Most Dubious Moment in War Coverage

[John Cole]

Yesterday, I tuned in for a few moments to watch Dan Rather fill time. While he was speaking, he cut to a reporter in Kuwait, let's call him David Hedison, who was wearing a gas mask while reporting. David spoke for a few moments before Dan cut in to tell viewers who might have just tuned in that David was wearing a gas mask.

For a minute there, I thought I had stumbled into a real low-budget remake of The Fly.

John

[andyfox]

My favorite was a report from Baghdad at dawn where the reporter said daylight was coming and it was coming very fast.

[Billy LTL]

Frankly I find many of the CNN reporters difficult to stomach. They're covering this war as if it were the Superbowl.

A little feigned detachment would go a long way to adding a touch of professionalism to their overall file.

[andyfox]

TV news in general has become entertainment. Your Super Bowl analogy is perfect: this is the big one, the one we've been waiting for, complete with instant replays. I never knew Baghdad was so green at night.

The tickers at the bottom of the screen are particularly infuriating. I think I saw recipes going by on one station.

[Billy LTL]

I think I saw recipes going by on one station.

I take it we weren't being advised how whip up a delightful cog au vin with crepe suzette for dessert?

[andyfox]

I think it was freedom suzette. . .

[Glenn]

On Fox News last night at about 3am est, they had those stupid video phone picutres of the tanks driving through the sand and they were talking about how interesting it was etc... I was quite surprised when they told me that live blurry pictures of sand were interesting but they are the media and thus know better than I do. Anyhow, they passed a flock of something and the host said something like "John, you just passed some animals...could you tell were they sheep or goats?". Unprecedented coverage.

[BruceZ]

I thought the Bedoin encampments were fascinating. People living in the middle of the desert.

[Glenn]

People who live in the middle of the desert are kind of silly--unless they build extravagent hotels and casinos and golf courses of course. I didn't see any people last night though, just the flock of indeterminate mammals. Oh and there was one stray goat at another point too.

[BruceZ]

There was a hilarious moment on the FOX morning show a few weeks ago. They had a guy on who was an expert in the type of insects the soldiers might have to contend with in the desert. He seemed authoritative and in control. First he showed a scorpion that looked fearsome, but was actually benign, and he let it crawl all over the hosts. Then he carefully took another one out of a jar with tweezers, and just as he was saying "now this is a truely deadly creature", he dropped it on the floor right in front of judge Napalitano and the leggy female host. He managed to chase it down and retrieve it before it did any damage. They just went on without missing a beat.

[Billy LTL]

they had those stupid video phone picutres of the tanks driving through the sand

Yes, I watched some 20 minutes of "live, never-before-seen exclusive video" of a bunch of Bradley fighting vehicles racing through the desert at night. The reporter certainly made it sound exciting.

Too bad it was pitch dark where he was. And that he didn't have a night vision lens for the piece of crap thingy he was calling a camera.

Still, better that than watching live coverage of bombs and missiles falling on Bagdhad. Am I the only one who thinks there's something a bit wrong with that?

I mean, I watch the fireballs too and I congratulate the journalists who are in Iraq, especially Bagdhad, for being there. But it's almost presented as entertainment. Or maybe that's just how I see it. Anyhow, I've stopped watching it for the most part. I like the pictures of Iraqis surrendering though.

[Phat Mack]

I like your Super Bowl analogy , too. Barabara Tuchman wrote a couple of books ( I think it was her): Citizen Hearst and A Splendid Little War. It was her belief that the Spanish-American War was caused (at least in part) by a circulation war between two New York newspapers, the World and the Journal -- one owned by Hearst and one owned by Pulitzer. They kept trying to outdo each other with their inventions of Spanish atrocities.

I think the networks are probably getting good numbers with this war, but I doubt it is really more cost effective than the Super Bowl. On the other hand, it's not the networks that are footing the bills. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[IrishHand]

During a commercial of the ND/Illini game, I made the mistake of flipping through FoxNews. This reporter who had spent a lot of time in Baghdad was asked by the studio host whether Hussein was a popular, venerated leader as the Middle Eastern media seems to portray. The reporter responded that everyone he spoke to did in fact support and apparently believe in Hussein. However, he also said that in walking by Hussein's palaces and the high-end car dealerships and furniture stores of the Iraqi elite, one could not help but notice the stark disparity between the average person and the ruling elite. As such, he concluded that the Iraqi people, despite what they'd told him, must surely hate Hussein's ministers, associates and friends, which he kindly labelled "a gang of thungs and crooks" (based presumably on their material wealth - good thing that all our politicians and leaders aren't any better off than the average American). I laughed myself right to the next station.

[The_Baron]

I'm still holding out the big prize for the nitwit with the 7th Cav who showed,"four members of this valiant unit, holding a serious and private conference in the face of the withering fire just over the horizon."
The four guys were lined up next to one of the Abrams, taking a leak. Fortunately the camera operator seemed to figure it out and the image snapped to the horizon to see some smoke/dust/fog/clouds... errr... the withering fire.