Beating the drum: Canadian print media and the build-up to the invasion of Iraq

Abstract

This article describes how American mass media's acquiescence to state propaganda, most glaring in the American campaign to invade Iraq, affected Canadian media coverage in the build-up to war. While the Canadian government ultimately opted-out of the American (mis)adventure in Iraq, this could not have been predicted by the press coverage of Canada's major dailies. Canadian press coverage in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq was similar, if not in degree then certainly in kind, to the coverage seen in their American equivalents. Wholly uncritical and deferential to state propaganda, the Canadian press failed to challenge the dubious claims of the Bush administration and in this failure defaulted in its responsibility to inform the public and provide alternative opinions. The transformation of the Canadian media is in large part attributable to the concentration of media ownership, and is part of an ongoing transformation of Canada's political function, from independent international actor to junior adjunct of the United States. In this presentation, some preliminary comments are made as to the relationship between media coverage of Iraq and Canadian public opinion.