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EVANSTON, Ill. -- New technology and equipment allowed journalists covering the Iraq war to send their stories home faster, but also raised new questions about what is appropriate to publish.

A panel session on "Covering the war in a digital desert" at the Online News Association's annual conference featured reporters, editors and a military officer who discussed how the war in Iraq was covered.

Jim Van Nostrand, a senior editor at Knight Ridder Digital, said it was important for the media to show the faces and human side of war, but the dilemma arises over what is appropriate and what is in bad taste. Van Nostrand said Knight Ridder has what is dubbed a "Cheerios" policy of not showing any mangled or bloody bodies in news reports.

Marine Major Riccoh Player added that with new technology it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover death because of the military's policy of notifying families before names are released to the press. However, Player noted that the American media "made the decision to make this a bloodless war" by leaving out pictures of soldiers wounded or killed in battle.

American people need to see the reality of war, said the officer, so it is important for the media to show more of the carnage.

Preston Mendenhall, who covered the war for MSNBC, said the decision of what to print is left to the editors.

Panelists also discussed some of the new technology they used in their own coverage in Iraq while "embedded" with specific military units.

Travis Fox, a videojournalist with washingtonpost.com, carried a satellite phone and a digital camera, which he used to get panoramic pictures and video streams.

Fox said that the goal of his videos was to "complement the Post's coverage, not compete with it" and stated that the war in Iraq tended to "push cooperation" among journalists as they worked together on audio files and participated in live online Internet discussions.

Fox also briefly mentioned the concept of convergence in his reporting. Fox shot his videos in true journalistic fashion but also relied on documentary filmmaking practices.

Mendenhall said he was a "sojo" or solo journalist, shooting, editing and writing his own material for television, online and print mediums. Mendenhall traveled lightly in Iraq, with only a videophone and a laptop computer.

Mendenhall said NBC used a new dish with technology developed by Raytheon. The new dish folded to about the size of a dictionary and required only one engineer to run, as opposed to a team of engineers needed for the same purpose in wars past. This technology allowed for a "truly mobile experience," Mendenhall said. Still he said, covering war is a time-consuming and exhausting experience.

Van Nostrand left the audience with two lessons he learned while coordinating Knight Ridder's coverage of the war from Washington. He said "embedding was a huge success story" and it's vital for media organizations to pick reporters who have some military experience.