Ugly War Pretty Package

<p>Deborah L. Jaramillo investigates cable news' presentation of the Iraq War in relation to high concept filmmaking. High concept films can be reduced to single-sentence summaries and feature pre-sold elements; they were considered financially safe projects that would sustain consumer interest beyond their initial theatrical run. Using high concept as a framework for the analysis of the 2003 coverage of the Iraq War--paying close attention to how Fox News and CNN packaged and promoted the U.S. invasion of Iraq--<i>Ugly War Pretty Package</i> offers a new paradigm for understanding how television news reporting shapes our perceptions of events.</p>