Isolated cases of failing to show particularly grisly images are one thing. However, if the pattern from the Gulf War holds, the networks will be guilty of systematically failing to televise images that show the actual effects of the war on human beings. This is not an issue of taste but quasi-official censorship for transparent political reasons. Contrast the way this war is portrayed with 9/11, when the networks endlessly broadcast images of unprecedented violence to show how America had become a victim. In this war, since the US is the aggressor and much of the public opposes the government, the networks must be wary to "inflame" an already sensitive public opinion. If they do, they'll be accused, with some justification, of throwing a monkey wrench in the government's war machine, something that can only be tolerated up to a point.
Very few Americans, for example, know that the best estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths caused by the Gulf War and it's immediate aftermath (which excludes the effects of sanctions) approach 200,000. For one of many articles available about media self-censorship regarding Iraq, see
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