The L.A. Times has an amazing story, Extreme Cinema Verite, about combat videos made by soldiers in Iraq. The story’s implications are quite striking. The contrast between what’s on the evening news, and what’s on these videos is enormous; the traditional media is again being re- or de-valued. These images are more powerful, in part, [...]
The NYT has a new article out, Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News, which opens: It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets. “Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.,” a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. [...]
Though its mission is to be “more responsive to the media,” the Coalition Force Land Component Command for Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom’s Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) of the US Army effectively routes around established broadcast networks by providing watchable video of events in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan to anyone with a [...]
It seems unlikely the cameraman ever expected this footage to become evidence in the presidential campaign. As with the Edwards – Cheney meeting that didn’t happen until a video of the event was produced, access to old video footage initially judged unimportant has gone on to affect public discourse at a national level. Video Shows [...]