More than four years after the start of the Iraq War, Broadcasting & Cable’s Marisa Guthrie addresses the emotional, human, and economic toll on television news organizations. The networks, she writes, “have awakened to their own grim reality: They’re spending millions of dollars a year to operate in a country where security costs them thousands of dollars a day. Even with extreme security measures, photographers and correspondents are in constant danger of getting maimed and killed – even in their own bureaus.”
The financial aspect of coverage is daunting, with Guthrie estimating costs ranging from “$3 million a year for cable networks to $10 million for broadcast (networks).” One news executive, she says, calls Iraq “a financial ‘black hole’.”
All in all, Guthrie concludes, Iraq coverage is “a game of diminishing returns: The more dangerous the country becomes, the more money (news organizations) must spend to keep their people safe and the harder it becomes for correspondents.”