Scholarly opinion has generally been divided on the issue of whether the press can be classified as oppositional to constituted authority. Some scholars, for instance, claim that the American press has had a 'cozy' relationship with the government of the United States, due in part to its adherence to the norms of objective journalism and the influence of what they see as the 'hegemonic ideology.' In their view, although the press seemed to display a certain degree of opposition to official policy on the issue of Vietnam, this was due to reporting the breakdown in elite opinion and the protests of the anti-war movement rather than the rise of an oppositional press. Other scholars disagree, claiming that the press has become a fourth branch of government, displaying all the characteristics of an oppositional press, actively seeking conflict with the government and undermining public confidence through its emphasis on negative news This study analyzes the nature of the relationship between one element of the prestige press, the New York Times, and the U.S. government on the issue of Vietnam from 1945 to 1965, by focusing on the editorial position of the Times during the period when the crucial decisions to escalate the war were being made. The study concludes that the New York Times, concerned about the relationship the United States had with Diem, recommended to Kennedy that he should seek negotiations and neutralization, thus limiting the American commitment to Vietnam. Alarmed at the course of events during Johnson's first year in office, the Times became opposed to Johnson's policies on Vietnam. This study found that by 1965 the Times clearly displayed characteristics of an oppositional model, questioning the sincerity of American desires for negotiations and criticizing Johnson's policies to wage war without Congressional approval An important secondary conclusion was that the models used to describe press-relations are insufficient to the task of explaining press-government relations. This conclusion was reached after discovering that the models were unable to handle complex issues written in sophisticated language. A new model was suggested that overcomes the conceptual limitations of the other models
