Page 37 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

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Public Trust, Media, and the "War on Terror "
On the other hand, a Pew Research Center poll conducted throughout a
number of European and Middle Eastern countries found that, contrary to public
opinion in the U.S., majorities in most countries surveyed felt that "American
and British leaders lied when they claimed, prior to the Iraq war, that Saddam
Hussein's regime had weapons of mass de~truction."~~ This stands in marked
contrast to the American public, of which only three-in-ten polled felt that the
Bush administration lied in order to go to war, even after no weapons of mass
destruction had been found following the inva~ion.~' American trust in the
presidency continued long after the Iraq invasion, as polling in early 2005 indi-
cated that 55 percent of Americans questioned thought that "the administration
told people what it believed to be true" with reference to the justifications for
war. 82
World opinion was also distrustful of the Bush administration's commit-
ment to "fighting terrorism." Although 80 percent of Americans claimed Iraqi
ties to Al Qaeda were a main motivation for supporting the invasion, polling
information of populations abroad revealed much different results. For example,
one Pew poll of eight European and Middle Eastern countries (Russia, France,
Germany, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Britain, and Jordan) found that majorities
in six of these eight countries thought that, rather than contributing to the fight
against Al Qaeda and terrorism, the Iraq war had actually been detrimental to the
"War on error."^^ Over and over again, people throughout Muslim countries
expressed doubt that the "War on Terror" was actually motivated by fighting
terror;84 rather, many were concerned that the United States, as a global aggres-
sor, could pose a serious threat to their own countries' national security and
safety."
Scrutiny of the Bush administration's unilateralist policies manifested itself
within the United States' European allies as well. A Forsa poll found that 57
percent of Germans questioned felt that "the United States is a nation of war-
mongers," whereas only 6 percent believed the Bush administration is actually
concerned with "preserving peace" globally.86 Extensive studies of American
misperceptions of the Iraq war reveal that the mainstream press shares major
responsibility for the public's pro-war opinions. A series of seven nationwide
polls done in 2003 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA)
revealed that the likelihood of individuals holding misperceptions regarding the
justifications for war were associated a great deal with their consumption of the
news coming out of the American corporate media.87 Fox News viewers in par-
ticular were the most susceptible to such misperceptions, as the station's audi-
ence was more inclined to believe that the Iraqi government retained ties with A1
Qaeda members, that the U.S. had found WMD in Iraq, and that the intema-
tional community supported the U.S. invasion.