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Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 10:07:46 -0700
From: Brian Bach <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Peter Jennings' Cartifact
Sender: Brian Bach <[log in to unmask]>



Some of you may have seen an ABC News Special Report which was broadcast on 11 Oct (I only recently got around to watching the tape), called 'Minefield: The United States and the Muslim World'. Its central feature was a map showing the majority of the Muslim world. Curiously, it was spread over the entire floor of a small studio, while the western wing of North Africa, the mass of Kazakhstan and Russia to the north, and everything past Bangladesh in the east curved up the confining walls and were lost in distortion and spatial limitations. Correspondent Peter Jennings, always debonair, strolled purposefully and effortlessly about the landscape, delivering easily-digestible analyses of each country or region in question. With a bit of skillful choreography, he stepped lightly and politely on Iraq and adjacent areas. No symbolism here - he had to get from one country to the next somehow.

The benefits of an interactive map to illustrate geopolitics are obvious, but it is interesting that a larger scale wasn't utilized, which would have made the whole set piece less clumsy and more graspable. No amount of boom shots or camera angles could make the map look like anything other than what it was: a big drop-cloth. The refinement and credibility of Jennings' performance saved the whole sequence from being a bit . . .silly. Yet, 'Minefield' was informative, helpful, and solidly done, and it was good to see maps being emphasized as a key tool in understanding current events - especially on prime time network television.

An attention-getting 'concept' typical of network news, but it is interesting that they went to such efforts when, if the endless swirling digital graphics of network presentation are any clue, the tech team did not create a virtual reality map in which Jennings could have done his demonstrations in 21st-century style, while the old fashioned stage set map was probably better left to interpretation by the likes of Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire.

I imagine this cartifact will probably not be preserved. It may indeed serve as a drop-cloth the next time the studio needs painting.

Brian

Brian P. Bach
Maps Specialist
Documents/Maps
Central Washington University Library
400 E. 8th Ave.
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7548
USA
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