[Opinion] War and News

We could witness the collapse of Iraqi President Saddam Regime in real time thank to some cable news networks. It was late at night on April 9, but Koreans could see the statue of Hussein dragging down to the ground by American tanks in Baghdad. In 1989, the whole world could not witness the historic moment of the breakdown of the Berlin Wall. With 24-hour cable news networks, however, people across the world could see the end of one regime this time. YTN, a Korean cable news network, said that the audience rating for its new programs tripled during its live coverage of the U.S. attack on Iraq.

And the U.S. was at the forefront of the war coverage. CNN and Fox News Channel enjoyed a three-fold increase in viewer`s rating and MSNBC reported a 350% increase in news demand. CNN was the star during the Gulf War in 1991, delivering the images of American bombing of Iraq. This time, it was Fox, which blatantly campaigned American patriotism through their coverage. The war also changed the way that the news media exits - from the distinction between the old and the new media to between the `pull` and the `push` media. Cable channels are the pull media, which allows viewers to watch news anytime they want, and terrestrial TVs are the push media that delivers news at certain times.

The live coverage of battle grounds also created a new term called `embeds.` The war planning team in the Pentagon invented the term, which refers to journalists eating, moving and quartering with soldiers on the battle ground. Embed reporters, indeed, delivered lively images of destruction from the ground zero. The way they deliver the images, however, provoked the wrath of many people in the world. The so-called embeds from the U.S. reported the war as if they had watched exciting sport or computer games. While it was anchors that stole the spotlight during the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, this time it was reporters` turn.

Despite the impressive performances by cable news networks, however, they still lagged far behind terrestrial networks in terms of the number of viewers. Some 28 million Americans watched ABC, NBC and CBS everyday during the war, which was four times larger than 7.3 million who turned to CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Bill Kovach, Chairman of the Journalism Committee for Social Issues, said something interesting during his interview with the New York Times. ˝The fact is that many people are turning their eyes to newspapers, whether they watch cable or terrestrial news programs,˝ said the chairman. ˝This is because people want to see a large picture from the whole context and find things their eyes cannot see.˝ His remarks sound noteworthy.

Kim Sun-deok, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com