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- DATE: JAN. 21, 1991 04:07 REPORT:
- TO: INTERNATIONAL DESK
- FOR:
- CC:
- BUREAU: TOKYO
- BY: BARRY HILLENBRAND
- IN:
- SLUG: PRESS CREDIBILITY
-
- IN JAPAN THERE IS NO LACK OF COMPLETE AND UNCENSORED
- COVERAGE OF THE GULF WAR. THE COVERAGE HAVE BEEN AS
- INTENSE AND SATURATED AS B-52 CARPET BOMBING. OF COURSE,
- CNN IS DISTRIBUTED HERE, LIVE TIME AND UNCUT IN ALL ITS
- FORMS. THE LIVE-TIME CNN GOES TO MOSTLY CABLE USERS. BUT
- SEVERAL OF THE NETWORKS USE CNN FOOTAGE, AND SEVERAL
- OTHERS RUN PROGRAMS OF TRANSLATED CNN AT VARIOUS TIMES OF
- THE DAY.
-
- BUT CNN IS JUST THE START. IN THE FIRST WEEK OF THE
- WEEK, NHK, JAPAN'S PUBLIC BROADCAST NETWORK, PROVIDED
- EXTENSIVE LIVE COVERAGE OF THE WAR WHICH PREEMPTED MOST
- OF ITS REGULAR PROGRAMING. NHK HAS FOUR CHANNELS, TWO
- NORMAL AND TWO VIA MINI-SATELLITE DISHES, A SYSTEM WHICH
- REACHES ABOUT FOUR MILLION HOMES IN JAPAN. ON ITS MAIN
- CHANNEL, NHK OFFERED ENDLESS ANALYSIS, CALLING IN
- JAPANESE CORRESPONDENTS, DIPLOMATS AND ACADEMIC EXPERTS.
- NHK USED FOOTAGE FROM ALL SOURCES, INCLUDING LOTS OF CNN
- AND ABC FOOTAGE. NHK- SATELLITE WAS EVEN MORE INTERESTING
- FOR EXTRAORDINARY COVERAGE. IT OFFERED HOUR AFTER HOUR OF
- ABC TV, TRANSLATED INTO JAPANESE. (MOST TV SETS IN JAPAN
- HAVE BI-LINGUAL CAPACITY. IF THE STATION IS DOING
- JAPANESE TRANSLATION, YOU CAN SWITCH TO A SUB-CHANNEL FOR
- THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE. THUS YOU CAN HEAR ABC IN ENGLISH
- OR IN THE SIMULTANEOUS JAPANESE TRANSLATIONS.) IN
- ADDITION TO ABC, NHK- SATELLITE OFFERED THE REGULAR NEWS
- BROADCASTS FROM BBC, FRENCH ANTENNE 2, GERMAN, AND
- RUSSIAN TELEVISION. THESE WERE COMPLETE, UNEDITED,
- TRANSLATED REGULAR NEWS HOURS FROM EUROPEAN TELEVISION.
-
- OTHER TV CHANNELS IN JAPAN HAVE HOOK UPS WITH NBC AND
- CBS, PLUS A HOST OF OTHER ARRANGEMENTS WITH FOREIGN
- SERVICE. IN ADDITION, OF COURSE, MOST OF THE NETWORKS --
- AND ALL THE NEWSPAPERS, OF COURSE -- HAD HORDES OF
- JAPANESE JOURNALISTS IN THE GULF REPORTING BACK TO
- JAPAN.
-
-