FIRST JOURNALIST DEATH: As far as we can tell, the Australian journalist killed by a suicide bomber in Northern Iraq is the first reporter killed covering the war, although apparently Terry Lloyd and an ITV News crew are missing after their vehicle came under fire.

 
HEART IN RIGHT PLACE, PROTEST NOT: Anti-war protestor chains himself to wrong Seattle building by mistake. Of course, he could have saved face by saying he'd deliberately chosen the wrong building as a satire on the shortcomings of the US so-called smart bombs...

 
BOOM-BY-BOMB: BBC alerts:
11.37 Iraqi health minister says three people were killed in allied raids on the capital, Baghdad, on Friday night.
12.47 US military spokesman says southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya has fallen to elements of the US 5th Corps.

 
THE TELEVISING WILL NOT BE REVOLUTIONARY: How the British TV stations are covering the war, Part One:
The ITV News Channel is having quite a good war, surprisingly. It’s helped by the nature of war coverage, when everyone shares pictures and so it’s able to crank out partner feeds onscreen without looking as under resourced as usual; but its main strenght lays in the way it’s quietly been collecting a bunch of anchors who are familiar but judged not pretty enough to present proper news - whereas in its early days as ITN News Channel, it often left the desk in the hands of a younger roster, during war the skills of a long-timer like Alistair Stewart really come into their own - able to sound simultaneously comforting and in command while actually doing little more than chatting over the top of some pictures. The news ticker along the bottom of the screen, a war-related innovation - is also the most stylish of the lot; easy to read and quite attractive. it’s a pity they don’t have very much to say down there; it’s not clear why they think the story is moving so fast they need a ticker, and yet think that the developments can share space with endless details of what number the Channel is on on various different cable networks.

However, having grown up in an age when drama and news were kept rigidly apart, and so the standard move to add credibility to an ‘end of the world’ thriller would be to bring a newsreader out of retirement to appear on the TVs of the characters about to head into the abyss, can I just say that the appearance of people reading news for the first time in years is on a par in my mind with the appearance of horsemen and babylonic whores, and as such, flicking over to ITV-News last night to see Angela Rippon commentating on the plumes rising from Basra put the wind up me something awful.

C-NBC used its standard response to crisis: poke the MS-NBC feed direct from the States into the screen. It’s not a bad idea, but since C-NBC already has a two-speed price ticker, the appearance of a third ticker, at another speed, right on top makes for queasy watching even when it’s not got Donald Rumsfeld sitting there like a malevolent cherry on a swirling fact-sundae. Is it just me, by the way, or are they really being scrupulous in shooting Donny from the waist up since the bombs started flying? Can it be true that he’s just so damn excited he can’t get his pants on anymore?

C-NBC’s main strength is that it takes NBC nightly news every day - even when there ain’t a war on - at 11.30 GMT, making it the only US network news show that you can see at a fairly reasonable time if you need to get up in the morning.

The usually oddly-peaceful world of CCTV, the Chinese originated world service, has swapped to more or less round the clock war coverage - much of it is taken from CNN, which in turn is sourcing its material from other networks. Treble-layered astons are already a familiar sight - last night Fox had its logos on top of footage taken from Sky, with its gaudy extras left on; Sky themselves had got their pictures from an Arab service, which also had a layer of its own. We’re expecting to see a four-layer aston before Saddam’s done.

After September 11, the BBC was criticised by some for having just stuck with its usual News 24 presenters even when its feed was being shared with BBC-1. Since either BBC-1 or BBC-2 is with the news network more-or-less continually right now (you might ask quite why, since surely any news head would have got a system that allowed access to N24 anyway, and anyone who couldn’t be bothered wouldn’t be that bothered?), they’re making sure that they’re not going to have that thrown at them this time, so for the non-stop war coverage, they’re pairing a BBC-1 presenter with a N24 regular, making it feel a bit like a crossover episode or special edition comicbook - “Together at last - Raworth and Hayton!” “Alagaih meets Mawhinney.” What’s a little disturbing is that great acres of time pass before any non-Iraq war turns up - we’ve been watching News 24 for about two hours and - aside from Rob Mcelwee telling us it might rain in parts of Kent tonight - there’s been nothing about anything not related to the war.

