[1] The media also had access to military innovations, such as the imagery obtained from "camera-equipped high-tech weaponry directed against Iraqi targets", according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
For the first time, people all over the world were able to watch live pictures of missiles hitting their targets and fighters taking off from aircraft carriers from the actual perspective of the machinery.
The images of precise land bombing and use of night vision equipment gave the reporting a futuristic spin which was said to resemble video game imagery and encourage the "war drama".
On the night of January 16, when the air strikes began, ABC's Peter Jennings, CBS's Dan Rather, and NBC's Tom Brokaw were anchoring their evening newscasts.
On the "NBC Nightly News", correspondent Mike Boettcher reported unusual air activity in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
[3] In addition when the government warned American journalists that their security might be put at risk because of the bombings, CNN's Baghdad correspondents Bernard Shaw, John Holliman, and Peter Arnett, as well as the rest of their team chose to stay behind.
[3] Furthermore, when the Iraqi authorities decided to expel the rest of the Western correspondents CNN's team was able to stay behind because producer Robert Winner had spent the last months trying to build cooperative relations with government officials in Baghdad.
[5] "I watched with horror and amazement CNN's coverage of the Gulf conflict," observed musician Roger Waters, who references the war on his 1992 album Amused to Death.
"[6] General Norman Schwarzkopf referred to the driver of a vehicle in a news conference during Gulf War on January 30, 1991 as, "the luckiest man in Iraq".
It wasn't only the limiting of information in the Middle East, media were also restricting what was shown about the war with more graphic depictions like Ken Jarecke's image of a burnt Iraqi soldier being pulled from the American AP wire whereas in Europe it was given extensive coverage.
About halfway through the war, Iraq's government decided to allow live satellite transmissions from the country by Western news organizations, and U.S. journalists returned en masse to Baghdad.
Tom Aspell of NBC, Bill Blakemore of ABC, and Betsy Aaron of CBS News filed reports, subject to acknowledged Iraqi censorship.
Witnessing the dramatic impact of CNN's international coverage of the 1991 Gulf War, several Arab states realized the strategic value of satellite television during times of conflict.
The success of CNN among Arab audiences during the Gulf War led to the establishment of the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) in London.
[18][19] The military's communication policy regarding Operation Desert Storm were disclosed in a 10-page document entitled the Annex Foxtrot, drafted by Captain Ron Wildermuth, the chief aide for public affairs.
Bureau chiefs from print and television collaborated on a letter to President Bush communicating concerns about the restrictions in Saudi Arabia particularly.
[20] Ted Koppel, host of ABC's "Nightline" criticized the administration's policies stating, "I'm not sure the public's interest is served by seeing what seems to have been such a painless war, when 50,000 to 100,000 people may have died on the other side.