Different Stories: How the newspapers in the United States, Britain and South Asia covered the Iraq War

Abstract

In many ways, war presents the biggest challenge to the values and the professional practices of the press. Despite the growing internationalism and readership over the Internet, most newspapers are rooted firmly in a national ethos and the most obvious tension is between patriotism and the professional practices of truth telling, sensitivity, fairness in presenting different sides of the story and critical examination of official accounts. This is also the time when the press is under close scrutiny from critics who are dissatisfied either that the press is not patriotic enough or that there is too much of a home side type of reporting and not enough questioning of official accounts.

The Iraq war was an unequal conflict not just in terms of the overwhelming superiority of the American, British and other coalition forces but also because much of the information was controlled by the coalition. It was predominantly a U. S version of the war that was sought to be put out, with the administration of President George W Bush presenting its account and seeking the support of the American people as well as of international opinion. How closely did the press accounts follow the U. S version, how were they influenced by patriotism, national opinion and concerns or by their own views that was supportive of the American position or was sympathetic to Iraq, how far did the press succeed in providing a true account of the situation on the ground in all its aspects—these are questions that would be vital to gain an understanding of the functioning of the press in wartime.