Publication

This study reviews the content of US news media coverage during three periods of time when issues relating to what have been ubiquitously termed “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) were being featured: May 2003, in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq war; October 2002, when both Iraq and North Korea were featured in the news; and May 1998, during the South Asian nuclear tests. It also compares the US coverage to comparable discussion in the British media. By analyzing coverage across time and between countries, it puts current concerns about news reporting on the war in Iraq into a larger context.