Is this war too covered?

[HBox]

I saw this topic brought up in another thread, and I thought it deserved it own thread. I think, as do others, that it is a little disturbing to be watching this much of the war. And, frankly, I am expecting something bad is gonna happen. Either a reporter is gonna get killed by the Iraqis or friendly fire or something, or that someone completely botches a story and screws some of our troops.

[Death Metal Moe]

Yes. This is too "Reality show" for me. War is NOT an event to chill on the couch and watch in my mind. I want to be kept informed, but at what cost?

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[IrishAlkey]

I wanna' see John Madden come out with a chalkboard and describe the play-by-play of the troops entering Baghdad with "X"s and "O"s...

"Well, here's a SCUD that when it lands on somebody they explode."

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[Death Metal Moe]

"Here's a guy who just won't disarm! So the allied forces come in here and BOOM!"

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[spoon]

I watched CNN describe in detail how we recognize our own ground units. 1) the orange strip on the back of tanks 2)identified the communication center vehicle and more. This is rediculous and then another reporter was informed not to give his location, yet decided to give clues instead. Fucking idiot! It has gone too far. Pull the plug and go back to briefing rooms.

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[CaptClown]

"Well, here's a SCUD that when it lands on somebody they explode."


You forgot to add the Madden soundfx, like Boom!

Director of the C.Y.A. Society.
Field Marshal of the K.I.S.S. Army

[Recyclerz]

Pull the plug and go back to briefing rooms.

I disagree. While the media saturation may feel unseemly to us post-modern information soaked Americans, don't forget the rest of the world is also watching and this is the most effective way to prove that we're walking the talk. There are also foreign reporters embedded with our troops, including reporters from Al Jezeera and Palestinian newspapers. A ballsy move on W's part (one of very few I agree with) but if the images that the rest of the world gets are of the US and British soldiers killing the bad guys, treating the civilians (and POWs) humanely, passing out candy to the kids, etc., it is going to be tough for the anti-Americans to claim we're committing atrocities and easier for our gov't. to say I Told You So.

With no disrespect to our military, the tougher job is going to be turning Iraq into a pro-Western stable state that respects its citizens' civil rights and convincing the rest of the world that this was our intention all along. The media coverage is a wise first step.



[b]Free Yerdaddy![b]

[spoon]

Nice in theory I agree, but it hasn't done shit in that area yet. The protest only get larger, more violent and wide-spread.

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[curtoid]

The only way the truth is coming out is by having the media over there - if they do
their jobs!

While the US news bubble-heads were filled with images of "Shock and Awe" and how
"humane" this has been, the BBC feed that is picked up a local DC PBS station last
night showed footage of what had happened in Umm Qasr yesterday - Iraqi civilians
killed. Lots of them. I will be very interested if we ever find out what happened there.

And when they showed the footage of Baghdad burning, the BBC reporter said
something to the effect of, "This is what happens when you get on the wrong side of
the greatest power on earth."

Also outrageous to the rest of the world is the images of a Marine that actually raised
an American flag once inside Iraq!!!! WHAT THE HELL!?! Is Iraq suddenly the moon? Is
it the new Puerto Rico?? To the credit of CBS, they actually MENTIONED this, but they
moved on.

Meanwhile, FOX news had Newt on, saying (unchallenged) that in 1991 that no
Democrats on Capital Hill supported going in (WRONG - many had, including Al Gore),
and an NBC commentator actually said that what was happening in Baghadad was
connected to 9-11.

ABC seems to be the only outlet that's trying to be fair, however (as Ron and Fez
mentioned last night), the images of reporters joy riding is disconcerting. ABC at least
had the balls to have the father of one of the men killed yesterday holding the picture
of his son up as he blamed George Bush for his death.

It's important to know what the rest of the world is seeing - to understand the hatred.
I'm not Tom Shales - maybe I missed something flicking around, but right now, with
what I've seen, I would give the US Media a thumbs down for the way they are
handling this.

KOP



























This message was edited by KOP on 3-22-03 @ 8:35 AM

[CaptClown]

I just checked the BBC website and this is what I found.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2876103.stm

Even Iraq at this point only claims 3 civilian deaths and 205 injuries.

Director of the C.Y.A. Society.
Field Marshal of the K.I.S.S. Army

This message was edited by CaptClown on 3-22-03 @ 11:08 AM

[FiveB247]

We will always have the media over cover a war or something similar in this magnitude. Of course they demean the war coverage by making it look almost 'entertaining'. It's sick and disgusting.

