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Special Assistant to the Under Secretary in 1963, that the press do have an effect on morale, The N.Y Times editorial and Reston and Lippmann columns on the subject were a body blow to morale in Saigon. This therefore shows that the government are aware that the media do have an effect on opinions on the war, a nd consequently this would be addressed in future policies in the Vietnam War.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Further evidence that the media have an effect on the American and Vietnamese public can also be found in the notes of a meeting in 1968 between Secretary McNamara, President Johnson, General Wheeler, Clark Clifford, CIA Director Helms and Walt Rostow on the topic of proposed action beyond the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) into North Vietnam. The comments made in the discussion reveal that decisions would consider how the press would report on the matter and how best to release the information into the press. Therefore this would indicate that the American government were definitely affected by the press coverage and that the press could easily control the success or failures of the war. CIA Director Helms is quoted to have said; It is a great thing if you can keep it out of the hands of the press, which would reinforce this theory. Kovach recognises that new technological advances pose new problems for the elite, as each new technology has allowed untrained voices to comment on discussions, which he believes should only be debated by elites. Resentment from the media towards the government would have become much more erratic had the government prevented their coverage of the Vietnam War, and possibly cre

Newborn Exam

The government initiatives to reduce junior doctors’ hours within the NHS Plan (DH 2000) have increased the call for midwives to expand their traditional role and take on some of the tasks that in the past have mainly been carried out by junior doctors (Kings Fund 2011). Having been working within the community setting as a midwife for the past three years I was interested in extending my role in order to provide more holistic care for my caseload of clients and their babies.Holistic care for mothers, babies and their families is highly recommended within the midwifery profession and is known to provide an improved experience for women (Changing Childbirth (DOH 1993a) NMC 2012, NICE 2006). The Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) is one element of the UK National Screening programme and is offered to all parents for their baby within 72 hours of birth and then repeated again at 6 weeks of age, usually by their GP.This role is one of the tasks that has been highlighte d where midwives can expand their role (Marshall & Raynor 2010). The trust where I work has recently introduced community clinics where parents can take their baby in order to have the newborn examination performed, therefore allowing early discharge home from the unit enabling early family bonding. With this in mind I commenced the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination course.Screening has been used within the NHS for many decades and is a process that enables the health professional to highlight healthy members of the population that could potentially have a health related problem (UK National Screening Committee 2008). The NIPE is a head to toe examination that will enable a practitioner to detect in an apparently healthy baby any abnormality that can then be referred onto the appropriate professional for further investigation.This can then improve the newborns future health by providing early intervention and prevention of further complications (DOH 2009). It particularly focu ses on the eye, heart, hips and testes in the male infant. The importance of these particular areas is of great significance to the baby’s future health. An undetected congenital cataract may lead to the child being blind in that eye. A missed heart defect may not be diagnosed until the parents present with a very unwell or even dead infant.If developmental dysplasia of the hip is not treated early enough following birth it could lead to several episodes of major surgery or even disability in the future. Bilateral undescended testes can lead to problems with future fertility. There are many issues surrounding the NIPE that are argued about within the literature Green and Oddie (2008) question whether the NIPE provides the population with and improvement to overall health or if it just gives the parents reassurance that could in the future be proved wrong, due to the NIPE being a screening tool and not a diagnostic test.Within the content of this essay I will be critically ana lysing the NIPE and some issues around this topic focusing particularly on the examination of the hips. Since being a midwife, and a mother, I have always found this part of the examination most difficult to watch someone perform as it appears to be uncomfortable for the baby. Therefore on commencing the course I have been aware of the discomfort it appears to give the newborn and also the distress this could in turn cause for the parents.I will also be looking into the issues regarding which professional is best qualified to be performing the examination and also if there are any benefits or risks as to the place that it is undertaken. When I am performing the examination I will mainly be alone in the community setting either at a children’s centre or within the home environment, so therefore it is imperative that I am aware of any limitations this may present for the baby, parents or me.As previously mentioned there is a growing trend within many obstetric units for midwive s to carry out the NIPE examination. Within the trust that I am based midwifery led clinics are held on the post natal ward and also within the community for the sole purpose of performing the newborn examination. Bloomfield et al (2003) discussed where the examination should take place and found differing opinions. The benefits of being in hospital were noted to be that medical back up was available and it was more convenient for further immediate referral process.Community examinations were thought to be more likely to enable the parents to ask questions and mention concerns due to the relaxed environment. Following the Maternity Matters report (DOH 2007) advocating that women should have a greater choice for place of birth the home birth rate has increased and is continuing to do so. It is therefore ideal for community based NIPE facilities so that women do not have to attend hospital at all following a home birth.On reflection the examinations that I have witnessed and performed unfortunately seem to have been a way to speed up the postnatal discharge procedure therefore freeing up beds within the unit and not due to providing a more