Chapman’s ‘Dateline–Saigon’ now streaming

“Dateline­–Saigon,” a documentary about Vietnam War reporting produced by Richard Chapman, senior lecturer in film and media studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been released for streaming on iTunes, Amazon Prime and other platforms.

Reporter Peter Arnett on patrol in the rain with South Vietnamese soldiers, circa 1963. (Photo courtesy of  “Dateline-Saigon”)

Narrated by Sam Waterston, “Dateline-Saigon” tells the story of a small group of journalists who, though erstwhile competitors, banded together in the early 1960s to report the truth of what was happening on the ground in Vietnam — despite opposition from the Pentagon and the Kennedy White House. Primary interviews include David Halberstam of The New York Times, Neil Sheehan of United Press International and Peter Arnett, Malcolm Browne and Horst Faas of The Associated Press. All five journalists would go on to win Pulitzer Prizes for their work.

Filmed over a 12-year period, “Dateline-Saigon” premiered at the Salem Film Festival in 2017 and was an official selection of the Newport Beach, Woods Hole and Berkshire International film festivals, among others. It is distributed by First Run Features.

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