How does a nation slip into war? Dateline-Saigon profiles the controversial reporting of five Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists -The New York Times' David Halberstam, the Associated Press' Malcolm Browne, Peter Arnett, and legendary photojournalist Horst Faas, and UPI's Neil Sheehan -- during the early years of the Vietnam War as President John F. Kennedy is secretly committing US troops to what is initially dismissed by some as 'a nice little war in a land of tigers and elephants.' 'When the government is telling the truth, reporters become a relatively unimportant conduit to what is happening,' Halberstam tells us. 'But when the government doesn't tell the truth, begins to twist the truth, hide the truth, then the journalist becomes involuntarily infinitely more important.'

Lies, deceit, and the dangerous search for truth. Tom Herman's award-winning documentary "Dateline-Saigon" (2018) tells a vital tale of a small group of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists - The New York Times' David Halberstam; the Associated Press' Malcolm Browne, Peter Arnett, Horst Faas; and UPI's Neil Sheehan - who fought, as their own government sought to discredit them, to report a ground truth vastly different from the rosy White House version during the early years of the Vietnam War as President Kennedy is secretly sending American troops to fight in Vietnam. In the era of Trumpism, "Dateline-Saigon" is a distant mirror on a present-day drama: the ability of courageous citizens to speak truth to power and hold government accountable. Narrated by Sam Waterston, "Dateline-Saigon" combines the drama and high stakes of "All the President's Men" with the romance, danger, and exotic locale of "The Year of Living Dangerously". "If the government is telling the truth, reporters become a minor, relatively unimportant conduit to what is happening," legendary reporter David Halberstam observes in "Dateline-Saigon". "But when the government doesn't tell the truth, begins to twist the truth, hide the truth, then the journalist becomes involuntarily infinitely more important."