continuous midwifery led experience for the parents and baby as Hutcherson (2010) found. The ideal situation would be to perform the examination on the newborn belonging to the mother you have seen through antenatal care and will be caring for post natally therefore providing continuous care for your personal caseload of clients, as discussed by Baston & Durward (2010).The patient satisfaction and overall job satisfaction in this case scenario would be high for all involved but unfortunately I feel in practice will be a rare occurrence. Eventually I believe that in our trust when there are enough trained midwives within each geographical area the possibility of a midwife performing newborn examinations on babies within the teams’ caseload is possible. This far from being the ideal scenario is the closest it will probabl y get to the holistic care sought after by myself and many other midwives.The EMREN (Evaluation of Midwife Role extension in the routine Examination of the Newborn) study carried out by Townsend et al (2004) looked into aspects of the NIPE one of them being whether a midwife was as capable as a senior house officer when carrying out the NIPE and discovered not only that this was the case but that the mothers satisfaction level may be increased if a midwife performed the NIPE and that also money may be saved by the NHS.Having observed SHO’s, appropriately trained midwives and advanced neonatal practitioners (ANP) performing the NIPE I felt that the midwives and ANP’s communicated far more effectively with both the baby and parents therefore better fulfilling the communication aspect of the competency’s indicated by the UK National Screening Committee (2008). They also provided more detailed information on parenting and public health issues during the examinations which should be an integral part of the NIPE (Baston & Durward 2010).There has been much interest recently into whether pulse oximetry should be part of the newborn screening for congenital heart defects. The UK National Screening Committee is at the present time looking into whether this should be included within the NIPE as part of the screening for congenital heart defects in the newborn. It has been recommended in recent studies and has found to increase the detection rate of congenital heart defects (Ewer et al 2011, Chang 2009). Within our trust I have seen this performed on three ewborns following their NIPE, due to nasal flaring, slight cyanosis and a raised respiratory rate, all have proved to be within the normal range. The saturation monitors are present in the units’ clinic rooms where newborn examinations are performed but the community midwives working in children’s centres or at home do not have access to a monitor. Therefore this could be cause for con cern for parents of babies that are being examined in the community. This then presents the ethical dilemma that newborns are being offered a different aspect within the NIPE depending on where it is carried out.Powell et al (2013) found that parents were happy about having the pulse oximetry screening carried out on their newborn but questions need to be asked if they would prefer to not have it done in favour of the NIPE being performed more conveniently within the community. Ewer (2012) discusses the benefits of introducing pulse oximetry monitoring but without any mention of community based NIPE, or newborns that were born in the home environment. Another concern that I have witnessed and am aware of is not having access to all the antenatal notes of the mother within a community setting.On two occasions the mother has been discharged without the appropriate paper work or has not brought it to the clinic appointment. Obviously within the unit the antenatal and labour notes are e asily accessible, within the community if the mother hasn’t the appropriate information then the parents word must be taken. Having all information relating to the antenatal and interpartum periods is an essential part of the midwives role when performing the NIPE. The practitioner must be aware of antenatal and interpartum occurrences to be able to fulfil the competence set by the UK National Screening Committee (2008).When first undertaking the NIPE’s I found the examination of the hips the hardest part of the procedure, mainly because the baby would quite often cry and struggle a little and this would cause the parents to be distressed and concerned. I also, in the past, as a midwife and mother observing this procedure felt uncomfortable. Having now done a larger amount of these examinations and reading and understanding the relevant literature find them easier to perform. Screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip is based n the fact that if not picked up in the newborn could create the need for major surgical procedures in later life also with a poorer future outcome, Dezateux & Rosendahl (2007). Developmental dysplasia of the hip used to be widely known as congenital dislocation of the hip but has been renamed since the 1990’s. The factors behind this change are that it is now recognised that the condition is not always ‘congenital’ and rarely ‘dislocated’ and more likely to be ‘displaced’, Bracken et al (2012).The definition of developmental dysplasia of the hip is very obscure as there are varying degrees and it quite often develops after birth, overall it describes a disorder where the hip joint is unstable and occasionally dislocated. The hip joint consists of the femoral head, the rounded end of the bone which sits within the cartilage of the socket joint known as the acetabulum. There are thought to be different factors as to why the hip joint becomes unstable. At around seven weeks gestation hip formation has already begun, problems can start to occur then.If the femoral head is wrongly positioned from the start it could result in the formation of a too shallow socket. During pregnancy the hip joint can be affected by external and internal forces, for example oligohydramnios, lack of foetal movement due to foetal conditions, breech presentation (Hurley 2009, McDonald & Jenkins 2008). The incidence of developmental dysplasia of the hip varies in the literature, at birth it is thought to be 1-20 in 1000 but the majority of these stabilize without any treatment within the first few weeks of life, bringing the incidence down to 1-2 in 1000 (Campion & Benson 2007).The incidence is higher in female babies, it is believed due to the female newborn being more susceptible to the maternal hormones therefore the joints are more relaxed, Hurley 2009. It is also more prevalent if a sibling or parent has had developmental dysplasia of the hip, McCarthy et al (2005) and McDo nald & Jenkins. Other factors mentioned by McDonald & Jenkins (2008) include first born infants, multiple gestation and occurring in the left hip more frequently than the right.