 
TATCHELL TATTLE: Peter Tatchell contributes this week's new statesman diary, detailing how he was able to get close enough to the Prime Minister for thirty seconds that he could have blown the country to a State Funeral, although he wouldn't, because he adheres to Gandhi's principles of non-violence. You wonder what Gandhi would have made of an earlier paragraph, where he suggested that rather than fight the current war, we should have armed the Kurds instead. He points out, correctly, that Saddam has weapons because we gave them to him in the first place; but he doesn't seem capable of thinking through the implications of that. So, the west feared Iran, so they armed Iraq. Then Iraq got too powerful, so Tatchell wants us to arm the Kurds. Presumably next it would be the Turks to quell the Kurds, and then - maybe - the Greeks to neutralise the Turks. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps we'll all die.

 
HOW WOULD YOU SPEND A BILLION DOLLARS?: Cruise Missiles can cost up to one million dollars. Last night, a thousand of them were flung at Baghdad. Besides wiping out the lives of any number of janitors and secretaries, and putting the fear of Bush into the ordinary members of the public who have no power over what the political class do, the effect has been... what? As the TV pictures were showing last night, the spending of a billion bucks didn't even knock the streetlights off. News 24 shows people poking through rubble and looking at a dust covered, badly smashed typewriter, which suggests the office capabilities of that Iraqi office has been knocked back from the early 1960's into something like the mid 1930's.

 
BOMBARDMENT BIT-BY-BIT: The by-now-traditional record of the war, as reported by the BBC Breaking News Email service - times are when the alert was sent, in GMT, all are 22-03-03:
00.07 Iraq's 51st Infantry Division surrendered to coalition forces, US officials say.
02.47 Reports of at least three new missile strikes on the Iraqi capital
06.03 Two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters collide in Gulf - seven crew missing, UK officials say.

 
BE LIKE GEORGE: Sky News viewers have been given something that hitherto has been solely the preserve of George W - a red button to push for war:

 
WE'RE ASSUMING WE WON'T HEAR 'BOOM BOOM SHAKE THE ROOM' EITHER: Internal Memo is currently running a document claiming to be MTV Europe's advice for remaining polite in times of war. It might be a hoax, but sadly it has a ring of truth to it; not least in the belief that hearing someone say the word "bomb" or watching a peace song might be upsetting for an MTV viewer with access to nine round the clock feeds of death riding round Baghdad, just a blue remote button away:
MTV (Europe)
Recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programmes
  Dear all

In the light of the outbreak of war in Iraq in the last 12 hours, our recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programmes are as follows:

1. Video recommendations

Obviously, there will be heightened public sensitivity to representations of war, soldiers, bombing, destruction of buildings and public unrest at home. The ITC Programme Code requires us not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is offensive to public feeling. We therefore recommend that videos featuring the following are not shown at the moment:

war
soldiers
war planes
bombs
missiles
riots and social unrest
executions
other obviously sensitive material

Examples include:
System of a Down "Boom!" - anti-war video containing facts and figures about, amongst other things, the projected casualties in the war in Iraq.
Aerosmith "Don't want to miss a thing" - contains footage from the film "Armageddon".
Manic Street Preachers "So Why So Sad" - contains footage of soldiers being killed and man throwing a hand grenade.
Passengers/U2 "Miss Sarajevo" - contains missiles, guns and buildings being blown up.
Bon Jovi "This ain't a love song" - contains war scenes and victims in distress.
Iggy Pop "Corruption" - contains wars, riots, guns and captions "we love guns" and "we love rifles".
Paul Hardcastle "19" - contains war footage.
Radiohead "Lucky" - contains war footage including injured children.
Billy Idol "Hot in the City" - contains an atomic explosion.
Armand van Helden "Koochy" - contains an atomic explosion and ships being blown up.
Trick Daddy "Thug Holiday" - contains soldiers being killed at war.

