The Gulf War: Was it really a new form of Entertainment?

"It is a commonplace of opinion research that the public does not much care about foreign policy. There is, however, one very dramatic excemption: war. No political event inspires more public intrest or emotion than war. This is why, if war is " the health of the state," it is also the health of the news media, at least in terms of audience size."

In this reading, the article suggests that the Gulf War was used as a means of entertainment. It reveals that 22 of the 25 largest newspapers circulated information on the war. For example, CNN had the highest ratings that the station has ever had during that time and due to the major coverage of the war, it interupted day time televison and for the first time, local television stations didn't complain about it cutting out soap operas and many other shows on the line-up. Now we ask ourselves why?, well, the media fed off of the fact that there were lives at stake and these very same lives had families back home who were disrupted by it. Not to mention in effort to keep the war as a form of entertainment, the media used its popular resources such as Entertainment Tonight and People magazine and once the war is over the coverage was sold as collectors items in effort to make huge profits. So, to conclude, the war was a serious thing however it was also a way to entertain and make huge profits. Therefore i say, yes, the war was a new but quick wave of entertainment.