Reviewing Our Year-End Review

Regarding Calendar’s “ ‘91: Year in Review” stories (Dec. 22):

I agree with Howard Rosenberg that our network news coverage of the Gulf War was tightly controlled by the U.S. government and military.

I was in London performing during the last week of the war and was struck by the dramatic difference in the TV coverage there. Despite the fact--or maybe because--Britain had many involved in the conflict, its networks gave its citizens a much more objective and honest account of the war, instead of the “official” briefings we received. They also gave out Iraqi casualty figures cleared by our Pentagon for British consumption but inexplicably denied to Americans.

Rosenberg expresses disgust that the American networks are closing foreign bureaus to cut costs, but rather than lament, we should rejoice at the silver lining. Perhaps during the next event of global proportions, our networks will be forced to take their news feeds from the BBC.

FRANKLYN AJAYE

Los Angeles