During the first months of 2003, as the world moved closer to confrontation with Iraq, the dialogue among members of the Security Council polarized around two key positions: To allow U.N. inspectors more time to continue their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; or, conversely, to place a time limit on the inspection process and authorize military action against Iraq. During the weeks prior to the commencement of hostilities with Iraq, the MCS captioning team began building an extensive list of terminology that we anticipated would be used in the course of this conflict.

     MCS, since its founding in 1987, has captioned over 101,000 hours of news and sports programming in realtime. In 1990, we captioned the beginning of hostilities with Iraq during the Gulf War,

We have had many experiences captioning high-profile events for extended periods, but none have proven to be as interesting, nor challenging, as captioning war in Iraq in 2003.

from the commencement of the air war through the end of hostilities in February, 1991. We have had many experiences captioning high-profile events for extended periods (the O.J. Simpson Trial, Impeachment of President Clinton, NATO action in the former Yugoslavia, continuous coverage of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 on Fox News and CNN), but none have proven to be as interesting, nor challenging, as captioning war in Iraq in 2003.

     In 1991, the allied coalition conducted a prolonged air war against Iraq. Most ordnance used were "dumb bombs" dropped on a wide range of targets throughout Iraq. The daily briefing from CENTCOM featured videotapes of some of the targets destroyed in these attacks. In the first Gulf War, the F-117A stealth bomber was used extensively, and at night, to conduct the air war. In 2003, as a result of technological changes, conduct of the war, and subsequent news coverage, was elevated to a new dimension.

     In 2003, the U.S. military allowed over 600 "embeds" -- representatives of various news agencies -- to provide war coverage as correspondents embedded with Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine units conducting operations in Iraq. In this war,

In 2003, the U.S. military allowed over 600 "embeds" -- representatives of various news agencies -- to provide war coverage as correspondents embedded with Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine units conducting operations in Iraq.

as we were soon to learn, the coalition's strategy was to make extensive use of precision bombs to degrade command and control and anti-aircraft facilities in the first few days of the war. This allowed the armed forces to begin a major ground assault from Kuwait, utilizing elements of the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division moving along the western flank of the Euphrates River to Baghdad, and the U.S. Marine Corps moving east along the Euphrates toward Baghdad, (accompanied by extensive air power) to destroy both regular and Republican Guard units of the Iraqi Army.

     Captioning of these events proved most challenging, as captioners were able to caption realtime broadcasts by embedded reporters from the battlefield, who were using satellite uplinks and videophones to transmit their coverage live as events unfolded.

     The use of multiple, embedded reporters covering a ground war in various cities of Iraq proved most challenging, as our captioners were constantly presented with names as unique as Nasiriyah, Samawa, Umm Qasr, Az Zubayr, Hindiyah, and Chamchamal, among others, often with spellings that could vary from network to network, depending on their translation from Arabic into English.

     From the commencement of hostilities on March 20th, 2003, with a "decapitation attack" allegedly targetting Iraqi senior leadership, including Saddam Hussein, followed on March 21st

We captioned a seemingly endless succession of field reports filed by "embeds," as well as briefings by CENTCOM, the Pentagon, and the White House.

by a "shock and awe" barrage of Baghdad, until allied forces entered Baghdad on April 6th following their capture of Saddam International Airport, we captioned a seemingly endless succession of field reports filed by "embeds," as well as briefings by CENTCOM, the Pentagon, and the White House.

     To date, the ability of reporters to bring realtime coverage from the battlefield has been due to advances in satellite and telecommunications technology. The same technology -- satellite and GPS (geosynchronous positioning system) technology -- was responsible for the immensely accurate precision bombing of multiple targets in Iraq, using "smart bombs," with little collateral damage. The importance of GPS in this current military effort was underscored when the United States Air Force launched, on April 1st, 2003, from Cape Canaveral, the Navstar GPS 2R-9 satellite. Although this satellite normally would require about 60 days for system checks and calibrations, it is to be put into service in less than two weeks, to support the ongoing effort in Iraq.    

     The ability to broadcast live, breaking news from the battlefield using advances in satellite technology has been responsible for the extensive realtime coverage of battles throughout Iraq, and provided major challenges to us as captioners. The realtime captioning, therefore, of live breaking news from the battlefield is the ultimate challenge.

     As all viewers have come to realize, war proceeds at its own tempo, and we all have come to expect the "unexpected." The array of satellite and videophones available to news organizations and the ability to downlink multiple feeds of live reporting and reporter-filed packages has provided a plethora of coverage of all facets of the battle for control of Iraq.

     The use of combined arms and air power in support of ground operations has required us to be familiar with the full array of proper

With coverage running for extended periods without commercial breaks, it has proven to be a significant challenge for captioners and coordinators, working as team, to continually input new names of cities where battles raged.

spellings of tactical aircraft and artillery used in "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Additionally, with coverage running for extended periods without commercial breaks, it has proven to be a significant challenge for captioners and coordinators, working as team, to continually input new names of cities where battles raged, as well as proper names of military commanders, foreign policy experts and international guests as they are interviewed during the course of the campaign.

     In order to meet the challenge of producing high-quality realtime captioning, we at Media Captioning Services have utilized our experience, training and technology to prepare for this event. Proper training -- through familiarization with military and geographical terminology -- has proven to be most valuable for MCS.

     The challenges the coalition faces in Iraq are not yet over. We will continue to prepare for realtime captioning of any contingency as part of our commitment to excellence. MCS has provided realtime captioning of Fox News Channel (daytime hours), CNN International, and CNBC during the course of their coverage of the war in Iraq.

Media Captioning Services,
April 11th, 2003

Pictures from a recent rally in support of U.S. troops in San Diego

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