NEW YORK (January 25, 2005) - With the national election in Iraq only days away, many American television networks have completed their final planning for the election coverage. After the November 2004 presidential election, this is the most anticipated political event so far in 2005. Therefore, no stone is left unturned to gain the competitive edge.
In a surprising move, the ABC News anchor, Mr. Peter Jennings, will be embedded with the Uday Martyr brigade in Mosul, considered as Zarqawi's top commando unit. "We will be able to provide the American audience with the most unique perspective of this election," Mr. Jennings said in a telephone interview from Mosul. ABC News hopes to broadcast live "how voting booths are bombed and innocent voters across party line are beheaded, just to demonstrate the high price of democracy", Mr. Jennings explained.
As of today, Mr. Brian Williams, the new anchor for NBC News, is still got stuck in Aceh, Indonesia, where he has been reporting non-stop on the Tsunami disaster since December 26. However, he plans to join the NBC News election studio in Fallujah on Friday night. Mr. Williams did not confirm reports that Mr. Tariq Aziz, former Deputy Prime Minister under Saddam Hussein, was hired by NBC News as a Special News Contributor for the election night.
The embattered anchor of CBS News, Mr. Dan Rather, will cover the election day from an enlarged spider hole inside a voting booth in Ramadi, right in the heart of the Sunni triangle. Mr. Rather described this assignment, probably his last, as extremely tough and very challenging. "Only crossing the Dallas I- 35 in the rush hour as a West-Texan armadillo would be more dangerous," Mr. Rather said.
CNN is in the final phase of negotiation with the Al Jazeera network for a joint election day coverage from the network TV studio in Tikrit. The show will be co-hosted by Mr. James Carville for CNN and Ali-Hasan al-Majid for Al Jazeera. One critical issue remained unresolved as of today: Al Jazeera was unable to find an Arabic interpreter, who can understand Mr. Carville's Cajun English in adequate fashion.
