How the media covered the war in Iraq

'''How the media covered the war in Iraq. . . before, during and. . . . . . after.'''


 * "The U.S. news media covered the war in Iraq the same way they cover the Olympics-with red, white, and blue trappings, human interest stories, bombastic theme music, and an almost total focus on American accomplishments at the expense of any international context. Around the clock coverage gave the illusion of telling and showing everything and made us forget how little we actually knew." --Henry Jenkins, Technology Review, May 2, 2003.

Words About "Images"
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld "actually need the media now more than ever," wrote Gal Beckerman in the March 2006 Columbia Journalism Review CJR Daily. Although the "conventional wisdom ... is that this administration views the press as vampires view garlic," White House criticisms of the media "have become essential to the administration's contention that progress is being made." The effect of this argument, Beckerman writes, is to sugggest that "We're not seeing car bombs ripping entire blocks apart and blowing dozens of Iraqis to bits. We're seeing images of car bombs ripping entire blocks apart and blowing dozens of Iraqis to bits. ... Because the violence is only 'on their television screens,' it's as if it does not actually exist out there in the world; it is only the 'image' of violence. ... There's no doubt the administration would love more images of Iraqi children playing in the street. But this same derision of the media also serves a purpose in itself in the administration's campaign to win over the home front. If the media cannot be trusted, then we shouldn't trust what we think we know about Iraq. Instead, the administration is saying, just trust us." 

2002

 * "Media Coverage of Iraq," Global Policy Forum, 2002.
 * "Iraq - Truth and Lies in Baghdad, November 2002," PBS Frontline.
 * Michael Moran and Alex Johnson, "Oil after Saddam: All bets are in. A great but quiet rush is on for a stake in Iraq’s huge reserves," MSNBC, November 7, 2002.
 * "Battlefield Bylines," PBS Online NewsHour, December 17, 2002: "Terence Smith reports on a boot camp session at Quantico Marine Corps base where journalists are preparing for the rigors of covering war."

