TOPLINE
Iraq Ground Events Study
January 1-October 31, 2007
Reporting by Media Sector
|
|
Frequency |
% of Stories |
|
Newspapers |
122 |
11.0% |
|
Online |
170 |
15.3 |
|
Network TV |
465 |
41.9 |
|
Cable TV |
292 |
26.3 |
|
Radio |
60 |
5.4 |
|
Total |
1109 |
100% |
Reporting by Month
Across All Media Outlets
|
|
Frequency |
% of Stories |
|
January |
129 |
11.6% |
|
February |
133 |
12.0 |
|
March |
116 |
10.5 |
|
April |
113 |
10.2 |
|
May |
133 |
12.0 |
|
June |
119 |
10.7 |
|
July |
79 |
7.1 |
|
August |
84 |
7.6 |
|
September |
81 |
7.3 |
|
October |
122 |
11.0 |
|
Total |
1109 |
100% |
Topics
Across All Media Outlets
|
|
% of Newshole |
% of Stories |
Frequency |
|
U.S. Involved Violence |
26.8% |
35.9% |
398 stories |
|
U.S. Strategy |
17.0 |
12.3 |
136 |
|
Iraqi Only Violence |
11.5 |
15.7 |
174 |
|
Private Contractors |
8.9 |
6.4 |
71 |
|
Iraqi Civilian Stories |
5.5 |
3.4 |
38 |
|
Insurgents |
5.4 |
4.1 |
45 |
|
U.S. Soldiers Other than Combat |
4.7 |
2.4 |
27 |
|
Reconstruction of Infrastructure |
3.4 |
2.7 |
30 |
|
Iraqi Government |
3.2 |
3.7 |
41 |
|
Iraqi Internal Affairs Other |
2.7 |
1.9 |
21 |
|
Mix of Topics |
1.8 |
1.8 |
20 |
|
U.S. Soldiers Charged with Crimes |
1.8 |
2.3 |
26 |
|
Iraqi Military and Police |
1.7 |
0.9 |
10 |
|
Non-U.S. Foreign Military |
1.6 |
2.9 |
32 |
|
Other |
1.6 |
1.9 |
21 |
|
Sectarian Tensions in Iraq |
1.5 |
0.7 |
8 |
|
U.S. Soldiers Helping People |
0.6 |
0.5 |
5 |
|
Iran’s Involvement |
0.3 |
0.5 |
6 |
|
Total |
100% |
100% |
1109 stories |
Stories by Narrative Thread
Across All Media Outlets
|
|
Frequency |
% of Stories |
|
Continued Violence, No Other Themes |
520 stories |
46.9% |
|
|
|
|
|
U.S. Policy/ |
157 stories |
14.2% |
|
Will Work/ Is Working |
36 |
3.2 |
|
Will Not Work/ Is Not |
55 |
5.0 |
|
Balanced |
66 |
6.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Iraqi Nation’s Stability Total |
84 stories |
7.6% |
|
Iraq Moving Towards Stability |
5 |
0.5 |
|
Iraq Moving Towards Chaos |
72 |
6.5 |
|
Balanced |
7 |
0.6 |
|
|
|
|
|
Iraqi Government Total |
43 stories |
3.9% |
|
Government is Stable/ |
6 |
0.5 |
|
Government is Unstable/ |
32 |
2.9 |
|
Balanced |
5 |
0.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
Iraqi People’s View of U.S. Presence Total |
14 stories |
1.3% |
|
Want Troops to Stay |
1 |
0.1 |
|
Want Troops to Leave |
9 |
0.8 |
|
Balanced |
4 |
0.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
Troop Morale |
14 stories |
1.3% |
|
Morale is Up |
3 |
0.3 |
|
Morale is Down |
7 |
0.6 |
|
Balanced |
4 |
0.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
Other Themes* (Stories Did Not Include |
235 stories |
21.2% |
|
U.S. Military – Other Than Violence |
57 |
5.1 |
|
Iraq Internal Affairs |
54 |
4.9 |
|
Private Contractors |
54 |
4.9 |
|
U.S. Involved Violence |
16 |
1.4 |
|
Other |
54 |
4.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
Straight Recitation of Facts (Other Than Violence) |
42 stories |
3.8% |
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
1109 stories |
100% |
*These other themes included
subjects such as the role of private contractors, the day to day life of U.S.
troops, reconstruction efforts, and other Iraqi internal issues not having to
do with incidents of violence.
