Reports during the first week of the war against Iraq were almost exlusively in terms of kilometres of advance, kilometres from Baghdad etc. I noticed a fairly sudden transition after the first week, since when nearly all reports have been in miles - last night, for example, '50 miles from Baghdad' and today '20 miles from the outskirts of Baghdad'

They want to rub in how close they are. Miles provide smaller numbers.

The media are very inconsistent over the use of km or miles, kg lbs etc Tony.

They try (so they say) to accommodate both but in reality please neither of us.

I found one news supplier who is consistent - try www.abc.net.au

Erm,

the only place where I've heard km is on CNN, I've not heard it on BBC, Sky or ITN (wont mention "euronews" because no-one watches that despite the fact they they go on about being the most watched news station in europe!!!)

I have noticed that CNN gave up on metric measures only a few days into the war, when I heard Aaron Brown make the following remarks:

Aaron: So they are moving pretty fast through the dessert, about 40-50 mph or is that km [to the Army General] Stop talking in kilometers, I don't know what those are.

Army General: Yes, it's about 30-40 mph

After this conversation, they have stopped all reference to metric measures all together.

I think SteveH may be suffering from selective hearing.

In just the last couple of days we've had numerous references to the 50km "Red Line" outside Baghdad.

As well as footage of a reporter near Basra diving for cover during a mortar attack asking a soldier "how far away was that one?" and being told "about 30 metres".

I even heard on the radio an American soldier talking about an event that was "seven klicks down the road from here".

Ammo sizes seem to be always given in millimetres but bomb sizes are always given in pounds.

Anyway, it seems to me that it's about 80-90% imperial with the rest in the metric.

And for some reason it appears that smaller distance (eg. 50m, 200m etc.)have a greater chance of being given in metric than large distances (10km, 50km etc.).

SteveH had best stay clear of the BBC website as well. It's the miles that come in brackets there !

A few extracts from the BBC web site:

"Earlier, US military officials said that troops were just a few kilometres from the heart of the capital - but those claims were rejected as "silly" by Iraq's information minister."

"Witnesses reported artillery shells raining down on the airport, which lies about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city centre"

"David Willis, with a US marine unit, says they came under heavy fire near Aziziyah about 60km south-east of Baghdad, delaying a planned push across the River Tigris."

True CNN is an American news source, but as you can see, we here in the US do not even get the parenthetical metric. They have decided that metric is unitelligable to the American public:

"(CNN) -- American armored divisions late Thursday launched an assault on Saddam International Airport, which is 10 miles from the center of Baghdad."

"Behind the leading edges of the coalition advance, other U.S.-led troops battled remnants of Iraqi forces to secure areas, cities and strategic facilities from the Persian Gulf northward to Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad."

"Special Operations forces raided a palace roughly 56 miles outside Baghdad that is a known residence of Saddam and his sons, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said Thursday during a briefing at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar."

And the best was the Iraqi information minister:

"'They're not even [within] 100 miles,' he said. 'They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq.'"

MattS wrote

<<
"Special Operations forces raided a palace roughly 56 miles outside Baghdad that is a known residence of Saddam and his sons, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said Thursday during a briefing at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar."
>>

This happens to be 90km. A case of an exact translation of an approximate qualtity giving the reader a delusion of accuarcy that is not present.

I believe that all the information that emanates from Iraq is in metric units and that various journalists and new organisations convert to to Imperial/Customary units for local consumption.

"This happens to be 90km. A case of an exact translation of an approximate qualtity giving the reader a delusion of accuarcy that is not present.

I believe that all the information that emanates from Iraq is in metric units and that various journalists and new organisations convert to to Imperial/Customary units for local consumption."

Exactly.

Who cares? I was trying to show that here in the US, metric is so unintelligable to the population that they have given up even showing it in reports. They tried to give it earlier in campaigns. Later as things progressed, they received so many complaints that they gave up. Here is a mock sequence:

Early on:
"Special operations raided a palace 90km outside of Baghdad. . ."
Days later:
"Special operations raided a palace 90km (56mi) outside of Baghdad . . ."
A week later:
"Special operations raided a palace roughly 56mi (90km) outside of Baghdad. . ."
Currently:
"Special operations raided a palace roughly 56mi outside of Baghdad. . ."

They have completely stopped using any reference to any metric units in American news reports because people don't need/want them.

Who cares - anybody who want to compare US reports with reports from other sources!

Engineer wroteL "I think SteveH may be suffering from selective hearing."

I hate to say it but are you in the UK?

All television and radio output is in miles, feet etc.

Maybe you're just fantasising?

If a "metre" or "km" was mentioned it would stick out like a sore thumb!

Well done for picking up the bracketed "miles" from the BBC website by the way, that really swings it!!

Sky News yesterday : "Soldiers have to endure heat of over one hundred degrees out here".

Hmmm, obvioulsy meant "celsius" there, or perhaps its that "selective hearing" again? [smirk]

If you *really* want to hear metric values tune into "euronews" on SkyDig or if you're on analogue sat then try out some of the German channels.