Morality in Politics Essay

Civic virtue is the formation of habits of personal living that are claimed to be important for the success of the community. This term was important to Aristotle’s theories on politics. He felt that all humans should take pleasure in civic virtue and that it was essential for living â€Å"the good life†. Today, our democratic government is well-suited to promote civic virtue and participation of all people in the country. Although times have changed since Aristotle’s days, this ideology can be seen actively in our society. One of the main ideas in Aristotle’s philosophy was teleos, or the purpose or goal of something. To fully understand something, we must also understand its teleos. For example, I have an apple. I know that it is red, kind of round, and grows on a tree, but the real purpose or teleos of that apple to me is food. As far as humans go, Aristotle says that humans are meant to be happy. To be happy, humans must live a life of virtue, which means they always choose what is morally good. Humans have the abilities to think and speak, and therefore decide what is good and bad, right and wrong, etc. People that may think they are living a good life but are not making moral decisions are not truly happy in Aristotle’s eyes. Politics provides a place for people to interact with each other, talk about what is right and wrong, just or unjust, and to make laws reflecting these things. It allows people to participate in their lives, make ethical decisions, and fulfill their happiness potential. Politics is dynamic, unlike math or science that are concrete and unchanging. People can work with each other in politics and work for the greater good. The development of civic virtue allows for a person to relate to their community. It helps them understand their ties to the community and responsibility within it. It helps them see beyond their own personal interests. Some examples of civic virtue would be voting, volunteering, or going to a town meeting. Today, anyone can participate in these things, but Aristotle believed differently. He held that women and slaves were not eligible to participate in politics, and very young men were not ready to participate because they did not understand how the society worked yet. Because of this, a small number of people in his time actually participated in politics compared to today. The American democratic government is well suited for civic virtue. The first reason is that everyone can participate, which means that everyone has the opportunity to become happy people living their life to the fullest. Anyone, provided they are 18 and a citizen, can vote. They can vote for the candidate they feel will represent their moral views and put them into action. People can run for office and put their views to work. Another reason is freedom of speech. Americans have the opportunity to speak freely about issues and share their opinions with others. This helps them create those habits of morality that become a part of their civic virtue. A third reason is the freedom to assemble. Any person can start a club or a group to meet with others. Active participation in public life is essential to civic virtue. A group may be a philanthropy group aimed at helping others. Reciprocity or giving back to the community is another key element of civic virtue. Virtue is closely related to free will. Through active participation, people develop their moral compass and they develop their ideas of what is right and wrong, and their habits of how to react in situations accordingly. People develop their own morality. How can one legislate free will? You cannot. But the legal system can shape morality. By setting laws in certain ways, people will develop their moral views around them. Laws can shape habits by reducing the frequency of certain acts. Giving prison time, fines, probation, and so on can help people learn that they do not want to do the things that caused those punishments. Laws can shape morality as well because people naturally draw influence from other sources. Some may create their moral background on the basis of religion or their family, but the law can be one of those influences as well. The legal system is important for developing morality in society and promoting civic virtue. Civic virtue is important in society. By actively participating in the community, Aristotle believes that people will be ultimately happy. The true purpose of humans is to be happy, and civic virtue is the pathway to this happiness. The American government gives many opportunities for people to participate in both politics and the community, which promotes civic virtue.

What Startup Strategy Should Every Entrepreneur Essay

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