2003

 * "Media Coverage of Iraq," Global Policy Forum, 2003.
 * Greg Mitchell, with Joe Strupp and Dave Astor, "America's Journalists Debate Pending War," Editor & Publisher, January 29, 2003.
 * Jim Moscou, Opinion: "Newsrooms Bewitched by Iraq War," Editor & Publisher, January 30, 2003.
 * Lucia Moses, "War Could Squeeze Newspaper Profits," Editor & Publisher, January 30, 2003.
 * Ari Berman, "Newspaper Editorials Conflicted Over War," Editor & Publisher, January 30, 2003.
 * Paul Van Slambrouck, "Preparing for a possible war story," Christian Science Monitor, February 6, 2003.
 * Mark Glaser, "Media Salivates Over High-Tech Gulf War 2.0; International Outlets Boosted by News Surfers," Online Journalism Review, February 11, 2003.
 * Peter Johnson, "Media's war footing looks solid," USA Today, February 16, 2003.
 * Jack Shafer, "Mushy Multilateralism. When will the New York Times make up its mind on Iraq?" Slate, February 23, 2003.
 * Ramesh Ponnuru, "More Mush from the Times. The gray lady comes out boldly for. . . more discussion of Iraq," National Review, February 24, 2003.
 * "The Press Goes to War. Essays by World Press Review correspondents in Norway, Serbia and Montenegro, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, and Lithuania," March 1, 2003.
 * Jack Shafer, "Full Metal Junket. The myth of the objective war correspondent," Slate, March 5, 2003.
 * Cynthia Cotts, "Chronicle of a Gulf War Foretold. Did the Media Have a Choice?" Village Voice, March 5-11, 2003.
 * David Plotz, Julia Turner, and Avi Zenilman, "The Slate Field Guide to Iraq Pundits," Slate, March 14, 2003.
 * "News Outlets Grapple with War Coverage Plans," PBS Online NewsHour, March 18, 2003.
 * Jon Swartz, "Iraq war could herald a new age of Web-based news coverage," USA Today, March 19, 2003.
 * Jonathan V. Last, "Freedom, At Home and Abroad. The media finally shows Iraqis yearning to breath free, while protesters hit the streets in San Francisco and Washington," The Weekly Standard, March 21, 2003.
 * "U.S. Correspondents Expelled from Iraq," PBS Online NewsHour, March 21, 2003: "... hundreds of U.S. journalists fleeing the bombarded Iraqi capital."
 * "War, Live," PBS Online NewsHour, March 22, 2003.
 * Mark Labash, "The Long Night. A conversation with a public affairs officer after a night when things went wrong," The Weekly Standard, March 24, 2003.
 * Mackubin Thomas Owens, "War, Out of Context. Pros and cons of embedded reporters," National Review, March 24, 2003.
 * Jefferson Graham, "News, instantly and in depth," USA Today, March 26, 2003.
 * Meghan O'Rourke, "Live, but Not Really. The networks can show us more war than ever before—but they're choosing not to," Slate, March 26, 2003.
 * "Media Map of Iraq. A bird's-eye view of where journalists are," Poynter Online, March 27, 2003.
 * Dan Fost, "War's tale told 2 ways. Media from other nations see events differently," San Francisco Chronicle, March 27, 2003.
 * Jack Shafer, "The Leading Indicator of Victory. When Johnny Apple says we're thwarted, we must be on the verge of winning," Slate, March 27, 2003.
 * Victor Davis Hanson, "History or Hysteria? Our vulture pundits regurgitate rumor and buzz," National Review, March 28, 2003.
 * Karl Zinsmeister, "Different Worlds. Crossing the military-media gap," National Review, March 28, 2003.
 * Jon Friedman, "Antiwar protesters targeting the media. Commentary: Blaming the messenger is an old trick," CBS Market Watch, March 28, 2003: "Not only have antiwar protesters been complaining about the war in Iraq, they're now accusing the media of bias in favor of the Bush administration." Subscription required.
 * "Public Opinion," PBS Online NewsHour, March 30, 2003: "Terence Smith discusses public opinion on the Iraq war ..."
 * Robert Bianco, "Wall-to-wall war coverage feeds a rush to judgment," USA Today, March 30, 2003.
 * Hugh Hewitt, "Hear No Victory, See No Victory, Report No Victory. The Los Angeles Times goes to war," The Weekly Standard, March 31, 2003.
 * Debra J. Saunders, "The PR war," San Francisco Chronicle, April 1, 2003.
 * Tim Graham, "No Honest Eyewitness. There’s little truth coming out of Baghdad," National Review Online, April 1, 2003.
 * "War Stories," PBS Online NewsHour, April 1, 2003: "... assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Pentagon's 'embedding' program and its effect on news coverage of the war in Iraq."
 * Jonathan V. Last, "Foreign Correspondents. The CENTCOM press briefings provide a window into how foreign journalists view America, and how all journalists view themselves. It's not a pretty picture," The Weekly Standard, April 2, 2003.
