I stumbled across this YouTube video of former CNN reporter Charles Jaco during the Gulf War. The rumor that the video was fake has been floating around the internet for some time.

Charles Jaco CNN 1990 Persian Gulf War

The poster on YouTube said, “Google his name and read the results.” There were so many Google hits labeling this video fake, I thought I would save others some time searching for the answers.

At first glance, I thought the video had been faked, but after digging into it, they were really just shooting on the roof of the hotel at night. What appears to be a studio blue screen is really just the color of the hotel where they were shooting.

Charles Jaco sent an email to several blogs that mentioned the video.

First the facts of the case: our coverage was on the roof of a hotel and military facility near the intersection of the two main runways at the Dhahran Air Base, Western Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The plywood background was erected as a guard against sand and wind storms. The clowning around on the video is just that. We used black humor to deflect the tension of covering SCUD missile assaults.

If you look at 1:36 in the video, you can see what appears to be a small satellite dish. Here is the frame, the bottom edge of the satellite dish is between the crewman’s hand the wall just above the electrical cord. Using a satellite dish outside makes sense; inside a studio using a satellite dish does not make sense.

If there was any question if Jaco was really in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, I think this video answers that question. At two minutes in the video, you can tell its being shot outside.

Jaco in Dhahran