Media Coverage Of The Iraq War Essay

The United States sudden war in Iraq was originally wildly popular but over the years more and more Americans have adjusted their views to be more critical of the invasion. Perhaps the single most important factor in driving initial support for the Iraq war was the mainstream media; Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and CBS. The justification of the war was the alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction, or WMD’s within Iraq, along with the September 11th attacks in the United States. Despite this, the Pentagon was highly involved with the media in ensuring a pro-war bias that led to heavy claims of censorship and propaganda being disseminated within the news. Overall, the coverage of the war turned into a running highlight reel that you would

The sad irony is that the Iraq War ended up contributing to over 100,000 civilian deaths. Nonetheless, the incessant agenda by the media to paint the Iraq War as a liberation and freedom attempt was covering up the true underlying motives of the war. The media focused on a play by play style of coverage in Iraq that sometimes had journalists literally drawing maps in the sand to demonstrate what was about to happen. The war turned into entertainment television with Americans waiting for the day that Iraqi would gain their freedom. All of this coverage culminated with the symbolic fall of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad. A U.S tank vehicle had successfully knocked the statue down and scores of celebrating Iraqis cheered and eventually beheaded the statue. While this was happening, the world’s journalists were quartered across the street in the Palestine hotel. The American media was able to capitalize on the symbolic fall of the government, indicating that the war was effectively being won by the United States. Despite this, the war would continue to rage on as the Iraqi media was shocked that they were now losing the war. Insurgencies and an eventual power vacuum would lead to an almost never-ending conflict in