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that increases ratings and establishes a system for determining public credibility. In their War and the Media Daya Thussu Thussu and Des Freedman discuss how the media operates and what motivates news selection especially television news. Television is the most global of the media for its ability to transcend language and geographical barriers through its use of images, which often carry a higher impact than any words (118). One of their claims is that international television politics have become increasingly political, economic, and technological (117). A new genre of news 24/7 has emerged from the demand that international news be available at all times of day. A global audience expects quick, accurate, and live accounts of events worldwide. Daya Thussu Thussu argues that this demand is leading to “sensationalism and trivialization of complex stories and the temptation to highlight the entertainment value of the news”(117). With this new entertainment thrust of newscasts the coverage conflict has proven to be a high ratings catcher and has the most entertainment value. War coverage has become what Daya terms as ‘infotainment’.

The term ‘infotainment’ was coined in the 1980s as a neologism that refers to an explicit genre-mixture of information and entertainment in news and current affair programming (Thussu 122). Whether infotainment gains journalistic merit or not, it seems as though it’s the most efficient way to attract younger audiences to the news. These younger viewers have been reared in a time that appreciates postmodern visual aesthetics, which include fast paced eye catching visuals, computer animated logos and rhetorical headlines. Infotainment is also heavily affected by online news and its multi-media interactive approach. Many critics warn against the popularity of infotainment arguing that it is likely to “contribute to a structural erosion of the public sphere in Habermasian sense, where the viewer, bombarded with visuals may not be able to differentiate between public information and propaganda from a powerful military-industrial-entertainment complex”(Thussu and Freedman 123).

Different international news stations such as CNN and BBC gain their respect and high regard from their claims to provide impartial news in addition to having a large a knowledgeable staff of people supporting them. CNN alone boasts of 150 correspondents in 42 international bureaux and 23 satellites that was said to have broadcast in over 150 million homes in more than 212 countries and territories worldwide (CNN website). CNN is the dominant international newscast in the states while BBC has precedence in Great Britain. Although the dependence on news footage has been typically associated with US style broadcasting, more and more newscasts around the world are also becoming dependent on news footage because of the two main suppliers of such, news agencies Reuters Television and Associated Press Television News. Reuters Television boasts of a 77 bureaux worldwide and a team of 2500 journalists and photographers operating in more than 150 countries able to provide “…fast, reliable, high quality video coverage in ‘near real time’” and APTN boasts of being the crucial supplier of footage to broadcasters around the globe (Thussu and Freedman 120). Both agencies also provide entertainment footage, which serves as great story fillers.

In a survey done in 2002, US citizens reported pref