The last Gulf War was regarded as one of the worst covered wars by the media in a long, long time. But no one finds all the information that we missed or were misinformed about til after a war ends. It's sad, but we'll hear everything that is going on about our invasion now, years later as a follow up or back story.

[HBox]

Also outrageous to the rest of the world is the images of a Marine that actually raised
an American flag once inside Iraq!!!! WHAT THE HELL!?! Is Iraq suddenly the moon? Is
it the new Puerto Rico?? To the credit of CBS, they actually MENTIONED this, but they
moved on


Why don't you give our troops a break? I don't think they realised the significance of doing that. I didn't realize it immediately. They were probably just a bit overzealous. And what YOU didn't mention is that the flag was taken down later after they realized what was wrong.

[A.J.]

Also outrageous to the rest of the world is the images of a Marine that actually raised
an American flag once inside Iraq!!!! WHAT THE HELL!?! Is Iraq suddenly the moon? Is
it the new Puerto Rico?? To the credit of CBS, they actually MENTIONED this, but they
moved on.

And I think ABC news did as well.

I saw message traffic at work that directed that no American or British flags be displayed on vehicles or captured objectives. The Marines who took the Iraqi port DID raise the the American flag and the USMC flag but took them down shortly thereafter.

Also, you probably won't see Coalition troops handing out candy to Iraqi children. They're afraid of the children coming into harm's way by swarming troops and vehicles on the move or engaged with Iraqi forces.

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[curtoid]

HBox - I wasn't trying to bust balls of the military, just to state how something like that
will look to the rest of the world, regardless that it was brought right down. Sorry. I
shouldn't have thrown in the glib editorial.

On other news - it was reported this evening that MORE footage of dead Iraqi civilians
(mostly women and children) have been broadcast on Al-Jazeer television from Bosra.
Dan Rather made mention of the footage, but nothing more.

If things can possibly get worse in the Arab nations watching and smoldering, then
this will push them there. Quite frankly, though - I don't know how much more hated
we can get there.

[KOP]






This message was edited by KOP on 3-22-03 @ 6:17 PM

[FUNKMAN]

Either a reporter is gonna get killed by the Iraqis or friendly fire or something


in all honesty, i would not give a rat's hiney...

> these people are so desperate to report anything, and to be the first one to report some "shocking or spactacular" news that they constantly speculate and give away what i consider to be important information to anyone who would listen to them...

few examples:

> reporter announces that B-52 bombers are in flight and should be over Baghdad in approx 2 hours...

> reporter announces that the President and the Vice President are together in a specific location, which they name, and this has been the first time in many administrations that this has happened...

> on Sep 11th they announced where the President was, "he is fine and has just landed at an Indiana airport which they named


it's sickening...



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[HBox]

reporter announces that B-52 bombers are in flight and should be over Baghdad in approx 2 hours...

> reporter announces that the President and the Vice President are together in a specific location, which they name, and this has been the first time in many administrations that this has happened...


Where do you think the reporters are getting their info? THE MILITARY! They are allowing reporters to come along with the infantry units as they invade. They know what they are doing. Don't think you are hearing everything that is going on. There is a shit load of stuff going on that the press has no clue about and you'll never read in the paper.

EDIT- And its not sickening. What Saddam did to his people is sickening. There are so many things that are worse than reporting the news. Please think about your adjectives before you throw them out there.

This message was edited by HBox on 3-22-03 @ 7:18 PM

[TheMojoPin]

On other news - it was reported this evening that MORE footage of dead Iraqi civilians
(mostly women and children) have been broadcast on Al-Jazeer television from Bosra.

Al-Jazeera has thus far "refused" to release the footage. Curious. And it's no secret the Iraqis are willingly lying and skewing the facts when it comes to the US...why would even they not project the number of civilian dead even higher? Of course, maybe their data is just from Baghdad itself...the rest of the country seems pretty cut off and isolated...

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[FUNKMAN]

EDIT- And its not sickening. What Saddam did to his people is sickening. There are so many things that are worse than reporting the news. Please think about your adjectives before you throw them out there.



HBOX,

You make a good point. To me i look at all these News stations and you can see the desperation in their faces when they ask a reporter out in the field a question, hoping it can be answered. You can see the competition between the News Channels to get a story out first. You hear the words "exclusive" and "you heard it here first".
I am assuming, which is dangerous, but assume that Reporters are constantly pressing Military people for information and will go to whomever in the Military to get a story.

The pressure placed on the Reporters sometimes leads to irresponsible reporting.

If you feel that reporting the locations of our President and the location of our Aircraft during a time of WAR is okay, than i would just have to politely disagree.

It's news that we can LIVE without...

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[HBox]

The pressure placed on the Reporters sometimes leads to irresponsible reporting.


