Iraq War

Us-based magazine Editor and Publisher (e&p)'s surveys of us newspaper editorials show that a majority of the top newspapers oppose any attack on Iraq without broad international consent. The huge antiwar demonstrations in cities across the us seems to have registered.

The first two e&p surveys (January 20 and 31) had revealed that a majority of the top 50 newspapers (by circulation) in the us were opposed to President Bush's designs to invade Iraq. But the February 7 speech by us Secretary of State Colin Powell at the United Nations changed things. Powell's persuasive rhetoric impressed previous opponents of invasion, who promptly changed their tune in their editorials to embrace pro-war views. The shifting results convey that most us newspapers are not dictated by principles alone.