Between 1986 and 1995, he was an associate editor and columnist for "New York Newsday". He covered the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs hearings and became engrossed in the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue; writing for "Penthouse" and later "The Village Voice" and "The Nation", Schanberg became a leading advocate of the "live prisoners left behind" belief in that matter. He published many articles on the subject and outlined reasons why no POWs were never found, alleging that government officials never seriously investigated reports of live POWs to save embarrassment and prevent damage to their reputations and careers. He further said in his articles that the Vietnamese never admitted to holding prisoners in order to be accepted by the international community and that they'd initially tried to ransom them for reparations once the war ended.