Iraq war receiving less attention the longer it lasts
Posted by Carolyn Lo on March 26, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Last week, the Iraq war hit its five year anniversary, but it appears to garner less attention the longer it lasts. Yesterday, the death toll for U.S. forces in Iraq surpassed 4,000, yet it was not front page news for a lot of newspapers. An interesting note is that the citations of the number of Iraqis killed are extremely controversial as they range from 50,000 to about 150,000, or higher.
Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, noted that coverage of the war had significantly dropped at the end of last year. A PEJ study found that while last July, 15% of all stories covered the Iraq War, this February that percentage dropped to 3. He attributed this to the success of the surge, which resulted in the decrease of casualties and violence. Coverage of those events dropped accordingly.
Marjorie Miller, Foreign Editor of the Los Angeles Times remarked that there are two major stories that are competing for space in papers that are more immediate: The US election and the mortgage crisis. Iraq stories require more time to unfold and develop. She also notices a weariness from readers, since this is a story they want to go away. Reporters need to discover new ways to constantly keep the stories engaging.
However, Greg Mitchell, Editor of Editor & Publisher, is adamant about keeping Iraq news front page. He does not excuse the weariness of readers are a reason since he believes most people take their cues from the media.
Even though people may be getting weary of Iraq stories, providing them with accessible news is important. They shouldn't have to flip through several pages to read a story that is affecting the whole nation, nor should they try to forget such a devastating event. As Mitchell puts it, people have to say to themselves, "This is the story of our time; this is still the tragedy of our time; this is still the worst episode that the United States has been involved in, in probably my lifetime."
Sources: Chicago Tribune, the Online News Hour (picture) through Poynter Romenesko
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![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.editorsweblog.org%2Fnewspaper%2F2008%2F03%2Firaq_war_receiving_less_attention_the_lo.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="211" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/0324_iraqmediabhead.jpg"><img alt="0324_iraqmediabhead.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/0324_iraqmediabhead-thumb-150x182.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="182" width="150" /></a></form>Last week, the Iraq war hit its five year anniversary, but it appears to garner less attention the longer it lasts. Yesterday, the death toll for U.S. forces in Iraq surpassed 4,000, yet it was not front page news for a lot of newspapers. <br /><span><br />
<span>An interesting note is that the citations of the number of Iraqis
killed are extremely controversial as they range from 50,000 to about
150,000, or higher. <br /></span></span><br /><b>Mark Jurkowitz</b>, Associate Director of the <b>Project for Excellence in Journalism</b>, noted that coverage of the war had significantly dropped at the end of last year. A PEJ study found that while last July, 15% of all stories covered the Iraq War, this February that percentage dropped to 3. He attributed this to the success of the surge, which resulted in the decrease of casualties and violence. Coverage of those events dropped accordingly.<span></span><br /><br /><b>Marjorie Miller</b>, Foreign Editor of the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> remarked that there are two major stories that are competing for space in papers that are more immediate: The US election and the mortgage crisis. Iraq stories require more time to unfold and develop. She also notices a weariness from readers, since this is a story they want to go away. Reporters need to discover new ways to constantly keep the stories engaging. <br /><br />However, <b>Greg Mitchell</b>, Editor of <i>Editor & Publisher</i>, is adamant about keeping Iraq news front page. He does not excuse the weariness of readers are a reason since he believes most people take their cues from the media. <br /><br />Even though people may be getting weary of Iraq stories, providing them with accessible news is important. They shouldn't have to flip through several pages to read a story that is affecting the whole nation, nor should they try to forget such a devastating event. As Mitchell puts it, people have to say to themselves, <span><span>"This is the story of our time; this is still the tragedy
of our time; this is still the worst episode that the United States has
been involved in, in probably my lifetime." </span></span><br /><br />Sources: <a href="http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/iraq_war_dead_now_4000_and_no.html">Chicago Tribune</a>, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june08/media_03-24.html">the Online News Hour</a> <span><span>(picture) through Poynter Romenesko</span></span><br /><br /> &title=<FONT color=#FF3300>Iraq war receiving less attention the longer it lasts</FONT>){kind=link}
"Even though people may be getting weary of Iraq stories, providing them with accessible news is important."
My guess is that people are growing weary, not of news about the Iraq war, but of the type of news that is reported. For instance, I personally am fighting the urge to tear my hair out every time I hear yet another report of a suicide bomber I've never met killing two or three Iraqi citizens I've never met at a bus stop at which I've never stood, on some unnamed street in a city I've never been in, in a country to which I'll never go. Who cares about that? Anyone?
If news agencies want to report on that type of minutiae, then give it some context and tell us how it fits into the bigger context of, say, sectarian violence in the area, for instance. But these ongoing reports of suicide bombings with minimal real or psychological impact are just plain irrelevant and useless to the average American.