Ugly War, Pretty Package: How CNN and Fox News Made the Invasion of Iraq High Concept

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-Ugly War, Pretty Package offers a new paradigm for understanding how television news reporting shapes our perceptions of events.