Mr. Lichter, author of Watching America: What TV Tells Us About Our Lives, spoke to an audience at the Heritage Foundation, a non-profit public policy research center in Washington, DC. He discussed the effect of the media both on the public that watches it and on the subjects it covers. Mr. Lichter’s organization, the Center for Media Research, conducts scientific polling to obtain a statistical profile of the effect of the media on its users. He claims their studies provide an objective, valid means to observe and examine the media; for instance, his evidence supposedly shows that media coverage of the Bush Administration has become worse since the beginning of Bush’s term in 1989. Mr. Lichter went on to discuss the coverage of the Persian Gulf war, which he called the “instant replay” war. He discusses the “halo effect,” which improves the media’s public image when it carries favorable news rather than unfavorable news. He said the Persian Gulf war might be an indication of how the media might become increasingly opposed to the U.S. administration through its insatiable demand for information.