 * Sonya Smith, "Media coverage of war in Iraq questioned," 49er Online (California State University), April 3, 2003.
 * "Al Jazeera Reporters Continue Work in Baghdad," PBS Online NewsHour, April 4, 2003: "Reporters for the Al Jazeera satellite television channel continued their work in Baghdad Friday after the Iraqi government lifted bans it had imposed on the journalists just a day before."
 * "A Different Language," PBS Online NewsHour, April 6, 2003: "... how the Arab media are covering the war."
 * Jack Shafer, "Apple Turnover. The New York Times' R.W. Apple Jr. never wrote a piece he couldn't contradict," Slate, April 7, 2003.
 * "War Images, PBS Online NewsHour, April 8, 2003.
 * "Cox's Craig Nelson on the Truth From Baghdad," Editor & Publisher, April 8, 2003.
 * Mike Krause, "Gone South. How the Mexican media is portraying the war," National Review, April 9, 2003.
 * Dan Fost, "Community media put ethnic feel on Iraq war. They seek local angles in a global news story," San Francisco Chronicle, April 9, 2003.
 * "Hall of Shame. Media recriminations after VB Day," National Review, April 10, 2003.
 * David Hinckley, "It's the drums of war - & then a station break," New York Daily News, April 10, 2003.
 * "What Did CNN Know, and When Did It Know It?" The National Review Online, April 11, 2003.
 * Peter Johnson, "Who won, and who lost, in the media battle," USA Today, April 13, 2003.
 * Alan Jacobs, "The War in Quotes. Journalists who don't like the war--and like thinking even less--have a little trick they use to tell us how they really feel," The Weekly Standard, April 14, 2003.
 * Max Boot, "Good News. Operation Iraqi Freedom went about as well as anyone could have hoped. Why is the media so glum?" The Weekly Standard, April 15, 2003.
 * "The Media's War," PBS Online NewsHour, April 15, 2003: "Eason Jordan, CNN chief news executive, and Franklin Foer, associate editor of The New Republic, discuss the recent controversy stemming from CNN’s coverage of Iraq prior to the start of the war."
 * Jack Shafer, "Deep Miller. Did the New York Times just change the rules of journalism?" Slate, April 21, 2003.
 * Jack Shafer, "Follow That Story: Deep Miller. Is the New York Times breaking the news—or flacking for the military?" Slate, April 23, 2003.
 * Brent Baker and Rich Noyes, "Grading TV's War News. Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked," Media Research Center, April 23, 2003.
 * Cynthia Cotts, "What, No Smoking Gun? The Media and the Specter of WMD," Village Voice, April 23-29, 2003.
 * Craig Nelson, "Missteps by Press Color Iraqi Perceptions," Editor & Publisher, April 29, 2003.
 * Jack Shafer, "Embeds and Unilaterals. The press dun good in Iraq. But they could have dun better," Slate, May 1, 2003.
 * Peter Johnson, "Iraq is a story that won't go away," USA Today, May 1, 2003.
 * Henry Jenkins, "Media Tonic for War Fever. Many Americans got their news and attitudes about the Iraq war from alternative sources showing far more skepticism than mainstream U.S. television," Technology Review, May 2, 2003.
 * "US media revisit own failures on Iraq conflict," Agence France Presse (Manila Times), May 4, 2004.
 * Peter Y. Sussman, "Media Loses the War," AlterNet, May 20, 2003.
 * Stephen F. Hayes, "Al Jazeera: 'Fair,' 'Balanced,' and Bought. It turns out that the Arab TV network was on Saddam's payroll. Surprise!" The Weekly Standard, May 28, 2003.
 * Jack Shafer, "Reassessing Miller. U.S. intelligence on Iraq's WMD deserves a second look. So does the reporting of the New York Times' Judith Miller," Slate, May 29, 2003.
 * Danny Schechter, "Calling For A Media Crimes Tribunal," ZMag, May 31, 2003.
 * "Has Media War Coverage Been Fair and Balanced?", Saint Louis University, September 29, 2003: "SLU forum examines Iraq War coverage and use of embedded reporters."
 * Richard Wolffe and Rod Nordland, "Bush’s News War. Fed up with the gloom-and-doom coverage of the conflict, the White House is taking aim at the press," Newsweek (MSNBC), October 19, 2003.
 * "Covering Iraq: American Media vs. The World?" MIT Communications Forum, November 13, 2003.
 * Olvia Angulo, "What War? Decreased media coverage cited for lack of anti-war activism," The Golden Gate [X]Press Online, November 19, 2003.
 * Jeff Cohen, "Bush and Iraq: Mass Media, Mass Ignorance," Common Dreams, December 1, 2003.
 * Pejman Yousefzadeh, "Bring Back the Embeds!" Tech Central Station, December 11, 2003.

