Interesting bit about the Satellite Phones used by the 'embedded' reporters

[Queasy]

Link

snippet:

While media coverage of major parts of the last Gulf war were limited to voice and text reports, new technology is expected to make the current conflict a full multimedia experience.

Reporters from the last U.S.-Iraq conflict struggled just to maintain a phone connection, in many instances. This time around, they'll be competing to provide broadcast-quality video from anywhere there's news.

Enabling those efforts will be systems such as the IPT Suitcase, a briefcase-size satellite broadcasting system developed by Swedish company Swe-Dish Satellite Systems . The 75-pound system is designed to transmit video and audio via satellite using standard Internet protocols and at speeds of up to 2 megabits per second--equivalent to an average DSL connection.

Hampus Delin, marketing director for Swe-Dish, said several major broadcast networks have bought IPT Suitcase systems for deployment in Iraq.

"For journalists 'embedded' in the coalition forces, it's a perfect choice," he said. "The small size also allows the news network to dispatch several smaller teams to cover multiple angles of the story."

Networks have embraced compact broadcast systems like this--NBC and parent company General Electric developed their own, for example--as the next step after satellite telephones, Delin said.

"In some ways, this is a satellite telephone on steroids," he said. "It's offering full broadcast quality in a package that is fully manageable by a crew of one reporter and one cameraman."

 

[PricklyPete]

I guess this is a good thing....although it will bring home how horrible war is even more.