Furthermore, videos with words such as "bomb", "missile", "war" or other sensitive words in the artist or song title should not be shown at the moment.

Examples include:
Outkast "B.O.B (Bombs over Baghdad)" - song title may offend.
Radiohead "Invasion" - song title may offend.
Megadeth "Holy Wars" - song title may offend.
Gavin Friday "You, Me and World War Three" - song title may offend.
B-52s videos.

Also, please note that some evergreen tapes contain sensitive videos e.g. until recently, the MTV2 evergreen contained the Outkast "B.O.B. (Bombs over Baghdad)". We therefore recommend that music programmers ensure that inappropriate songs are removed from the evergreen tape for the duration the war.

Please note that this is not a definitive list of videos. Please use the ITC video restrictions database to check each song before broadcast. If you are aware of any other videos featuring the above images, titled with the above words or which may be unsuitable for broadcast in the light of the outbreak of war, we recommend that these are pulled from your schedules.

2. Programme recommendations

Under the ITC's rules, we have two main obligations regarding programmes:

(a) Not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is offensive to public feeling.
For example, no programme should contain:
(i) images of war, bombs, missiles, etc that are likely to be seen as insensitive or offensive at this time (see above for further guidance).
(ii) jokes about the war, about bombing Iraqis, about the American, Iraqi or UK troops.
(iii) comments about the war that are likely to be seen as insensitive or offensive.

Furthermore, the content of each long-form show should be considered before scheduling. Scripts for presenters and news pieces must also be treated with great sensitivity.

(b) To ensure that our programmes treat the issue of war in Iraq with "due accuracy" and "due impartiality".
Therefore, we need to ensure that any programme which deals with issue of war in Iraq:
(i) deals fairly with each opposing view. It cannot be one-sided. Both sides of the argument need to be dealt with, and dealt with fairly.
(ii) does not give the view of MTV or the views of MTV presenters.
(iii) does not give facts, or opinions based on facts, that are incorrect e.g. an anti-war argument that states the war is bad because 50 million Iraqis will die (the official estimates are much lower than that), a pro-war argument that states Saddam Hussein should be toppled because he is going to invade Israel (there is no evidence of this). You need to ensure that any facts included in your programmes are accurate, and verified by an official source e.g. an Amnesty International report, a UN report, Reuters news service.

If you are unsure about the suitability of a video or programme, please call the Broadcast Standards Managers: Mark (x6195 (HC)) Dan (x7734 (HC)) or Aurea (x6197 (HC)).

Mark
Mark Sunderland
Broadcast Standards Manager

 
GOOD NEWS FOR DODGY AIMING AMERICANS: Something to give Americans a bit of a boost while serving on the Gulf: the ruling on the 'friendly fire' incident in Afghanistan has decided that rather than treating the deaths of those Candians as the result of criminal negligence, there's no real need to bring any serious action against those involved - apparently because the US believe the American's defence would be "we thought it was self defence", and possibly because otherwise all the stuff about Americans being pumped full of speed on the frontline might have got a wider airing. As we say, good news for US morale - probably a bit more worrying if you find yourself with a US soldier watching your ass.

 
WHOOPS: The UK Ministry of Defence has released pictures of captured Iraqis. Which would be fine, except, erm, the Red Cross has pointed out that parading POWs for public curiosity is in breach of the Geneva Convention. Obviously having smashed the table at the Security Council, it's probably small potatoes to the Blair cabinet now.