I just don't think we should be holding reporters at war to normal standards. They are reporting from a battlefield, often live. They have to report what they see. It would be great if they were perfect, but they are humans.

And, frankly, Rumsfeld basically laid out exactly what we were going to do months before the war started. You do have a point about reporting where aircraft are. But the military are allowing reporters on the carriers and are telling them where the planes are headed.

So, in summary, there isn't much investigating going on here. The reporters are reporting what they are fed, and the military si comfortable with them having that info. If the military is comfortable, I am too. And trust me, if the military has a problem, you'll hear about it, from Rumsfeld probably.

[FUNKMAN]

I just don't think we should be holding reporters at war to normal standards.


and I'm not arguing with you...

How about prior to 9/11, all you heard on the News and in the papers was about Gary Condit, his affair, and the girls dissapearance...
It went on for months...

After 9/11 you didn't hear Jack about it, ask yourself, was it really that important?

It seems like they are playing a RATINGS GAME...

What was the purpose of reporting Chelsea Clinton's salary... In my mind they only tried to create controversy. And judging by how many people responded to the Thread on this subject, they succeeded...

Ahhh, I'm getting old...

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[HBox]

It seems like they are playing a RATINGS GAME...

What was the purpose of reporting Chelsea Clinton's salary... In my mind they only tried to create controversy. And judging by how many people responded to the Thread on this subject, they succeeded...


Oh, well of course. The object of TV news is not to inform but just to get you watching. When it comes down to it, whether or not an event is worth reporting comes in as a distant second as to whether people will watch it. But I still have don't have many problems with how this war is covered.

[FUNKMAN]

HBox

i don't even have this much conversation with my wife
:)

PEACE

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[HBox]

I just saw Iraqis get blown away by a tank live on CNN. They are actually broadcasting live from the battlefield. Marines were shot at and I actually watched as that tanks rolled in to clear the area.

I don't know what to think anymore, other than I'd be totally useless at war.



This message was edited by HBox on 3-23-03 @ 2:02 AM

[Meatball]

would CNN move the damn words from the screen?? its blocking the action!

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[spoon]

ABC seems to be the only outlet that's trying to be fair, however (as Ron and Fez
mentioned last night), the images of reporters joy riding is disconcerting. ABC at least
had the balls to have the father of one of the men killed yesterday holding the picture
of his son up as he blamed George Bush for his death.
I thought this was done in very bad taste. They had nothing in mind other than ratings and surely had the family in there camera lights as soon as the name was released.

Also, if you ask for some slack due to circumstances for the reporters, I sure as hell think the soldiers are under much more pressure. Now they have to check what the disclose or discuss constantly in camp due to cameras in their face at all times. Much of what was described as bad reporting in this thread was just. I'm sure the air force held a press conf. to discuss the B52s left two hours ago towards the Iraqi capital. I know full well that this reporters have been briefed and know what is for disclosure and what should be left out. They are constantly pushing for information they know could be harmful to our men and women if broadcast. I here anchors and on-site reporters ask or push over and over for more information or details which the common sense of a five year should allow you to realize can't be disclosed.

Mojo touched on my views for the Iraqi news front.

And it is official, an Australian camera man has been killed.


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[HBox]

For anyone watching right now, this is a first: A press conference about a battle as its happening on the other side of the screen. This is the most fucking surreal thing I have ever seen.

UPDATE: As the Iraqi guy is bragging that they pushed the army back and "shock and awe" isn't working", MSNBC is reporting an airstrike is shortly coming. This is fucked up.

This message was edited by HBox on 3-23-03 @ 3:34 AM

[travis151]

yes, It puts the lifes of our soldier endanger because they have to worry about reporters also.

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[Meatball]

i think this new "bullet-CAM " angle is a bit much.



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[Recyclerz]

Here's a very positive review for the Embed program from Slate

http://slate.msn.com/id/2080699/



[b]Free Yerdaddy![b]

[shamus mcfitzy]

i think this new "bullet-CAM " angle is a bit much.


"I think it adds "realism" to the war that gamers have never felt before. You can now see a bullet piercing your enemies chest, and I think that is what matters to the gamers, war isn't really that real anymore to the youngsters, and I think my games are going to educate a lot of kids.......and plus i'll make tons of money."

-A press release from a gaming
company 5 years from now

[Shecky]

Did anyone happen to notice the 5 50" Plasma monitors at Gen. Tommy Franks Press conferences.

Next step is some sort of soldier Lo Jack to help get our POWS.

PRAY FOR THE BRAVE ONES!!!!

Later On,
SHECKY