US embassy cable - 03HARARE604

UNCLAS HARARE 000604 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD 
NAC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IZ, PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "Coverage of Iraq war raises 
      questions" the government-controlled daily "The 
      Herald" dedicated its March 25 editorial to urging 
      journalists, especially those from the electronic 
      media, covering the United States-led war against Iraq 
      to be impartial.  Excerpts: 
 
  2.   ". . .The Americans were very angry about the 
      showing of the U.S. POWs on the world's television 
      screens, although quiet about live footage of Iraqis 
      actually surrendering and not quite being POWs until 
      that surrender had been officially accepted.  So while 
      technically the American journalists were just legal 
      while the Iraqi authorities were in breach of the 
      Geneva conventions, the tiny difference is immaterial 
      to those who were photographed. 
 
      ".It has already become obvious that the U.S. 
     and British television coverage of the invasion 
     of Iraq is far more one-sided than most editors 
     of those television networks would desire.  It 
     has also been noticeable that the written 
     reportage from the great news agencies, both 
     those based in `coalition' countries and those 
     outside, has been far more analytical and made 
     far more effort to try and see the larger story." 
 
SULLIVAN