ABSTRACT
As he closed the CBS Evening News on March 28, 2003, a little more than a week after the beginning of the Iraq War, Dan Rather observed that “no people in history have ever seen a war the way we are seeing this one: realtime coverage, up close on the battlefield, live on television, twenty-four hours a day.” This new kind of living-room war had affected US public attitudes almost immediately, Rather believed. Even though polls showed that a strong majority supported President George W. Bush’s decision to begin military action, “gone are hopes it will be over in a matter or days or even weeks.” Instead, most people expected that the war would last “many months.” Rather concluded that “reality, much of it harsh, is setting in about this ultimate in reality television.” Television news, he believed, had helped disabuse the American people of unrealistic expectations and enabled them realize that victory, even in a war that he thought was so far going well, would not be quick or easy.1
