By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Channel Surfing

If you're headed off to watch the war, don't forget to grab the remote control. The best way to watch live coverage of the situation in Iraq has been to start with CNN - by far the best coverage - and flip around to ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC and MSNBC.

Here's what to expect on each network, based on this week. Weekend coverage patterns could vary:

CNN: Anchors Bill Hemmer (mornings) and Wolf Blitzer (evenings) from Kuwait City talk around-the-clock with an impressive army of reporters: Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi in Baghdad (before they were ordered by the Iraqis to leave Friday), and Christiane Amanpour and others in Iraq and nearby countries.

CNN has a strong arsenal of graphics, particularly earthview.com aerial photos. When the air attack started Friday, CNN was the first to put up four live video feeds of Baghdad at once (quickly copied by Fox News and MSNBC).

NBC, MSNBC: The expanded five-hour Today show had no competition 10 a.m.-noon from CBS and ABC. David Bloom's reports while riding in the U.S. Army convoy through southern Iraq have been very informative.

NBC's biggest coup was hiring National Geographic Channel reporter Peter Arnett, CNN's ace for the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Frequently flip to MSNBC for elaborations by Arnett, Bloom, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and others. NBC shrewdly exploits the cable presence that ABC and CBS don't have.

ABC: Peter Jennings had a prime-time broadcast news monopoly Thursday for those without cable, as NBC aired a Friends rerun, and CBS carried NCAA men's basketball. Many viewers have a high comfort level with Jennings' calm, cool, conversational style during a crisis.

He also has a capable backup (Charlie Gibson) and strong supporting cast: Richard Engel in Baghdad; Ted Koppel, Bob Woodruff and Mike Cerre traveling with troops; and John Donvan, Jim Wooten, Robin Roberts and Mike von Fremd in Kuwait. And catch a recap on Nightline at 11:35 p.m.

Fox News: Fox has aggressively tried to match CNN and MSNBC picture-for-picture. Count on Fox to air video from somewhere almost constantly, often from on-the-scene reporters or of the Baghdad skyline. Among the best on Fox are Brit Hume, anchor Shepard Smith and Pentagon scoops from former CNN reporter Major Garrett.

CBS News: Dan Rather and his troops were late to get into the game because of the NCAA Tournament. CBS chose basketball over Baghdad Thursday night, and for a while Friday, until the air campaign commenced.

Rather has relied on grainy green "nightscope" reports from embedded correspondents Scott Pelley and Jim Axelrod. Though CBS also has high-tech computer graphics, Rather prefers to point at maps with a yellow pencil.

With NCAA games scheduled for today and Sunday, it's unknown how much war coverage CBS will air. The network plans to air basketball until 9 p.m. Sunday, followed by 60 Minutes.

New faces from the front lines

A handful of network correspondents traveling with U.S. troops provided historic reports from the front lines that we will remember for years:

• David Bloom, NBC: The weekend Today show co-host, riding with the U.S. Army, was the frequent go-to reporter for Matt Lauer on the five-hour Today shows this week, Tom Brokaw's midday live specials and cable sister MSNBC.

Hired by NBC in 1995, Bloom covered the war in Bosnia and the O.J. Simpson trials before being named White House correspondent in 1997.

• Mike Cerre, ABC: Peter Jennings' prime-time news specials relied heavily on the detailed reporting of this veteran freelancer over the 20-plus ABC News staffers in the region.

Assigned to the U.S. Marines, the former national correspondent for Good Morning America, who is now executive producer for the Globe TV service, described the Marines' seven-hour charge through the southern Iraq desert past Iraqi soldiers who had surrendered.

The filmmaker, marketing consultant, new media developer and journalist produced Globe TV for A&E and Scan for CNBC.

• Rick Leventhal, Fox News: The network's point man with the Marines storming across the desert toward Baghdad has been a full-time Fox staff reporter for only four months.

Leventhal joined Fox News' bureau in New York in November, after five years freelancing for Fox's Chicago bureau. He has been a local TV news reporter in Chicago, New York, Miami and Columbia, S.C.

• Walter Rodgers, CNN: The 30-year TV veteran and Middle East expert was the eyes and ears for CNN's global audience from an U.S. Army tank convoy closing in on Baghdad.

Rodgers, CNN's senior international correspondent based in London, has been the network's bureau chief in Jerusalem and Berlin.

Rodgers was also ABC's Moscow bureau chief for five years. During his stint at ABC News (1981-'91), he covered the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and conflicts in Sarajevo, Kosovo, Lebanon and the West Bank.