Iraq Disappearing Off Most Papers' Front Pages, Research Shows

By: E&P Staff Is the media losing interest in Iraq? With much punditry in recent weeks making this claim, Eric Boehlert decided to look into it for Media Matters. He found a downturn in coverage on network TV, and relatively light play lately on front pages of many newspapers, with The New York Times and The Washignton Post two of the few exceptions.

A Nexis search, he writes today at mediamatters.org, yielded the following tally for A1 articles between Sept. 1 and Sept. 21 emerging from Iraq:

The Boston Globe, 0
The Charlotte Observer, 3
The Chicago Tribune, 5
The Columbus Dispatch, 4
The Hartford Courant, 0
The Houston Chronicle, 0
The Miami Herald, 6
The New York Times, 12
The San Diego Union-Tribune, 0
The Seattle Times, 1
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 0
USA Today, 1
The Washington Post, 17

Readers have taken note, he observes. "Where's the War?" a Seattle Times reader recently wrote to the newspaper. "How can it be that I couldn't find a thing about the Iraq War until page 11 in The Times?"

To those who charge that the media is merely reflecting the public lack of interest, he cites polls showing that Americans call Iraq the key issue facing the country.