 
WE COULD BE DOING SO WELL: Further to Uncle Don Rumsfeld's musings that the Americans may have actually even killed Saddam because, erm, that might have been a double on the TV (well, let's face it, the FBI had trouble telling a Bristol pensionner from a telemarketing scammer just the other week) - didn't we go through this 'he may be dead - or maybe not' during the Afghan War with Osama? I know you have to keep a bit of mystery during wartime, but vacuous nonesense surely isn't an operational requirement, is it?

 
REMIND US AGAIN: The new edition of New Scientist points out that Iran and North Korea are known to be far, far closer to producing nuclear weapons than Iraq could possibly dream of being. And yet we're meant to believe that Iraq's threadbare dreams present a bigger risk than Iran and NK's concrete programs. Remind us why, somebody?

 
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE OIL, YOU KNOW: Although you might wonder if it's not, why is so much effort being put into securing the oilfields so early on, rather than heading for the sites where Saddam has, according to Mr. Powell, got his WMD?

 
”AS A SOLDIER MYSELF…”: Iain Duncan Smith, in his new role as Prime Minister's Best Friend, popped up on Today to give an opinion on the dead marines in the helicopter crash, speaking 'As a soldier myself…' rather than a leader of the Opposition, who would presumably be expected to ask just what the men were doing there anyway, and flying about in a helicopter which had its entire fleet grounded last year over safety concerns. "I can imagine what the families must be going through" he emoted – because of course, having served in the army is the same thing as being woken up in the middle of the night to be told your husband or son has been wiped out by an engineering fault.

 
FURTHER BOMB-BY-BOMB: Again, the Breaking News email alerts from the BBC, with the times they were sent (GMT):
Thursday 16.58 US-led forces will wage war in Iraq with a "force and scope and scale beyond what has been seen before", US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says in his first public comments since military action began.
18.10 US-led forces launched a sustained ground assault in southern Iraq soon after 1700 GMT.
18.27 Loud explosions heard in Baghdad as Iraqi capital comes under second night of bombardment.
19.22 UK forces have joined the US-led ground assault on southern Iraq.
22.14 Prime Minister Tony Blair says he gave permission for UK forces to take part in military operations in Iraq and called on the nation to unite in support of the armed services, in his first address to the country since the start of the war.
Friday 02.45 US defence sources say 16 US/UK personnel killed in a helicopter crash, believed to be an accident in Kuwait.
05.07 US military says 12 British and four US soldiers died in the helicopter crash in Kuwait.
06.11 BBC correspondent reports "scores" of Iraqi soldiers surrendering to Royal Marines in southern Iraq. But separate unit with 1st Marine Expeditionary Force halted by Iraqi fire.
10.21 Up to 30 oil wells deliberately set on fire by Iraqi forces in southern Iraq, UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says
12.13 A US Marine has been killed in Iraq - the first US death in combat

 
SOME PEOPLE WILL DO ANYTHING FOR A SOUTH CAROLINA GIG: We can only assume that was what prompted Evan Dando and his foul mouthed tirade against Bush. What the Dixie Chicks may view as a career screw-up would probably be a froth of welcome attention for Dando. He’s probably thinking “If they want to smash my records on Main Street, USA, at least they’ll have to buy them first…”

 
WANGLERS: Texas born band claims Texas born president makes them ashamed to be from Texas. So how does South Carolina decide it has a moral right to insist on a free Dixie Chicks gig by way of recompense? Will they also be trying to get Blur along, too? "That Mark Thomas - he's called the president a nitwit; let's make him come down and clean the courthouse windows..."

 
FRIT-WATCH: A semi-regular column of celebs running away from 'war' - further contributions welcome to FrankieSaysWarHideYourself@bothsidesnow.co.uk.
Obviously, Kelly Osbourne pulled out of the Brat Awards almost before Saddam had risen to power in Iraq. Now, we add Tenacious D, who've lifted their skirts and run away screaming lest the fighting in the Middle East spills over to affect their current tour of, erm, Scandanavia. Meanwhile, Blindside have also disappointed literally two or three fans by cancelling their plane tickets to Europe and descending into a hut made from plastic and gaffer tape for the duration of hostilities. We're no fans of US smart technology, but if they do somehow dismantle the Glasgow Cathouse, Blindside will be pleased they risked ridicule by pulling their tour. Otherwise, yeah, they're just going to be ridiculed.

