ABSTRACT
The telegraph sped up news reporting, and then radio sped it up even more, until finally video news replaced print as the main source of news for most people. The Persian Gulf War was the flashpoint focusing political and military attention on the power of global television news, but it was far from the first world event to reflect this power. Perhaps the most dramatic demonstration of the power of global television news came in 1989. None of these stories, however, dramatizes the power and responsibility of global TV news to the extent of the Persian Gulf War coverage. As we have noted, live television programs-especially globalcasts and sportscasts-have historically used four-wire communications. And since the Persian Gulf War, many twenty-four-hour global news services have been either started or proposed, and a number of existing services have joined to widen their mutual coverage.
