On a Saturday evening in the Eastern Time Zone, I generally make a concerted effort not to catch up on the day’s events. With that in mind, when Iran gave the world a heads up that missiles and drones would be heading towards Israel, I frankly was more curious about the developments there than in anything else going on in my neighborhood.
Surfing the coverage, naturally, the beginnings of the Persian Gulf War came to mind as images of a night sky and flashes of bombardment came across the screen. I thought of CNN’s Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett, and John Holliman and the grainy pictures from 1991.
Switching over to CNN, I anticipated something similar, with pictures certainly clearer than what I remember from 35 years ago. I mean, this early in the attack, the drones and missiles were still in the sky over Israel, nearly all being intercepted before impact but they were certainly visible.
Unfortunately, CNN’s coverage was a little too prepared, at least for my tastes. The images of the skies over Israel were squeezed into the upper right corner box, hardly discernible to the naked eye while no less than a half dozen analysts, maybe one correspondent, encircled the anchor who was centered on the screen.
Remember now, this was live as the attack was happening, not a recap. Let’s just say my time that night as a CNN viewer was not very long. Fortunately, the BBC and Sky News were in a better frame of mind and certainly had a better realization of what a 9 PM Saturday audience (5 AM London) was likely to stick with.
Let us begin with a gentle reminder: Television means pictures first, everything else is radio. There’s a reason the cameras at football, baseball, and hockey games are pointed outwards. That’s where the action is, that’s where what people care about is happening.
There is nothing wrong with analysis, even color commentary, but who wants to look at a half dozen people talking or interrupting each other as war is taking place in the upper right corner? I don’t go to my news source to attend a dysfunctional Zoom meeting. I have another job for that, thank you.
What was happening that night was clearly among the most important happenings occurring in the world, certainly at that moment. We know that, everyone else in news knows that and I’m sure CNN knows it and knew it then.
As I said, I flipped around, had the radio on, and checked things out on line, the usual protocol. After all, I was in “News Geek” mode. The term “News Junkie” has never applied to me nor does it appeal to me when others use it to describe themselves. Ever speak with a self-described “News Junkie”? After five minutes you’ll likely remember you left the iron on or suddenly feel an urgent need to visit the comfort station.
That said, after two minutes of watching the Brady Bunch talk about what we all should have been watching, over to Sky News and the BBC I jumped. And, except for a couple of momentary visits to Fox News, it was with the British I remained.
Along with the improved visual coverage, I was more than content with their one-to-one analysis and discussion. It was encouraging to hear former CBS News State Department Correspondent Christina Ruffini discussing with BBC Presenter Carl Nasman what action will likely come from the White House as a result of the attack.
Meanwhile, Sky News took the updates from Israeli TV and Fox News spoke intermittently with a weapons analyst who was able to tell us what was streaking across the sky and what it was being shot down with.
All the while, the audience was able to see exactly what was happening over Israel without a cacophony of bobbleheads blocking the only thing we were really interested in.
All CNN had to do was wait a few hours and my guess is they might have annoyed fewer people and told us a better story. Most of the time, things have to actually happen before we can talk about them.
CNN should probably go back to the archives from 1991 to remind themselves of how well they used to do things. Maybe they can figure out where and when they took a wrong turn.
Bill Zito has devoted most of his work efforts to broadcast news since 1999. He made the career switch after serving a dozen years as a police officer on both coasts. Splitting the time between Radio and TV, he’s worked for ABC News and Fox News, News 12 New York , The Weather Channel and KIRO and KOMO in Seattle. He writes, edits and anchors for Audacy’s WTIC-AM in Hartford and lives in New England. You can find him on Twitter @BillZitoNEWS.
