Wartime coverage under fire

In “The Press at War,” written for City Journal, James Q. Wilson weighs in on the role of the press in wartime. He says, “Given press coverage of our efforts in Iraq, I am surprised that 90 per cent of the public do not want us out right now.” He argues that the majority of stories about the war in mainstream media are overwhelmingly negative, since “people who oppose the entire War on Terror run much of the national press and go to great lengths to make waging it difficult.” In tracking how the press covered wars from Second World War to Vietnam to the current conflict in Iraq, Wilson says the press has not always attacked the government’s decision to go to war.