Addiction to war watching

Riveting. Compelling. Phenomenal.

They're adjectives used by Southeast Missouri residents to describe media coverage of the war in Iraq. Americans have never had such a clear window into the brutal realities of war, and their hunger to observe it seems insatiable.

Journalists reporting on Operation Iraqi Freedom are offering coverage unlike during any previous war. Embedded reporters are filing live broadcasts of combat, soldiers are answering questions in between gunshots and retired military experts are explaining troop movements in a play-by-play analysis.

Angie Morrison, 37, can't stop watching. The Sikeston, Mo., mother of two begins her day by turning on her television before she starts her coffee pot and ends it by falling asleep to the late-night news. She keeps a television beside her work station at Special Effects Beauty Salon in Cape Girardeau, monitoring broadcasts along with her customers as she cuts and styles their hair.

"I've been addicted to it ever since it started," she said. "I don't go to bed until midnight because I can't shut it off."

Clients at the salon say they appreciate being able to stay informed while carrying on with daily life, Morrison said.

The embedded reporters filing live stories impress her most because of the immediacy of the coverage and the intimacy the audience gains with the soldiers.

"The journalism, it's just phenomenal that we have the technology today that we can do that," she said. "Yes, it's scary to watch, but it gives us comfort to know what's going on, too."

Public reflection

Her TV experience is right on track with most of the public, according to Dr. Ken Callis, psychology professor at Southeast Missouri State University.

The public's hunger for war coverage comes down to wanting to be well informed, and for some, a sheer addiction to the new style of reporting, Callis said.

"We've never had this kind of coverage, what they're calling 'real-time' reporting, and there's a kind of fascination with that," he said.

For others, the experience is like getting caught up in a video game and losing track of time.

"There's an endless stream of it, and just about every station has something going on," he said. "It's fast paced, stimulating and we want to know what's going on."

Staff at Cape Girardeau's LaCroix Pet Hospital are watching the war on a television in every examination room and office, said office manager Karen Fox, 57, of Cape Girardeau. Customers can watch in the waiting room, as well.

"We normally watch Animal Planet around here, but ever since the war started that's what we're watching," she said.

Fox watches the coverage constantly at home and intermittently at work, but at times needs a break from the repeated images and stories.

"It does wear me down to where at times I turn it off or see what else is on, but then I turn it back," she said. "I'm pretty heavily drawn into it."

The coverage she finds most informative are news briefings and combat analysis, Fox said.

"I find all of it very riveting," she said.

Affects of war

On Sunday, Cape Girardeau resident Nikki Stallion, 29, forced herself to turn off her television after a nearly a whole weekend of watching war coverage non-stop.

"It really started to get me down," she said. "I was starting to feel the effects of watching way too much of it. You would hear the bombs and the different explosions, and you realize those are not movie effects or thunder. Those are real bombs and real casualties."

Stallion, vice president of construction firm Mac Con Co., says she wasn't as intrigued by the 1991 Gulf War because, as a high school student, she didn't understand that war the way she does this one.

"Now I feel like I have a better sense of the politics involved and the background to it," Stallion said. "For me, this is my first war -- as an adult it definitely is."

Callis is unsure when the majority will become weary of watching the war. But for those who have a vested interest or a loved one involved in the conflict, their urge to stay informed will likely last until the end, he said.

Still, others with strong political opinions want to stay as informed so they can debate the issues, he said. "They don't want to be embarrassed by not knowing what the latest is," he said.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160