Gulf War, Media Coverage of

The Vietnam War was a turning point in the media's coverage of military conflict and was the first modern war in which television brought visual images of combat into homes. Despite the impact these still images and footage had on the public, they were not close-up, live reports, as viewers were able to see during the 1991 Gulf War and later the Iraq War. In 1991, coverage of the Gulf War allowed viewers to watch war in their living rooms in real time.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait as the result of a dispute over oil drilling. The United Nations immediately initiated economic sanctions against Iraq, but Iraq continued to occupy disputed territory. Consequently, in January 1991 the United States led a coalition of some 30 countries, with United Nations approval, to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. The live and expanded coverage of the Gulf War was largely due to the groundbreaking coverage of the Cable News Network (CNN), which provided continuous coverage of the 45-day war, sometimes called the Persian Gulf War.

Researchers who analyzed CNN's coverage of the Gulf War conflict concluded that CNN provided generally an American view of the war that highlighted the military and technological aspects of the war. In fact, much scholarly research about the media's coverage of the 1991 Gulf War indicates a general consensus that the reporting was biased in favor of an American point of view. However, the international press was not as supportive and influenced by the high tech. Many studies also noted the tendency of the news media to rely on their own sources and to insert their own involvement into the coverage at unprecedented levels, thus becoming participants in the military conflict that they themselves were reporting on.

President and Mrs. Bush walking along the desert in Saudi Arabia with General Schwarzkopf and entourage (November 1990). Throughout most of the period in the buildup to the war (from August 1990 to January 1991), news coverage was both lengthy and intense.

Source: George Bush Presidential Library.