 
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: The first plays of the war, as recorded by the pretty nifty BBC Iraq Breaking News Alert service:
02.52 Explosions are being heard in Baghdad as air raid sirens sound across the city.
02.54 White House says US has begun war against Iraq and President Bush will speak to the nation at 0315 GMT.
04.17 UK military says no orders yet to launch ground assault on Iraq. Downing Street says first raids were on a "limited number of command and control targets".
05.48 President Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi television and condemns Baghdad attack as part of "shameful crimes against humanity".
All times GMT

 
GOOGLE SEARCH TERMS: Someone happened by here looking for 'Iraq war powerpoint', which we find oddly comforting - the idea that the plan could be explained away in a few slides. We wonder if it was an Iraqi spy.
Do you suppose Bush treats Google like he treats the UN arms inspectors? Just as the Result page of his search starts to appear, does he switch the computer off?

 
OPERATION IRAQ FREEDOM: It says a lot about the US swaggering, playing at war mindset that they feel the need for a codename. It says even more they choose such a lame one. If Iraqi spies overheard someone saying "operation Iraq freedom starts tuesday", why, they'd never guess, would they?

 
SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST OF HEARING WORD: The shit-eating damage limitation effort launched into by the Dixie Chicks seems to be having little or no effect, to judge by Google News' listing of DixChix related coverage in the world's media. In the last few hours, loads more stories have been run about reaction to the outrage - and, indeed, stories about the original anti-bush comments are still appearing; it's been four days since a story appeared built around their desperate attempt to salvage the situation. Really, the best the band can hope for is a sudden, messy start to the war so that everyone forgets them.
We just hope nobody attacks The Cranberries in all the confusion.

 
IT'S TOO LATE TO BE THE FIRST: The first casualty of war has already been claimed. And it is Robin Cook, says The Globalist. Or, perhaps, Jawed Wassel, offers The Guardian. Or maybe tourism [ICBirmingham]; Blair's Credibility [The Nation, Thailand]; dialogue with youth [Kansas City Star]; the ever-reliable truth [The Herald, Canada]; the CeBit IT show [IT News, Australia]; Cyprus [Daily Times, Pakistan]; rational thought [Chicago Sun-Times]; Tam Cowan's TV show [Daily Record]; Tony Blair himself [Salt Lake Tribune]; the First Ammendment right to a free press [Sierra Times] or French Fries [The Times]. Indeed, there's already dispute over what or who the second casualty might be - Colin Powell's Credibility [Yahoo], perhaps; innocence [Philipines Daily News] or - more seriously - tours by newly-published authors [NYT].
If only truth, credibility and innocence had the tenacity of cliches, eh?

 
SHORT SHRIFT: So, Short's excuse for staying is that Tony's now in a corner and can only do one thing, so it really wouldn't be fair to not back him when he makes the only choice open to him. If we might look at this through a metaphor, Tony and George go to settle an argument, during the course of which a family are taken hostage. The situation escalates and it becomes clear the only way this is going to end is if the hostages are shot. Under Short's logic, then, Tony shouldn't be punished, as it's the only option open to him at that point.
Maybe if Clare had resigned earlier, he would have stopped himself before he ran out of other options.

