Media, War and Propaganda: A Content Analysis of U.S. Propaganda in Time and Newsweek Coverage of the Iraq War

Abstract

Purpose: The study analyses the propagandistic manipulations embedded in the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003. The aim is to ascertain how America used propaganda in her attempts to shore up support for the war and sway her targets. Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was applied to analyse the propagandistic manipulations of the U.S. government during the build-up to the war (the threat of war) and the actual war. Two U.S.-based news magazines, Time and Newsweek, were studied. The period of the study spans from February to April 2003. Findings: the findings showed that Washington applied propaganda to an unusual degree in search of global support for the war. Research question two probed into the extent and degree of Washington’s propaganda printed by the Time and the Newsweek magazines. We uncovered that the Time transmitted a total of 35 propaganda (64.8%); while the Newsweek churned out only 19 representing 35.2% of total coded propaganda techniques. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study concluded that in spite of the heavy dose of propaganda America administered on the world, she failed to win the UN and world support for the war. The military operation it led in Iraq was an unpopular one.