Beginning today, big-name anchormen will report live from Baghdad and beyond — a full six days before the elections, scheduled for Sunday. "We want to tell the story of democracy in action," said John Stack, vice president of news gathering for the Fox News Channel.
The list:Fox: Shepard Smith, four correspondents in Baghdad and Tikrit.
CBS: Dan Rather (to "patrol" with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit)
ABC: Peter Jennings, Iraqi reporters in 37 towns, a joint project with Time magazine and BBC
CNN: anchorman Anderson Cooper, Christiane Amanpour, Nic Robertson, Jane Arraf, coverage from polling sites in Iraq, locations in Syria, Jordan, and Dearborn, MI — an urban stronghold of Iraqi-Americans
NBC: Brian Williams, other details to be announced later and locally
The Iraqi Media Network (IMN) — which includes 24-hour Al Iraqiya TV and a radio station — has been upgraded to broadcast in Baghdad and 30 other locations. Thanks to new printing equipment, the network's nationally distributed newspaper Al Sabah is now printing 350,000 daily copies — up from 60,000 last year. The project was funded "solely by the Iraqi government," said Howard Lance of Harris Corp., a Florida-based media production consultant that received a $22 million contract to upgrade IMN facilities. |