 
WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?: Newsround swings into action to help The Kids through their sonn-coming discovery of anthrax bombs in their back garden, with the same care and nurturing they manage to summon up when, say, Steps split. They answer a lot of questions that might be going through kids' minds - interestingly, though, not 'Will Daddy die?' Who will win? - apparently, Not Iraq "most experts think." Erm, that's of course except the experts who oversaw the War Game exercise the Americans did, where the Pentagon had to bring all their troops back to life and, erm, cheat in order to win. But if that bothers you, and you're wondering Will It be World War Three, then calm down - "
No.
Any military action against Iraq is likely to only happen in that country.
And we are pretty sure that though Iraq has some nasty weapons it doesn't have nuclear weapons.
So, that's pretty certain then. Although quite how Newsround is able to guarantee that the war won't spill over into Iran, Kuwait, Turkey, Israel (and so on), we're not sure.

 
WHOOPS... WHERE DID I PUT MY CONSCIENCE?: Clare Short re-earns her "Bomber" nickname by deciding that maybe 'career' just has the edge over 'lives of innocent Iraqis.'

 
STRANGE AND SCARY TIMES: Not only did we have to wake up this morning with a feeling like we respected Robin Cook - unsettling enough - but John Prescott admitted to Humphrys on Today that "I may have been a bit loose with the language there", which is on a par with Bush saying "I really just wanna drop a bomb on someone, anyone..." Humph also gave him admirably short shrift when he pretended to not have heard of Lord Hunt, the health minister who'd just resigned a few moments before.

 
THE BUSH ULTIMATUM: Interesting that George Jr instructed foreign journalists to leave Baghdad last night, wasn't it? Presumably this is to save time in the future, as his father probably warned him the effort in rubbishing reporters who discover awkward and unpleasant truths is such a drain on resources. We also especially liked the warning to Iraqis that using Weapons of Mass Destruction on "the Iraqi people" would be severely punished - although, presumably, you can get away with it if you're American.

 
UH?: Was that it? I mean, that slightly shifty Prescott statement - was that us going to war? It's hardly up there with "I have to tell you no such assurance has been given", was it? And what's with the sending of John boy out to do it anyway? Is Blair bored of the whole thing now? Or was it he just wanted to show there was still someone else left in the cabinet? Has jack Straw yet conceded that It's Going To Happen?

 
PROBABLY BY THE NEXT POST: We'll be at war. Makes you proud, doesn't it? I don't know about you, but oddly I don't feel any safer at all - and wasn't that supposed to be the point? In a rare outbreak of principle at Westminster, Robin Cook's walked out of the Blair cabinet and onto the backbenches, the better to deliver a crushing speech. Chris Smith and Frank Dobson have both already made it clear they're with him too. With the anbandonment of the UN route, it's not entirely certain that Blair will get the support he needs in parliament tomorrow.
Although, of course, the war sceptics in the media have started to shift their stance from 'No war' to 'As there's going to be a war, let's ensure it's quick and clean.' Blair is going to have to hope the General Acceptance That Its Going To Happen Anyway has ebbed into the Commons.

 
THE FIRST RETREAT OF THE WAR: Just when we were starting to warm to the Dixie Chicks, they went and spoiled it - and not only withdrew their remarks about Bush, but issued a gooey, 'please like us' apology of a "As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect. We are currently in Europe and witnessing a huge anti-American sentiment as a result of the perceived rush to war. While war may remain a viable option, as a mother, I just want to see every possible alternative exhausted before children and American soldiers' lives are lost. I love my country. I am a proud American" nature. Obviously the words of a band desperately worried about their sales. Just for a moment, we thought we'd seen a spine.

 
STOP CRYING YOUR HEART OUT: Noel Gallagher has rubbished anti-war protests as pointless, and in a wonderful example of shrugging off the horrors of the world conceded that Blair is following a half-wit into war but reckons “politics is like football” and you don’t change your team just because you “don’t like the striker.” Even if the analogy of politics and football worked, dimwit, you’ll find that when their team behaves in a way they think is wrong, true fans reluctantly turn their backs on the team. Think Wimbledon’s botched move to Milton Keynes; Maxwell’s attempt to merge Reading and Oxford; the disaster wrought at Brighton during the final Goldstone years. Sure, you support your team, but only a sheep follows without question.