The channel will offer uncut images of government briefings and military ceremonies, and local stations will be notified when an event or interview occurs that is relevant to their geographic area, the Washington Post reported.

Officials with President George W. Bush's administration say national networks have focused unfairly on violence and setbacks in Iraq.

The new hook-up "would have the effect of cutting the broadcast networks out" as providers of news and angles to smaller stations, the Post said.

"We want the stations to show not just the shocking picture, but the whole picture," a senior administration official told the daily. "Car bombs are news, but there's a journalistic responsibility to paint a more comprehensive picture."

The channel will debut "in a week or two" amid increasing guerrilla-style attacks on US forces in Iraq and a US plan to accelerate the transfer of sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi governing body.

WAR.WIRE