Television Coverage of War: Reality TV run amuck?

During the first few days of the war, most of us were riveted by the non-stop coverage of the bombing campaign and subsequent ground invasion of Iraq. I certainly was. No matter which television channel you watched, you couldn't remove yourself from at least some update on the progress of Gulf War II, this time dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom." War coverage resembled a hit film, what with the expensive graphics, round-the-clock coverage, and endless debates on whether or nor the bombing had killed Saddam Hussein. Even the opening rounds of the sacrosanct NCAA men's basketball tournament were relegated to ESPN while CBS covered the opening stages of the aerial bombardment. Nevertheless, even as we watched, many sought out coverage of the invasion that we felt could teach us something, or coverage we felt reflected our position on the war.

CNN seemed to be the first news source for most people. Given my personal distaste for Fox News, the original 24-hour Cable News Network seemed to be a tolerable alternative. Sitting in Brewster's Lounge listening to music and studying, I found it easy to follow the news solely from the newswire running continuously at the bottom of the CNN screen. Just following the ticker, I was able to discern that as of last Thursday, 10,000 precision-guided missiles had been dropped on Iraq since the bombing began. There were a lot of figures of the number of protesters arrested around the United States-and little to no figures on the size of the anti-war demonstrations. Later on, another bit flashed on the ticker reading, "UN worried that Iraqi children may confuse humanitarian packages with bomblets - both have similar color". I also noted that most of CNN's sources came from the Pentagon - which supposedly ensures their accuracy. During a commercial break, headphones still on, I noted a commercial promoting none other than CNN, with a graphic reading "TRUST CNN" in what must have been 72-point font. Curious, I took off my headphones to see a Navy recruitment ad with the slogan "Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of those who threaten it!" set to the backdrop of cheesy nu-metal and scenes that could have been lifted from Top Gun. Then they came back from commercial.

Over the previous two weeks, watching CNN's war coverage, or even absorbing it without listening, is enough to bum anyone out. Graphics representing invasion and battle tactics seemed to be taken from video games. Endless former military commanders were paraded on to discuss military strategy. When an American missile was accidentally dropped on a market in Baghdad, killing dozens of Iraqi civilians, there was little to no coverage (nor an apology from the Pentagon). Days later when Prisoner Of War Jessica Lynch was rescued, her picture seemed to lead off every news update on the war. While it was heartening to see that the army had rescued an American POW, it was equally disheartening to hear CNN (and other) commentators speak nonchalantly about Americans blazing into Baghdad and killing 3,000 Iraqis, as though they were part of the war effort; although in a way, I guess they are.

Perhaps disenchanted or more likely just bored, the staff at Brewster's changed the channel to MTV. Having seemingly given up playing music videos (at least before the wee hours), it was surprising to see the System of a Down video "Boom!" on in the middle of the afternoon. For those of you who have yet to see it, "Boom!" isn't so much a music video as a video documenting the worldwide peace demonstrations on February 15. Directed by none other than Michael Moore, the video depicts the protests (and System of a Down's involvement in them), complete with small animated vignettes portraying George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Osama Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein riding atomic bombs, in the spirit of Dr. Strangelove. I'm not sure which was more surprising-the fact that THIS video was being played on MTV (even taking into account System of a Down's star power), or that it was being played in the middle of the afternoon, when people are actually watching. Not long after, I saw an MTV News bulletin about the Beastie Boys recording an anti-war song, which was free to download on the Beasties' website. About an hour later, I saw another MTV News bulletin which condensed the contents of the Geneva Convention charter into a two-minute news segment that was, believe it or not, surprisingly informative. I'm not sure what to believe - though my guess would be that, since a substantial number of big-name artists are publicly speaking out against the war, perhaps MTV feels it needs to give lip service to the grassroots opposition of Gulf War II.

I'm not even going to get into Fox News here. Would it really surprise anyone if I stated in these pages that Fox News is considerably biased? If I needed any evidence, consider this: according to a March 28 article in the Hackensack (NJ) Record, during a recent anti-war demonstration near the Fox News headquarters, the Fox News ticker running outside the building mocked the protesters with messages reading "How do you keep a war protester in suspense? Ignore them," "Who won your right to show up today? Protesters or soldiers?", and "Attention protesters: the Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street." Ever the paragons of balanced reporting and journalistic integrity, even I was shocked to see Fox News had sunk that low.

Depressed and not willing to sink low enough to try network coverage (I'd had my fill-it's like CNN-lite), I made it home to watch France 5's daily updates on the war. As a French major, I'm able to understand most of the reports, even though they lack subtitles. I love France 5- leave it to the French to actually broadcast something of substance about this conflict. There aren't any cartoon graphics, just a simple "Guerre en Irak" box in the upper right-hand corner. Unlike CNN, France 5 sticks with periodic 30-minute broadcasts of war updates, rather than fill up their programming with nonstop coverage, even when there is little to report. The coverage consisted of short pieces of 2-3 minutes each. I actually saw things I hadn't seen on American TV-such as actual footage of combat, interviews with citizens throughout the Arab world on their opinions of Gulf War II, extensive coverage of peace rallies, and footage of wounded civilians in Baghdad. Though after watching enough of the coverage I got the impression that France 5 may not be as enthusiastic about this war as say, Fox News (or even CNN for that matter). Still, it is refreshing (sometimes disturbingly so) to see a television channel add a human face to this conflict - even if it also means seeing wounded children in a Baghdad hospital, something utterly heartbreaking.

The daily, even hourly coverage of Gulf War II can be maddening. My mother confessed to me the other day that she couldn't bear to watch the news anymore - it's just too depressing. I often feel the same way. It feels like reality TV - and you can't look away, though you want to so badly. Every day I wake up hoping the war is over - think of how beautiful that would be. But it isn't that easy. Finding informative news coverage can be difficult-and once found, it may be even more painful to watch or to read. The responsibility is up to you. As Michael Moore said during his Oscar acceptance speech, these are fictitious times we live in. It is up to you to find the facts.