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FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
ACTION ALERT:
In Iraq Crisis, Networks Are Megaphones for Official Views
March 18, 2003
Network newscasts, dominated by current and former U.S.
officials,
largely exclude Americans who are skeptical of or opposed to an
invasion of Iraq, a new study by FAIR has found.
Looking at two weeks of coverage (1/30/03-2/12/03), FAIR
examined the
393 on-camera sources who appeared in nightly news stories
about Iraq
on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News
and
PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The study began one week
before and
ended one week after Secretary of State Colin Powell's February
5
presentation at the U.N., a time that saw particularly intense
debate
about the idea of a war against Iraq on the national and
international
level.
More than two-thirds (267 out of 393) of the guests featured
were from
the United States. Of the U.S. guests, a striking 75 percent
(199)
were either current or former government or military officials.
Only
one of the official U.S. sources-- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-
Mass.)--
expressed skepticism or opposition to the war. Even this was
couched
in vague terms: "Once we get in there how are we going to get
out,
what’s the loss for American troops are going to be, how long
we're
going to be stationed there, what’s the cost is going to be,"
said
Kennedy on NBC Nightly News (2/5/03).
Similarly, when both U.S. and non-U.S. guests were included, 76
percent (297 of 393) were either current or retired officials.
Such a
predominance of official sources virtually assures that
independent
and grassroots perspectives will be underrepresented. Of all
official
sources, 75 percent (222 of 297) were associated with either
the U.S.
or with governments that support the Bush administration's
position on
Iraq; only four out of those 222, or 2 percent, of these
sources were
skeptics or opponents of war.
Twenty of the 297 official sources (7 percent) represented the
government of Iraq, while a further 19 (6 percent) represented
other
governments-- mostly friendly to the U.S.-- who have expressed
doubts
or opposition to the U.S.'s war effort. (Another 34 sources,
representing 11 percent of officials, were current or former
U.N.
employees. Although members of the U.N. inspection teams made
statements that were both critical of Iraq's cooperation and
supportive of further inspections, because of their official
position
of neutrality on the question of war they were not counted as
skeptics.) Of all official sources, 14 percent (43 of 297)
represented a position skeptical or opposed to the U.S. war
policy.
(Sources were coded as skeptics/critics if either their
statements or
their affiliations put them in that category; for example, all
French
government officials were counted as skeptics, regardless of
the
content of their quote.)
The remaining 96 sources-- those without a current or former
government connection-- had slightly more balanced views; 26
percent
of these non-official sources took a skeptical or critical
position on
the war. Yet, at a time when 61 percent of respondents in a CBS
poll
(2/5-6/03) were saying that they felt the U.S. should "wait and
give
the United Nations and weapons inspectors more time," only
sixteen of
the 68 U.S. guests (24 percent) who were not officials
represented
such views.
Half of the non-official U.S. skeptics were "persons in the
street";
five of them were not even identified by name. Only one U.S.
source,
Catherine Thomason of Physicians for Social Responsibility,
represented an anti-war organization. Of all 393 sources, only
three
(less than 1 percent) were identified with organized protests
or
anti-war groups.
Overall, 68 sources, or 17 percent of the total on-camera
sources,
represented skeptical or critical positions on the U.S.'s war
policy--
ranging from Baghdad officials to people who had concerns about
the
timing of the Bush administration's war plans. The percentage
of
skeptical sources ranged from 21 percent at PBS (22 of 106) to
14
percent at NBC (18 of 125). ABC (16 of 92) and CBS (12 of 70)
each had
17 percent skeptics.
ACTION:
Please urge ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS to broaden the sources they
rely on
in coverage of the Iraq crisis.
CONTACT:
ABC World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Phone: 703-998-2150
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more
seriously
if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
your
correspondence.
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"La historia es nuestra
y la hacen los pueblos"
--- Salvador Allende
-----------
"La historia es nuestra
y la hacen los pueblos"
--- Salvador Allende
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