Live, Direct and Biased? Making Television News in the Satellite Age.

• Author: Western, Jon
• Position: Review

Live, Direct and Biased? Making Television News in the Satellite Age Brent MacGregor (London: Arnold Publishing, 1997) 256 pp.

It is commonplace to proclaim that the telecommunications revolution has fundamentally transformed our daily lives and is revolutionizing our understanding of the world. And why not? We live in an age of information superhighways and unprecedented levels of affordable and accessible information. New technologies bring us instantaneous pictures of events transpiring in virtually every corner of the world. In the 1990s, we have witnessed the aerial bombardment of Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War, daily sniper attacks in Sarajevo, massive refugee flows in Central Africa and, most recently; coverage and speculation from the scene of Princess Diana's fatal auto accident. All of it live and direct.

But what does it all mean? Are we better off with instantaneous news and information? Has this new technology provided us with a better understanding of the world? Does it help news reporters and producers broadcast more thorough and accurate information? The answer to these questions is generally no, according to Brent MacGregor in his book Live, Direct and Biased? Making Television Nears in the Satellite Age.

MacGregor presents a much-needed examination of the role of new technology and its direct effect on the production and reporting of television news--the source which brings much of this new information into our living rooms. He demonstrates that because of these new technologies, television news producers and reporters today operate under different pressures, incentives and standards than earlier generations of journalists and broadcasters. New technology means more information, but not a better understanding of the world around us.

MacGregor begins his analysis with a quick survey of the content of several highly illustrative media events that reflect the changing nature of television news. He asks his readers to consider television reports of the Gulf War, the August 1991 Russian coup attempt, Somalia, Bosnia, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Oklahoma City bombing and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. MacGregor asks how live television influences the coverage of events like these and, ultimately, our understanding of them.

To answer this question, the author reviews both academic theories and the history of news production. MacGregor then provides a detailed content analysis of two major television news events--the IRA...