Morning Shows Focusing on Gulf : Television: Willard Scott led the charge this week. ‘Good Morning America’ will broadcast live from the Mideast next week.

The armored personnel carrier pulled up in the middle of the Saudi desert, the side-door dropped, and out came a band of American soldiers in fatigues, giving a kind of rumbling rebel yell. With an American flag the size of a three-by-five card stuck in his Crocodile Dundee hat, Willard Scott burst out of the truck behind them.

“That’s the sound of freedom,” Scott said.

The irrepressible weatherman enlisted the Army men and women in introducing the weather forecasts back home for the “Today” show audience. “We’re going to actually be firing one of these M-1’s in one of the most exciting” forecasts, Scott promised.

With Scott broadcasting live from Saudi Arabia all this week, the weather on the “Today” show looked partly cloudy--and gung-ho. From getting into an outdoor shower with his shirt off to pronouncing each division he was with the best branch of the armed services, Scott, a former Navy man, left no doubt about his enthusiasm for the men and women of the American military.

At one point during the show on Wednesday, Scott’s segment led into a straight-faced Bryant Gumbel, who, seeking a segue, said, “On a more serious military note . . . “ before beginning a tough interview with the Iraqi ambassador, Mohammed al-Moshat, about the widening crisis in the Persian Gulf. (The ambassador had been scheduled to appear earlier on the program but had arrived half-an-hour late in the Washington, D.C., studio.)

Although he acknowledged that he was distressed by the juxtaposition of segments in Wednesday’s show, “Today” executive producer Tom Capra said that he found nothing objectionable in Scott’s shtick.

“Willard is an enormously patriotic guy, and he is probably endorsing the troops being over there,” Capra said. “But that doesn’t mean the show is. Willard’s fans know who he is--that doesn’t affect the objectivity of our reporting.”

In their Thanksgiving week broadcasts, all three network morning shows will be wrestling with such journalistic issues, some of them much more subtle than Scott’s antics. With questions about the U.S. policy in the Gulf being raised both in Congress and in public-opinion polls this week, the morning shows will face the challenge of celebrating Thanksgiving with the country’s troops and their loved ones while aiming to probe deeper into the foreign policy story, including the soldiers’ own views.

ABC’s “Good Morning America” will be broadcast live from Saudi Arabia, Monday through Friday. Charles Gibson will anchor the show from a different military base each day.

With Scott back in the United States, “Today” will focus on soldiers in the United States next week, broadcasting live from a Navy carrier in Norfolk, Va., on Tuesday and Wednesday. Correspondent Katie Couric will report from Saudi Arabia.

The “CBS This Morning” anchors will remain in New York for the week, but the show will use coverage from CBS News reporters in Saudi Arabia and is planning some live segments from bases in the United States.

“Good Morning America” began planning its week of live broadcasts several months ago. But now that President Bush is planning to visit American troops in the Saudi desert over Thanksgiving, it is likely that, in addition to their other segments, the morning shows may be able to show the President eating Thanksgiving dinner with the troops live on Thursday morning. (Arrangements have not been finalized, but the time difference between Saudi Arabia and the United States means that the dinner will begin at approximately 7 a.m. Eastern U.S. time, when they begin.)

“Thanksgiving is a time of hearth and home, and our coverage, by definition, is not the same as what the news department provides,” said “Good Morning America” co-anchor Gibson. “During Thanksgiving week, we’ll continue to have guests on the program from New York like Sen. (Daniel Patrick) Moynihan and Sen. (Richard) Lugar,” who expressed their views on the role of Congress in the crisis during recent appearances. “But we’re not going over there to count the number of planes in the 354th Tactical Airwing.

“What we can provide, I think, is something that interests me very much: how all of these guys live in the desert day to day. Do they live in tents? What do they do after dinner? What does it do to their psyche to be without their girlfriend or boyfriend for four months? At the same time, we want to be mindful that these men and women are over there preparing for a war. I want to ask the soldiers themselves about morale--and what they think about the debate back home.”

“Today” show producer Capra conceded that while it may be impossible to report the story of opposition to U.S. policy from the U.S. bases, it is worthwhile for the programs to visit military sites, both abroad and at home. “This administration has seen fit to put 200,000 Americans over there. This is a major story and it’s important that we cover it,” he said.

Gibson expects to interview a variety of ordinary soldiers as well as their commanders. In addition, the producers have invited soldiers to watch the show as it is being broadcast.

“Obviously, people everywhere are not going to be 100% candid when you ask them about their work conditions on camera,” Gibson said. “But we’re not being given some selected group of soldiers to talk to, and nobody has told us, ‘You can’t ask that.’ ”

“Good Morning America” plans to broadcast from five bases during the week: two Army camps, an Air Force base, a Marine encampment and a U.S. naval vessel in the Persian Gulf.