Case Study: News, Video Technology and the Gulf War

"The power to transmit moving pictures sets television apart from all its rivals in the business of disseminating news about events of importance and interest" (Yorke 80). It is understandable then, that upon seeing images of live warfare half way around the globe during the early stages of the Gulf War in Iraq in 1991, viewers were awed by what they saw on television. The latest in satellite and video technology was employed for the first time during the Gulf War, allowing for faster transmission of visual and audio images than ever before. Satellite uplink facilities at the Dhahran International Hotel served as the means for transmission of combat footage, which could be seen on a same day basis on both sides of the battlefield, (Baroody 17).

Unfortunately, this phenomenon may have caused more serious problems than benefits to the fundamental values and goals of the news industry. Although the Gulf War produced some of the most amazing visual images that news productions have ever seen, many argue that the enormous advancements in technology between the previous major American war, Vietnam, and the Gulf War indirectly led to very uniform, unspectacular reporting of the crisis. The belief is that by awing the public with spectacular images of tracer bullets lighting the night sky over Baghdad, or bombs falling from U.S. airplanes directly into the chimney of a supposed weapons manufacturing plant below, the government managed to escape criticism for making public only information that what they wanted people to know. Ironically, the "first real time satellite war," during which the U.S. audience at home could literally tune into the television at any time and get live updates and footage, may have been one of theworst covered wars in modern U.S. history. It seems the confusion and excitement created by the introduction of such major technological innovations to the way a war could be covered may have diverted attention away from the goal of sound, objective and investigative journalism. Combined with this fact was the government's determination to keep strict tabs on reporters and the flow of all news information through the manipulation of the pool system.

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