Narrative Threads, Pessimistic, Optimistic, Balanced
|
|
Frequency |
% of |
|
Pessimistic Themes Total |
175 stories |
15.8 % |
|
Iraqi Nation Moving Towards |
72 |
6.5 |
|
U.S. Policy/Surge Will Not Work/Is Not Working |
55 |
5.0 |
|
Iraq Government is |
32 |
2.9 |
|
Iraqi People Want U.S. Troops |
9 |
0.8 |
|
U.S. Troop Morale is Down |
7 |
0.6 |
|
|
||
|
Optimistic Themes Total |
51 stories |
4.6% |
|
U.S. Policy/Surge Will |
36 |
3.2 |
|
Iraqi Government is |
6 |
0.5 |
|
Iraqi Nation is Moving |
5 |
0.5 |
|
Iraqi Troop Morale is Up |
3 |
0.3 |
|
Iraqi People Want U.S. Troops |
1 |
0.1 |
|
|
||
|
Balanced Themes Total |
86 stories |
7.8% |
|
U.S. Policy/Surge – Balanced |
66 |
6.0 |
|
Iraqi Nation – Balanced |
7 |
0.6 |
|
Iraqi Government – Balanced |
5 |
0.5 |
|
Iraqi People on U.S. Presence |
4 |
0.4 |
|
U.S. Troop Morale – Balanced |
4 |
0.4 |
Number of Stakeholders (All Stories)
|
|
Frequency |
% of Stories |
% of Newshole |
|
Total |
1109 stories |
100% |
100% |
|
All/ Mostly One Viewpoint |
368 |
33.2 |
33.4 |
|
Two Views |
113 |
10.2 |
12.5 |
|
More Than Two |
330 |
29.8 |
48.9 |
|
Not Applicable/ Straight |
298 |
26.9 |
5.2 |
Number of Stakeholders (Excluding Those That Straight
Recitation of Facts)
|
|
Frequency |
% of Stories |
% of Newshole |
|
Total |
811 stories |
100% |
100% |
|
All/ Mostly One Viewpoint |
368 |
45.4 |
36.0 |
|
Two Views |
113 |
13.9 |
13.5 |
|
More Than Two |
330 |
40.7 |
50.6 |
Dominant Source in Stories with One Stakeholder
|
|
Frequency |
% of Stories |
% of Newshole |
|
U.S. |
|||
|
White House/ executive |
21 stories |
5.7% |
3.3% |
|
Democratic Lawmakers |
2 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
|
Republican Lawmakers |
2 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
|
U.S. Government Other |
19 |
5.2 |
3.1 |
|
|
|||
|
U.S. Diplomats |
2 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
|
|
|||
|
Anti-War Groups |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|||
|
U.S. Military |
|||
|
Official View |
128 |
34.8 |
36.0 |
|
Soldiers in the Field |
40 |
10.9 |
18.5 |
|
|
|||
|
Iraqi |
|||
|
Iraqi Government |
38 |
10.3 |
7.5 |
|
Iraqi Military |
12 |
3.3 |
3.5 |
|
Sunni Civilians |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Shiite Civilians |
3 |
0.8 |
1.2 |
|
Kurdish Civilians |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Civilians Other/ Unspecified |
15 |
4.1 |
4.7 |
|
|
|||
|
Insurgents |
8 |
2.2 |
1.6 |
|
|
|||
|
Private Contractors |
3 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
|
|
|||
|
Non-U.S. Foreign |
|
|
|
|
Foreign Government |
5 |
1.4 |
0.5 |
|
Foreign Military |
2 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
|
|
|||
|
Expert/ Outside Group |
13 |
3.5 |
2.7 |
|
|
|||
|
Journalist/ Host |
45 |
12.2 |
13.9 |
|
|
|||
|
Other |
10 |
2.7 |
1.6 |
|
|
|||
|
Total* |
368 Stories |
100% |
100% |
* Stories
that had no Dominant Source were left out of this tally. This table includes
368 out of 1109 total stories.
