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“Gulf War (3): Glitterdome”

Leonard’s commentary on war coverage turned entertainment on TV during the first Gulf War. His message is less about censorship and more about how a partnership between TV networks and the US Military have collaborated to turn meaningful war correspondence into a fireworks display or sporting event.

He writes, “…since 1856 the basic story has been reporters trying to do their job and governments trying to shut them up. There has never, however, been a war that looks like this one.” All talking heads (“…Hertz rent-a Generals”) and long shots of smart bombs and tracers, “…all that’s missing is the game itself. Sudden death in overtime.”

His point is that by giving up on the type of reporting that brought us the war on the ground in Viet Nam “into our living rooms” …“We miss not only the action, but the meaning.”

Shock and Awe:

New word: columbarium = niches for the storage of cremation urns.

New learning: Martha Gellhorn is one of the most respected war correspondents of the 20^th Century (and Hemingway’s 3^rd wife). She covered every war from the Spanish Civil War in 1939 to the US invasion of Panama in 1989 at the age of 79. She was one of the first correspondents to report on the true nature of the war in Viet Nam.

Gellhorn and Hemingway in China: