The Ultimate Reality TV (washingtonpost.com): Fox News is asking the United Nations for permission to send reporters and camera crews along if U.N. weapons inspectors return to Iraq. "This is a serious proposal," Senior Vice President John Moody told U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in a letter sent Friday. Having broadcast crews along "would make it easier for U.N. inspectors to do their work and would underscore the credibility of the U.N. mission in Iraq. . . . Viewers could decide for themselves if the inspectors are being allowed to do their jobs."

Oh, dear god.

On the one hand, actually watching weapons inspections wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, although I can't imagine that it would be terribly gripping television most of the time.

On the other hand, watching highly edited footage -- and it would have to be to fit into a half-hour or hour timeslot -- slanted to show either the best or worst of what was going on would serve nobody's purpose but Fox. I can't imagine that it would improve anyone's credibility on anything.

There is also pretty much no possible way it could aid Iraq. Either it shows that there's no bite behind the bark -- which, to be sure, Saddam has been saying, but which he might not like to have illustrated quite so graphically -- or it would show that there IS bite, in which case they wouldn't be allowed to film things anyway. (Which, to be sure, would be a story in itself.)

In any event, I can't imagine the UN allowing any such thing. This has been enough of a circus as it is.