The New York Observer published new numbers showing that despite significant improvements in technology, the media has provided less substantive coverage of the Iraq War than the Vietnam War. Among the interesting items in the report:
- A study done during the Vietnam war found that CBS devoted 91 minutes per month to reporting on Vietnam, whereas U.S. networks this year gave Iraq only 55 minutes per month
- Over a six-month span, a set of leading United States newspapers and magazines ran 'almost no pictures' of Americans killed in action, and they ran only 44 photos of wounded Westerners
- Major newspapers have cut back on the size of their Baghdad bureaus, with some closing them or allowing them to go unstaffed for stretches
- Government regulation has spread over the battlefield, limiting mobility and access. Where Vietnam correspondents could hop a chopper to combat zones at will, Iraq reporters need to sign eight-page sheaves of rules and are pinned to single units
- Corporate security restrictions likewise stifle reporting. At CNN, reporters need clearance from the bureau chief to leave the network compound; similar rules apply at other networks
