TELEVISION AS TEXT III –WAR NEWS

Our memories are still fresh with visuals of Barkha Dutt in Kargil, helping an injured soldier with one hand while she was bringing the News from the war front to our drawing rooms. Yes, News was bringing the War closer to us. Stop for a moment to think of whether all the News that came to us could in any way generate public opinion strong enough to make the two governments to bring to a close the costly war (lives lost and money).

The reality is that NEWS from the front was only another reportage which provided us with “Our daily dose of information about the War through TV”. Natural therefore that many analysts describe it thus, “War is yet another programme on TV.”

Where else can we find a better example of such a programme than the CNN (1991) telecast of the Gulf War. What is the lasting image in our memories-that of aircrafts landing and taking off from Saudi airfields, and large stretches of desert. But the supporting commentaries told us that ‘smart’ sophisticated weapons would ensure hitting just the target and thus less damage to civilian life. So we sat back in this game because few human lives would be lost. (Could we do anything else?)

Like all truths, there is your truth and my truth. Going by that, the CNN said this, but there is another version which says that the tonnage of bombs used to ‘carpet bomb’ was more than that used during the Second World War. Few remind you on CNN about the fact that many of these ‘missed’ their targets, implying it did hit civilian targets!

It was 24 hr live coverage of War that became the USP, News as it Happens was the CNN punchline. Remind yourself that most of images that were not from the Studio were from military Press briefings, hardly any action of the battle!! Therefore staged press conferences and military tapes defined ‘NEWS’.

P Sainath, the Indian journalist’s take was that in countries like India where strong opinion existed against the War, it always happened that in debates on TV , while the voices present anti-war, the visual were those supporting the War. Thus we realize that War became an event and little was done to analyse and pursue the event for its causes, progress and possible solution. Instead it was “Kudos’ for live coverage of War. Thus “War became a programme on TV” putting in the background the real issues and concerns.

A journalist sent to the region is supposed to have said (during the Iraqi conflict later), “I see no war here.” The response was –“You send us the report, we’ll make the War.”

Any wonder at least some crisis reporting has acquired the label, “teddy bear syndrome.”

If that makes sense, we surely know that visuals will be received and, and remembered, and all that the newsreader mouths will vanish into thin air.