_______________________________________________________________ | | http://propaganda.lege.net/misperceptions/article/ | | | Study: Wrong impressions helped support Iraq war | http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/iraq/6918170.htm | http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/iraq/6918170.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp | | | Study: Wrong impressions helped support Iraq war | By FRANK DAVIES | Knight Ridder Newspapers | Posted on Thu, Oct. 02, 2003 | | ____________________________________________________________ | | | | Getting it wrong on the Iraq war | | [See http://propaganda.lege.net/misperceptions/article/misperceptions_article.gif] | | | | Poll shows Americans have misconceptions about key facts | | of the Iraq war. | | | | Primary news source for those who believe: | | | | Since the war ended, the | U.S. has found clear evidence | | U.S. has found Iraqi | that Saddam Hussein was | | weapons of mass | working closely with al-Qaida | | destruction | terrorist group | | | | | Fox XXXXXXXXXXX 33% | Fox XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 67% | | CBS XXXXXXXX 23% | CBS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 56% | | NBC XXXXXXX 20% | NBC XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 49% | | CNN XXXXXXX 20% | CNN XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 48% | | ABC XXXXXX 19% | ABC XXXXXXXXXXXXX 45% | | Print Media XX 11% | Print XXXXXXXXXXX 40% | | PBS/ XXXXX 17% | PBS/ XXXXX 16% | | NPR | NPR | | Source: PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll of 3,334 adults | | June-Sept 2003; 1.7% error margin | | Graphic: Judy Treible, Todd Linderman | |___________________________________________________________ | | | WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans have held at least one | of three mistaken impressions about the U.S.-led war in | Iraq, according to a new study released Thursday, and those | misperceptions contributed to much of the popular support | for the war. | | The three common mistaken impressions are that: | | * U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. | | * There's clear evidence that Iraqi President Saddam | Hussein worked closely with the Sept. 11 terrorists. | | * People in foreign countries generally either backed the | U.S.-led war or were evenly split between supporting and | opposing it. | | Overall, 60 percent of Americans held at least one of those | views in polls reported between January and September by the | Program on International Policy Attitudes, based at the | University of Maryland in College Park, and the polling | firm, Knowledge Networks based in Menlo Park, Calif. | | "While we cannot assert that these misperceptions created | the support for going to war with Iraq, it does appear | likely that support for the war would be substantially lower | if fewer members of the public had these misperceptions," | said Steven Kull, who directs Maryland's program. | | In fact, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in | Iraq. U.S. intelligence has found no clear evidence that | Saddam was working closely with al-Qaida or was involved in | the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Gallup polls found large | majorities opposed to the war in most countries. | | PIPA's seven polls, which included 9,611 respondents, had a | margin of error from 2 to 3.5 percent. | | The analysis released Thursday also correlated the | misperceptions with the primary news source of the mistaken | respondents. For example, 80 percent of those who said they | relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who said they | relied on CBS believed at least one of the three | misperceptions. | | The comparable figures were 47 percent for those who said | they relied most on newspapers and magazines and 23 percent | for those who said they relied on PBS or National Public | Radio. | | The reasons for the misperceptions are numerous, Kull and | other analysts said. | | They noted that the Bush administration had misstated or | exaggerated some of the intelligence findings, with Bush | himself saying in May: "We found the weapons of mass | destruction . . . and we'll find more as time goes by." | | The Bush administration has also been a factor in persistent | confusion. | | Last month, for example, Bush said there was no evidence | that Saddam was involved in the Sept. 11 attack after Vice | President Dick Cheney suggested a link. Cheney, in a "Meet | the Press" interview, had described Iraq as "the geographic | base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many | years, but most especially on 9-11." | | Why some news audiences had more accurate impressions than | others was less clear. | | Kull cited instances in which TV and newspapers gave | prominent coverage to reports that banned weapons might have | been found in Iraq, but only modest coverage when those | reports turned out to be wrong. | | Susan Moeller, a University of Maryland professor, said that | much reporting had consisted of "stenographic coverage of | government statements," with less attention to whether the | government's statements were accurate. | | The study found that belief in inaccurate information often | persisted, and that misconceptions were much more likely | among backers of the war. Last month, as in June, for | example, nearly a quarter of those polled thought banned | weapons had been found in Iraq. Nearly half thought in | September that there was clear evidence that Saddam had | worked closely with al-Qaida. | | Among those with one of the three misconceptions, 53 percent | supported the war. Among those with two, 78 percent | supported it. Among those with three, 86 percent backed it. | By contrast, less than a quarter of those polled who had | none of the misconceptions backed the war. | | | On the Web: | | To review the study, go to http://pipa.org/ | | [ Editor: Also here, in html, pdf and text formats: | http://propaganda.lege.net/misperceptions/report/ | -- Leif Erlingsson] | | | (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this | material is distributed without profit to those who have | expressed a prior interest in receiving the included | information for research and educational purposes.) |______________________________________________________________