2004

 * "Media Coverage of Iraq," Global Policy Forum, 2004.
 * "Topic: War Reporting," On the Media, January 23, 2004.
 * Tom Regan, "Media knocked for Iraq war coverage. Experts say US too soft, foreign media often too hard," Christian Science Monitor (Global Exchange), February 11, 2004.
 * Christopher Bollyn, "Mainstream Media’s Sanitized War Coverage Helps Mask Carnage," American Free Press, April 12, 2004.
 * Susan Moeller, "How the Media Blew the Iraq Story," Newsday (Common Dreams), April 24, 2004.
 * "U.S. Media Admits 'Failures' In Pre-War Iraq Coverage," Al Jazeera, May 3, 2004.
 * Philip Kennicott, "In 'Control Room', The Splitting Image Of War Coverage," Washington Post, June 16, 2004.
 * Muhammad Fahd Al-Harithy, "Wars Sans Blood: TV Initiates Change," Arab News, August 22, 2004.
 * "Helping Students Understand the War in Iraq and the Role of the Media. Teaching the Film WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) Directed by Danny Schechter," Teachers’ Guide written by Chris Sperry, Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, Project Look Sharp, Ithaca College, December 1, 2004. (For more on the movie, visit www.wmdthefilm.com.)
 * Deirdre Fulton, "Iraq Versus the Media. War dissected," The Portland Phoenix, December 3-4, 2004.

2005

 * "Media Coverage of Iraq," Global Policy Forum, 2005.
 * Abeer Mishkhas, "Iraq: The War in Media," Arab News, January 20, 2005.
 * "Internet-Only Content & Self-Censorship Used in Iraq War Coverage According to American University's Survey of International Media," AU News, American University School of Communication, March 17, 2005.
 * Editorial: "The War to Deceive America Into War -- And the War to Cover Up the Deception," BuzzFlash, June 6, 2005.
 * Anup Shah, "Media Reporting, Journalism and Propaganda," Iraq: War and the Aftermath, August 10, 2005.
 * Scott Johnson, "The Media Quagmire. The mainstream media understands the war in Iraq only through casualty counts and the Vietnam lens," The Weekly Standard, August 25, 2005.
 * Jamie Saine, "Professionals debate role of media in Iraq war," The Ithacan Online, September 29, 2005.
 * "TV’s Bad News Brigade. ABC, CBS and NBC’s Defeatist Coverage of the War in Iraq," Media Research Center, October 13, 2005.
 * Cliff Kincaid, "Aiding and Abetting the Enemy," Accuracy in Media, October 20, 2005.
 * "Media Coverage of the War in Irag. A Summary Report," American University School of Communication, December 2005.
 * Bob Norman, "Spreading the Plame. It's time more journalists were called on the carpet for bad judgment," New Times, December 1, 2005. re "war accomplices" for Judith Miller
 * "Bush’s War on the Press," Media Citizen Blogspot, December 1, 2005.
 * Peter Phillips, "Death By Torture: US Media Ignores Hard Evidence. The Proof is in the Military's Own Autopsy Reports," CounterPunch, December 2, 2005.
 * Les Payne, "Truth is First Casualty of War Reporting," Newsday (Common Dreams), December 4, 2005.
 * William Fisher, "The Unintended Consequences of Fake News," Common Dreams, December 5, 2005.
 * Peter Preston, "Propaganda and Bribery. The Bush Administration Will Pay Both at Home and in Iraq for Buying Puff Pieces in the Media," Guardian (UK) (Common Dreams), December 5, 2005.
 * Bernard Weiner, "It's Time to Play Beat-the-Bully," The Crisis Papers, December 6, 2005.

2006

 * "Drilling Down: How the press can keep the debate about Iraq honest", Editorial, Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 2006.
 * Thomas R. Lansner, "Reports of War", Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Issue 7.1, Winter/Spring 2006.
 * Donald H. Rumsfeld, "War in the Information Age: In a 24/7 world, the U.S. isn't keeping up with its enemies in the communication battle", Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2006.
 * Gal Beckerman, "Are You Going to Believe “Images” or Words?", CJR Daily, March 21, 2006.
 * Orville Schell, "Baghdad: The Besieged Press", New York Review of Books, April 6, 2006.

Websites

 * Danny Schechter's News Dissector Blog.

Resources for Iraq Coverage

 * Avil Zenilman, "The War on the Web. Sites to see on the road to Baghdad," Slate, March 19, 2003.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Coalition Information Center
 * embedded
 * fake news
 * information operations
 * Information Operations Task Force
 * Jessica Lynch
 * Lincoln Group
 * Operation Iraqi Freedom / Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Four
 * Pat Tillman
 * transfer tubes
 * war propaganda