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Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
Iraq News: Less Dominant, Still Important
News about the Iraq war does not dominate the public's consciousness nearly as much as it did last winter. Currently, just 16% of Americans name the Iraq war as the news story that first comes to mind when asked what has been in the news lately. In December and January, a period when U.S. policy toward Iraq and President Bush's troop surge drew extensive news coverage, far greater numbers named the Iraq war as the first story that came to mind.
More generally, public interest in news about the situation in Iraq is now less than it was earlier this year or in 2006. Since June, about 30% of the public, on average, said they have followed news about the situation in Iraq very closely. In 2006 and the first two months of this year, about 40% on average paid very close attention to Iraq news.
Nonetheless, Iraq remains a major news story in the public's view. For 29 of the past 41 weeks, it has been the leading story in the weekly News Interest Index. Moreover, Iraq is consistently rated as the most important problem facing the nation. In an early October survey by the Gallup Organization, 33% cited the situation in Iraq as the most important problem facing the nation, far more than named any other issue. That number is down somewhat from last winter, although consistent with measures from the spring and summer.
News coverage of Iraq, like public interest in the situation there, is now significantly less than it was at the start of the year. In January, roughly a quarter of the overall newshole (26%) in newspapers, TV newscasts, websites and radio was devoted to news about Iraq. In October, the war received only half as much coverage on average (13%), according to data compiled by the Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index.
The diminished press coverage of Iraq is an important factor in the falloff in news interest, given that most Americans say they "come across" war news without looking for it, rather than seeking out news about the Iraq war. Overall, 75% of the public says they come across news about the war when they are not actively seeking it out, compared with just 20% who say they go looking for war news.
While public interest in the Iraq war has declined since the beginning of the year, a growing number of Americans say news organizations are devoting too little, rather than too much, coverage to the war. A third of Americans say news organizations are undercovering the war, a 10-point increase since June (23%). In particular, the public believes that the challenges and experiences of U.S. soldiers – both while serving in Iraq and after returning to the United States – are receiving too little news coverage.
Fully 63% say that "the challenges faced by some U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq" have received too little news coverage; about the same number (61%) say that reports about soldiers' personal experiences have been undercovered. A majority (52%) also says that efforts to improve conditions in Iraq are getting too little coverage.
Smaller pluralities believe news organizations have focused too little on ground troops in action in Iraq (47%), Iraqi civilian casualties (46%) and plans for ending the war (45%).
There are some aspects of the war that sizable minorities believe are overcovered. Three-in-ten say the press has given too much coverage to how much the war costs, while about the same number (29%) says that anti-war sentiment has been overcovered. However, even on those stories, as many or more say the press has provided too little coverage as say they have been overcovered.
Overall evaluations of press coverage of the Iraq war remain fairly negative. While 44% say the press has done an excellent or good job covering the war, a majority (53%) say the press has done only a fair or poor job (with nearly a quarter saying poor). These press ratings have remained relatively stable throughout this year, though they are much lower than the ratings the press received in the early months of the war.
In late March and early April 2003, during the combat phase of the war, 78% of the public said the press was doing an excellent or good job covering the war in Iraq, only 19% said they were doing a fair or poor job. Currently, Republicans are slightly more critical than Democrats of the job the press is doing (57% of Republicans say the press is doing a fair or poor job vs. 50% of Democrats).
Iraq Interest Over Time
Public interest in the Iraq war peaked during the conflict's early phase in the spring of 2003, and began to decline after the Pentagon declared an end to major combat operations. For the year in 2003, 52% of Americans followed news from Iraq very closely on average.
Overall interest fell to 44% in 2004, on average, with the highest level of interest measured in April and May of that year, amid the insurgency in Fallujah and reports of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib (54% very closely). Throughout 2005 and 2006, public attentiveness to the situation in Iraq fluctuated in response to news events, but on average about four-in-ten followed the story very closely in both years.
In the first 10 months of 2007, public interest in Iraq has averaged 33% in the weekly News Interest Index. Interest was significantly greater during January, when Bush announced a major troop increase in Iraq, than it has been in recent weeks. In the current survey, 31% say they are following news about the situation in Iraq very closely, while 20% named it as the story they followed most closely last week.
Although interest in Iraq news has declined this year, it has been the top story in the weekly News Interest Index far more often than any other story. Last week, however, about as many people named the 2008 election as cited the Iraq war as the story they followed most closely (22% vs. 20%). A week earlier, the California wildfires were the dominant story in terms of news interest: roughly four times as many named the wildfires as the week's top story as cited the war in Iraq (46% vs. 12%).
For the past few years, there has been a modest but consistent partisan gap in news interest about the war. The differences in the current survey are fairly typical in this regard: 35% of Democrats say they have followed news about the situation in Iraq very closely, compared with 31% of independents and 27% of Republicans.