Broadcasters: Untold Chaos

Broadcasters: Untold Chaos by Rick Fredericksen

Tantalizing details of news stories are often never told. That changes in “Broadcasters: Untold Chaos,” where a veteran journalist sheds new light on a career reaching from Saigon to Sioux City. These insider accounts—little-known or never told—include threats against CBS News, lunch with Ferdinand Marcos, a shocking on-air protest ignited by censorship and a military TV station destroyed with 100% casualties.

One central story recounts a tense confrontation on September 11, 2001. Just hours after two pilots had taken possession of a Cessna aircraft and were flying over the Midwest, their small plane was targeted by F-16 fighter jets. The civilians may have been the last Americans to learn that our country was under attack. These hand-picked stories were selected from a 50-year career by former military and civilian news broadcaster Rick Fredericksen. “Some events and news makers deserve more attention,” according to the author, who reopened his old reporter’s notebooks to reveal hidden accounts stretching from the Vietnam War to the war against terrorism. The tragic saga of CBS war photographer Vinh Ve is a recurring theme through the first chapters. He would suffer terribly after the fall of Saigon—even finding himself at odds with the network that made him a legend—only to re-emerge years later when General Norman Schwarzkopf returned to Vietnam. Other topics include real life stories and characters at the American Forces Vietnam Network, made famous in the movie “Good Morning, Vietnam”; a field investigation on the suspected impact of Agent Orange on Vietnamese civilians; and the downfall of a world-famous pop star in Bangkok.

“Broadcasters: Untold Chaos” includes 27 historic photographs in a nostalgic journey for broadcasters, news junkies and Vietnam War enthusiasts. This written record was made possible by a treasure trove of documentation that was left behind in the shadows of the day’s bigger headlines. “Broadcasters: Untold Chaos” is a salute to the actual broadcasters themselves, especially foreign correspondents who are sometimes confronted with grave danger. Author Fredericksen is the last Bangkok Bureau Chief for CBS News.

About the Author

Rick is an American writer and journalist who lived in the Asia-Pacific region for more than 14 years before returning home to the Midwest. He is a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War. Rick covered stories throughout Southeast Asia for multiple news agencies during a decade of residence in Thailand. His latest book, “Broadcasters: Untold Chaos,” is part memoir and part history as he re-tells major stories from an insider perspective. Few journalists can claim Rick’s diverse experience, which encompasses radio, TV, print and online journalism, practiced during a career in commercial, public and military broadcasting. He is the last Bangkok Bureau Chief for CBS News. Rick’s first eBook, “After the Hanoi Hilton: An Accounting” chronicles the search for POWs and MIAs after the war in Vietnam.