This Revolution Will Be Televised

I have been trying to stay abreast with that is going on in the Middle East, but I find it hard to remember and differentiate what is happening today in Bahrain versus what is happening in Libya.  Now with Yemen and Jordan thrown into the mix it is very hard not confuse and mesh these revolutions.

Therefore, I would like to suggest coverage that will help the average viewer keep the revolutions separate from one another.  This idea really comes from the historic way football had been covered on US television.  NBC always had the AFC.  On Sunday, when you turned on NBC you saw a AFC game.  CBS had the NFC and later gave up this coverage to Fox.  ABC would get the Sunday night game which usually was the key match-up of the weekend.

My proposed coverage becomes even more relevant as it looks like the NFL will not happen next year and the networks will be scrambling to fill hours of programming time.  First, NBC will get Yemen and Bahrain and Jordan if things heat up there.  Therefore, if you are interested in the events in one of these countries you go to NBC.  NBC has their ace, Richard Engel, who is ubiquitous and should be able to cover these three revolutions which are in relatively close proximity.

 CBS would get Libya which is big enough that it deserves its own network.  The CBS news team is not really as well staffed as the other networks and would do better with a single location.  Fox has asked to cover the events in  Wisconsin as it still has its TV crews in the area from the Super Bowl and boasts of its "fair and balanced" approach to covering domestic struggles between the left and the right.  Fox specializes in the multiple camera style so we can look forward to split screens with cameras in  the State House, on the streets and in the empty classrooms across the state.  That leaves ABC with coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Since both these wars are winding down at a fast clip, we will also give ABC a program to be aired at 11:00PM, a la Ted Koppel, which will give a brief summary of all the events of the day.

The Super Bowl will be televised from Tehran.  Networks of course will have to bid for the rights for this coverage and the winning network will be announced as we get closer to this big event.