Re: Why is the war coverage so lame?
Why is the war coverage so lame?
I can throw out a few possible reasons for you. The U.S. military has banned embedded journalists from using Thuraya satphones because of the global positioning service those phones include. So unless a text journo or photographer has an isdn satphone, and some of them do but many don't, they can no longer file.
Next, the wire agencies have reportedly been told by Baghdad that unless they stop feeding to CNN, and I think Fox as well, they will have to face the consequences. When you have 15-20 journalists in Baghdad covering that side of the war considerations for their safety must outweigh the contractual considerations of your clients. And by the way, much of what you were seeing on CNN was Reuters or APTN footage.
Other problems include the luck of the draw. An embedded camera crew might be 500 metres from a heavy firefight but they move with their unit. If the unit fights they get to report it, if not they are sh*t out of luck.
Also, both the equipment and the bodies of the journalists are starting to break down and replacing either of them is a near impossible task.
Billy
|