EYES IN THE SKY

August 2, 1999
		Should the government limit the scope of new satellites producing ultra-detailed images? After this background report, media correspondent Terence Smith leads a discussion of so-called "shutter control." The NewsHour Media Unit is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Sept. 30, 1999: A discussion of "shutter control." Sept. 24, 1999: A look at violence in the media. Sept. 9, 1999: The 20th anniversary of ESPN. Aug. 23, 1999: Diversity in the newsroom. May 4, 1999: NATO bombs Serbian television off the air. April 6, 1999: The Pentagon release little information during the Serbian air strikes. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media.     Space Imaging home page Microsoft's TerraServer NOAA's Geostationary Satellite Server Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeology	SPOKESMAN: One, zero, we have ignition and liftoff of the Athena II launch vehicle and IKONOS satellite. TERENCE SMITH: Last week, a Colorado company successfully launched a satellite named IKONOS, the ancient Greek word for "image." The satellite will be capable of taking images closer to the quality of the best U.S. intelligence photographs. In the near future images like this will be commercially available to all at a cost of a few hundred dollars. These photos were taken from a plane, but they indicate how clear the new satellite imagery will be…so clear it's possible to distinguish yard lines on a football field. The images will discern objects only a few feet wide, so-called "one meter" resolution, until now available only to intelligence agencies. Here, for example, is an overhead photo of the U.S. Capitol at 10-meter resolution. And here's the same picture with one-meter resolution. According to Space Imaging, the company that launched the satellite, the more fine-grained images will have a variety of applications, as described in this corporate marketing video. SPOKESMAN IN CORPORATE VIDEO: Oil and gas exploration, national security, disaster assessment. TERENCE SMITH: And, of course, the media, which will be able to purchase the images for broadcast and publication. CBS News Producer and Technologist Dan Dubno. DAN DUBNO: The effect of the satellite imagery will revolutionize the way we tell stories in the news business. TERENCE SMITH: Dan Dubno points out that satellite imaging is not new. The media have been buying it and using it for years. Recently, satellite images were a staple in CBS's hurricane coverage. But never before have such precise, detailed pictures from space been commercially available to the public. DAN DUBNO: The great thing about satellite imagery is that it's generally most useful in showing us denied areas, areas where our own cameras can't go to automatically. TERENCE SMITH: Areas like Iraq, where CBS Correspondent Mark Phillips was earlier this year as anti-aircraft fire went off overhead. MARK PHILLIPS: He was not allowed to show the images of the places that he saw, but within a few minutes we were capable of showing not only where he was but accurately indicating the areas that were attacked by the U.S. bombs and missiles. This is basically five-meter imagery.
	Free press vs. national security
	TERENCE SMITH: And one-meter resolution will supply even more detailed imagery, making it possible to identify specific buildings or planes on the ground, information that the government could consider too sensitive for public consumption in wartime or emergency situations. It is for that reason that the 1994 presidential directive authorizing commercial use of one-meter technology contained a little-known restriction called "shutter control." It gives the government the power to order private companies like Space Imaging to stop taking pictures in "period when national security or international obligations and/or foreign policies may be compromised." DAN DUBNO: Well, there is the hope of the First Amendment principle in this country that we have the right to tell stories, we have the right to put cameras where we want to put them. This camera in space in our minds and the minds of many journalists is no different than a camera anywhere else. TERENCE SMITH: In 1997, Congress added an additional restriction, stipulating that companies like Space Imaging could not provide images of Israel more detailed than those available commercially from foreign sources. Israel is the only country mentioned by name. Dubno and CBS are not alone in their concerns about these restrictions. The Radio, Television News Directors Association and the National Association of Broadcasters have both filed an objection with the government, saying that the rules violate the First Amendment and allow for unconstitutional prior restraint. The debate over this new age of space transparency is coming to a head just as more U.S. companies, as well as others in France, India, the Cayman Islands, and Israel, are preparing to launch similar satellites with similar capabilities.

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