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Live from Baghdad: Making Journalism History Behind the Lines
On August 23, 1990, CNN executive producer Robert Wiener landed at Saddam International Airport. In tow were correspondent Jim Clancy, a camera crew, and enough equipment to fill seven taxis.
Wiener’s job was to orchestrate the network’s coverage from the Iraqi capital—a herculean task that involved everything from negotiating with difficult Iraqi officials to gathering news to lifting spirits (including those that came in bottles). All in a day’s work for CNN’s executive producer in Baghdad.
Live from Baghdad is the fast-paced story of Wiener’s adventures in Iraq during the period of tense international maneuvering that would culminate in open war. By turns suspenseful, irreverent, and inspiring, it is also a no-holds-barred inside look at how the media covered a simmering crisis.
Every day of Wiener’s five-month stay—from the moment he was greeted at the airport by his Iraqi “minder” through his harrowing wartime escape on the road to Amman—confirms that this assignment was his toughest. Baghdad’s surprisingly modern facilities did little to mask the mentality of a Third World dictatorship ruled by a cult of personality. The country’s besiegement, compounded by the cutthroat competition of aggressive Western news media, created daily pressures so intense that news crews at “ground zero” frequently resorted to late-night bases where cross-dressing was not uncommon.
Celebrities like Jesse Jackson, Dan Rather, and Carl Bernstein dropped in amid the chaos, only to fly out the moment they’d gotten their piece of the story. But, armed with irreverence, pluck, and a dogged determination to see it through, Wiener and his CNN cohorts were there for the long haul. When the inane code words “the kids have the sniffles” reached news organizations from Washington, the Al-Rasheed Hotel erupted in panic. Within hours, almost every major network still in Baghdad prepared to leave. But CNN decided to remain. And when the Iraqi capital came under attack, correspondents Peter Arnett, Bernard Shaw, and John Holliman reported the news live to the world. A few days later, the Iraqis expelled almost everyone—except Wiener, Arnett and their courageous engineer.
Wiener’s job was to orchestrate the network’s coverage from the Iraqi capital—a herculean task that involved everything from negotiating with difficult Iraqi officials to gathering news to lifting spirits (including those that came in bottles). All in a day’s work for CNN’s executive producer in Baghdad.
Live from Baghdad is the fast-paced story of Wiener’s adventures in Iraq during the period of tense international maneuvering that would culminate in open war. By turns suspenseful, irreverent, and inspiring, it is also a no-holds-barred inside look at how the media covered a simmering crisis.
Every day of Wiener’s five-month stay—from the moment he was greeted at the airport by his Iraqi “minder” through his harrowing wartime escape on the road to Amman—confirms that this assignment was his toughest. Baghdad’s surprisingly modern facilities did little to mask the mentality of a Third World dictatorship ruled by a cult of personality. The country’s besiegement, compounded by the cutthroat competition of aggressive Western news media, created daily pressures so intense that news crews at “ground zero” frequently resorted to late-night bases where cross-dressing was not uncommon.
Celebrities like Jesse Jackson, Dan Rather, and Carl Bernstein dropped in amid the chaos, only to fly out the moment they’d gotten their piece of the story. But, armed with irreverence, pluck, and a dogged determination to see it through, Wiener and his CNN cohorts were there for the long haul. When the inane code words “the kids have the sniffles” reached news organizations from Washington, the Al-Rasheed Hotel erupted in panic. Within hours, almost every major network still in Baghdad prepared to leave. But CNN decided to remain. And when the Iraqi capital came under attack, correspondents Peter Arnett, Bernard Shaw, and John Holliman reported the news live to the world. A few days later, the Iraqis expelled almost everyone—except Wiener, Arnett and their courageous engineer.
- GenresNonfiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 2, 2017
هي فعلاً يوميات ، بمعنى أنها أقرب لسرد التفاصيل الشخصية اليومية أكثر منها توثيقاً لمجريات الحرب و الأحداث ، و بالتالي هناك الكثير من إقحام الآراء الشخصية الخاصة بالكاتب (و هو بالمناسبة مرااسل صحافي يعمل في شبكة CNN) .
الكتاب بالمجمل لا يعدّ مضيعة للوقت ، لكنه في رأيي مجرد قصة أخرى و لا يمكن اعتباره بحال توثيقاً للأحداث .
November 4, 2017
كتاب يستحق القراءة ، يسرد احداث المراسلين والصحفين ولكن بطريقة تجعلك تطلع على الاوضاع بالعراق من مختلف الجوانب ، تطلع على عادات وتقاليد ، حكومات ، مؤثرين ، سياسات الدول والعلاقات .
من المؤسف ان تعلم ان نشوب حرب بين دولتين ، يموت فيها المئات والالف وتدمر فيها مدن والاقتصاد ، وتشغل العالم بالحرب هو نتيجة تصرفات شخصية لرؤساء دول يود ان ينتقم الاول من الثاني والعكس وهؤلاء الاشخاص هم رؤوساء الدول وقادة البلاد ومحركي سياسات العالم ومنهم صدام و بوش و غيرهم الكثير
من المؤسف ان تعلم ان نشوب حرب بين دولتين ، يموت فيها المئات والالف وتدمر فيها مدن والاقتصاد ، وتشغل العالم بالحرب هو نتيجة تصرفات شخصية لرؤساء دول يود ان ينتقم الاول من الثاني والعكس وهؤلاء الاشخاص هم رؤوساء الدول وقادة البلاد ومحركي سياسات العالم ومنهم صدام و بوش و غيرهم الكثير
December 26, 2010
wonderful, compelling book about journalism during the first gulf war and the rise of CNN
I really appreciated the epilogue in which Wiener discusses the fall of CNN post sale by Ted Turner and how Wiener's cat has better diplomacy skills than W. Especially interesting to me because I did not see ANY footage of the war, we were in India the day the war started and my dad came back from India the day it ended.
I really appreciated the epilogue in which Wiener discusses the fall of CNN post sale by Ted Turner and how Wiener's cat has better diplomacy skills than W. Especially interesting to me because I did not see ANY footage of the war, we were in India the day the war started and my dad came back from India the day it ended.
December 31, 2009
Exciting, informative book about the CNN crew covering the first Gulf War. You are introduced to characters who have since reappeared in the news, and get a look behind the scenes of journalism and politics.
January 20, 2013
I saw an HBO movie based on this book and I checked it out from the library to read. It was so detailed and suspenseful. Interesting to read about many reporters I had seen on CNN. Very good read, very thought provoking about news and getting a story, the stakes involved etc.
August 26, 2007
Journalism in the midst of the first of the "new" wars. I read this before Iraq II and it was interesting to see the parallels.
December 28, 2012
Great inside baseball for those who are interested in, as Wiener put it, "committing acts of journalism" in difficult situations.
July 6, 2014
Read this years ago and have so much respect for what CNN used to be.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews