VITAMEDIAS
War Is Hell For Media Conglomerates, Too: During an economic climate more severe than the depressed one of a decade ago when the Gulf War was fought, media companies may be even more hard-pressed to get the job done.
"You're facing a loss of sponsors who don't want to be on television during a period of war, and you're facing the pure physical fact that coverage will bump commercials for some given period of time," says Eric Ober, who served as president of CBS News from 1990 to 1996, and oversaw coverage of the Gulf War in 1991. [...]
Covering a war routinely costs tens of millions of dollars, according to news executives - and that's only if the outbreak lasts for a month or so. In fact, before announcing his upcoming departure from CNN, Walter Isaacson, the news operation's chairman, reportedly said the network had set aside $35 million to cover any fighting in Iraq.