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American Morning

War Correspondents Reporting From Front Lines Can be Left Temporarily Speechless

Aired December 13, 2001 - 08:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: This next story is one that gives all of us pause. It's about those sometimes awkward seconds of silence caused by satellite delays. Even war correspondents reporting from the front lines of battle can be left temporarily speechless.

Our own Jeanne Moos takes looks and listens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nod your head if you've noticed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

MOOS: Coverage of the war in Afghanistan has given birth to pauses that are beyond pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Dan. Hi, Rick -- Nick, what's the word?

MOOS: The word is delay. Satellite delay, or as this viewer calls it...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: delayed head bobbing.

MOOS: Silence isn't just golden, it's funny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we expect a swift fall of the Al Qaeda network?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: pardon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: can we expect a swift fall of the Al Queda network?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you repeat the question?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pardon, can you repeat your question?

MOOS: The real Christiane Amanpour doesn't bob her head while reporting from Kandahar.

(on camera): Does the satellite delay get on your nerves? AMANPOUR: Yes, it does.

MOOS (voice-over): but there's not much engineers can do about it, since Afghanistan is on the other side of the Earth from the U.S.

ARNIE CHRISTENSON, CNN SATELLITE OPERATIONS MGR.: We're generally using two satellites, so it's a double satellite hop back to the United States.

Two TV satellites and one for the phone. CNN bounces signals up and down and up and down and up and down like ping pong gone amok.

(on camera): What do you estimate the number of seconds is until you hear my voice?

(voice-over): It may feel like 60 minutes, but the delay's only three or four seconds. It could be worse for instance, when Larry King interviewed the Dalai Lama in India on millennium eve using a three-satellite hop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE": Your Holiness, do you expect to return to Tibet?

DALAI LAMA: Again, not very clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: But why waste all that silence. Next thing you know they'll be sneaking in subliminal ads.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: What do you make of all that?

MOOS: Or you can use the downtime to identify the bird calls in Afghanistan.

Comedians can't keep quiet about the silence.

DAVE BARRY, HUMORIST: I'm thinking they're faking it. I think they hear it right away, but they just pretend they don't so they can think of a good answer.

MD ROCCA, COMEDY CENTRAL: Well, my colleagues and I have made it into a party game. We write down what we think the correspondent is going to answer.

MOOS: But what's a correspondent supposed to do while waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just keep a straight face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do like a world weary seen and heard it all like that, not acknowledging and agreeing with what's said, but what a world we're in.

MOOS (on camera): Are you sort of fixing your face, arranging it in a certain way so you don't look kind of dumb waiting for the question?

AMANPOUR: No I'm not. If I'm looking dumb, I just can't help it.

MOOS: But wait, Geraldo's delay on Fox seems shorter, with a two-second delay, a correspondent barely has time to sip his coffee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So alright, you got shot at, Geraldo, what happened there?

GERALDO RIVERA: We were doing a stand-up close, Bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Apparently Geraldo's using only a one-satellite hop.

Among the casualties in Afghanistan, dead air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's bad in Jalalbad; get it?

(LAUGHTER)

AMANPOUR: Bad in Jalalbad. I don't get it

(LAUGHTER)

I don't get it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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