The Era Of Satellite News Gathering

swimgeek writes "The TV Technology for covering news as it happens is changing. This article specifically talks about the transition from ENG (Electronic News Gathering) to SNG (Satellite News Gathering). The American TV networks are close to spending $100 million for this transition, anticipating a possible war in Iraq."

President bush announces: no war in Iraq

[intermodal]

PRESIDENT BUSH AGREES TO MORE INSPECTORS (AP) Washington DC 4:00 PM (EST),

President George Bush has made an announcement that we will not attack Iraq.

The President has announced that as of today, he is agreeing to additional inspectors to be deployed throughout the country of Iraq. We will be sending 250,000 additional inspectors into Iraq. The additional inspectors will include:

- 24,000 members of the 1st Infantry Division

- 15,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

- 15,000 members of the 82d Airborne Division

- More than 5,000 members of the 4th armored division with their "M1-A1 all-terrain vehicles"

- Additional U.S. Army personnel, as needed for inspections

- A variety of U.S. Air Force personnel for aerial recon missions and other "surveillance" activities.

- A significant number of United States Marines to aid with inspections

- United States Coast Guard personnel to inspect coastlines

- An undisclosed number of Rangers, Green Berets, Navy Seals, Recon Marines, Delta Force, and other:

- Special Operations personnel to inspect Iraqi "hide-aways"

- MOAB and Daisy-Cutter bunker access devices

- Special air deliveries to aid the inspections will be made by aircraft from the USS Constellation, USS George Washington, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Enterprise.

_The President stated: "With these additional resources, the inspections should be completed in a few weeks (not months -- not years)."

And I was just getting used to...

[UselessTrivia]

...the crappy videophone reporting feeds

Bandwidth Issues

[rwiedower]

Already, there are some glitches. Satellite traffic jams have been a frequent frustration. The other day it took Sanders almost two hours to get a high-speed connection to send his report. "Every crew from every network is often trying to get on the same bird at the same time," he said.

This is the modern equivalent of the old 1940s movies where twenty reporters would see a man shot, then all rush out to the same three telephone booths and all try to pile into the same one, closing the door on each other in the process while they were screaming "Operator, get me the Times!"

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Re:Bandwidth Issues

[binaryDigit]

Wow, even in war the most powerful weapon is the /. effect!

Re:President bush announces: no war in Iraq

[TopShelf]

Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein and his band of adventurers are standing beside the Tomb of the Unknown Gulf War I Soldier, reading a crumbling old book that they found alongside:

we have barred the gates... can hold them off long if... horrible... suffer... They are coming. We cannot get out. Drums, drums, drums... they are coming."

Re:Radio too!

[Anonymous Coward]

Missles "landing"?!?

Don't you mean exploding/detonating/impacting/killing/maiming/etc ?

Maybe you could fill us in about video of bullets "touching" enemy soldiers as well.

I'm glad you aren't in the broadcasting department :)

All I can say about this is

[Anonymous Coward]

If You're Happy and You Know It, Bomb Iraq

by John Robbins
(to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands")

If you cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.
If the markets are a drama, bomb Iraq.
If the terrorists are frisky,
Pakistan is looking shifty,
North Korea is too risky,
Bomb Iraq.

If we have no allies with us, bomb Iraq.
If we think somebody dissed us, bomb Iraq.
So to hell with the inspections,
Let's look tough for the elections,
Close your mind and take directions,
Bomb Iraq.

It's "pre-emptive non-aggression," bomb Iraq.
Let's prevent this mass destruction, bomb Iraq.
They've got weapons we can't see,
And that's proof enough for me,
If they're not there, they must be,
Bomb Iraq.

If you never were elected, bomb Iraq.
If your mood is quite dejected, bomb Iraq.
If you think Saddam's gone mad
With the weapons that he had,
And he tried to kill your dad,
Bomb Iraq.

Fall in line and follow orders, bomb Iraq.
For our might knows not our borders, bomb Iraq.
Disagree? We'll call it treason,
Let's make war not love this season,
Even if we have no reason,
Bomb Iraq.

Going once...

[El_Smack]

"The American TV networks are close to spending $100 million for this transition, anticipating a possible war in Iraq."
Man, they better hurry.

Re:just goes to prove....

[NotAnotherReboot]

So, in theory, battlefield porn is the next killer app?

ObMaxHeadroomRef

[gilroy]

So, will they be broadcasting Twenty Minutes into The Future?

Just so long as we get to see more of Theora, er, Control :)

copyrights and fictional news

[sleepingsquirrel]

And I suppose there is one other benefit Fox sees from lying. I can almost hear the laywers saying "We can't copyright facts, but hey, if we make it up, that's fair game for copyright law. Then we can whip out the DCMA and sue someone if they try to report on our lies." Clever. Very clever.

big investment in war

[ChrisCampbell47]

I work for CNN and as the article says, "Fox and CNN flat out refuse to discuss the technology they have in place", so I can't say much. But I will say that we have been gearing up for this for almost as long as Bush has been rattling his oily sabres. Those HumVee's look pretty amazing (I'd love to post pictures, but can't -- maybe someone else will). There damn well better be a war, we need to pull in some serious ad revenue to pay for it all ...

Not potential war anymore

[cranos]

For those who haven't heard George Bush has just delivered an ultimatum to Saddam to get out of Iraq within 48 hours or there will be a war.

I know my feelings on this and I am not going to start a flame war about the rights or wrongs of the impending war. Just letting people know.

Time for an Audit?

[thogard]

BSA Hotline: Hello, would you like to report piracy?
Mr X: Yes, I know some people that don't seem to have thier software licneses.
BSA Hotline: Can you tell us who's software is involved?
Mr X: Microsoft, Adobe and others...
BSA Hotline: They sound like our members. We will arrange for an audit at once. Where are they?
Mr X: They were last seen at large airbase in central Saudi Arabia
BSA Hotline: You mean Dhahran?
Mr X: No, near Riyadh
BSA Hotline: Sorry. [BSA hotline guy downs a shot] [netfunny.com]
[moments latter -- A troop of Marines are pinned down at a very forward position. Their "embedded" photo journalist is trying to get a good shot for the station back home...]
BSA Dude: We are here to audit your software, can you show me the licneses?
PhotoJ: What? Can't you see I'm kind of busy right now?
BSA Dude: We have a warrant.
PhotoJ: How did you get that here?
BSA Dude: Do you have the orignals with you? CD's, software boxes, receipts, licneses?
PhotoJ: They are all back at the office, can't you see theres a war here?
BSA Dude: I can see you don't want to cooperate
[BSA dude walks away for a bit of privacy and pulls out his cell/sat phone]
BSA Dude: Looks like we got one red handed...
[Pan to a pair of F15's at 75,000 ft, 100 miles away]
F15 Jocky: TopDog 7, Roger that, bogie is an unauthorized radio source
AWACS op: Topdog 7 and 8 are authorized to neutralize...
[back where the action is]
BSA Dude: [still on the sat phone] I think we should make an example of this one
[boom]

Re:waste of money

[Brian_Ellenberger]

anything else is so slanted and pre-digested as to be worthless for news anyways

You mean like that NPR reporter above you refering to the war as "Gulf War II: Die Harder". :)