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FAIR
post
November 14, 2014

No Debate and the New War

Study finds little opposition to US attacks on Iraq, Syria
Peter Hart
No Debate and the New War
Debate, corporate media style:  Two pro-war guests go at it.

War debate, corporate media-style: Two hawks go at it.

While Congress may soon debate the ongoing US wars in Iraq and Syria, a new FAIR study shows that at the critical moments leading up to the escalation of US military action, mainstream media presented almost no debate at all.

The study of key TV news discussion programs from September 7 through 21 reveals that guests who opposed war were scarce.

The study evaluated discussion and debate segments on the Sunday talk shows (CNN’s State of the Union, CBS‘s Face the Nation, ABC‘s This Week, Fox News Sunday and NBC‘s Meet the Press), the PBS NewsHour and a sample of cable news programs that feature roundtables and interview segments (CNN‘s Situation Room, Fox News Channel‘s Special Report and MSNBC’s Hardball).

The key findings:

–In total, 205 sources appeared on the programs discussing military options in Syria and Iraq. Just six of these guests, or 3 percent, voiced opposition to US military intervention. There were 125 guests (61 percent) who spoke in favor of US war.

–On the high-profile Sunday talk shows, 89 guests were invited to talk about the war. But just one, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, could be coded as an anti-war guest.

–Guestlists leaned heavily on politicians and military insiders. Current and former US government officials—politicians and White House officials—made up 37 percent of the guestlists. Current and former military officials accounted for 7 percent of sources. Journalists made up 46 percent of the sources.

–Democrats outnumbered Republicans, 53-36, mostly due to the heavy presence of Obama administration officials advocating for White House military policy.

The study period covered what should have been a moment of serious debate: From the release of ISIS video beheadings of two American journalists through Obama’s September 10 televised address and right up to the first US airstrikes on Syria.

But the question of whether to launch attacks was hardly worth debating. As MSNBC host Chris Matthews put it (9/9/14): “When it comes down to how we fight this, everybody seems to be for air attacks, airstrikes. Everybody is for drone attacks.”

One would definitely get that impression from the narrow debate in elite media.

The study appears in the November issue of FAIR’s magazine Extra!

FAIR’s work is sustained by our generous contributors, who allow us to remain independent. Donate today to be a part of this important mission.

Related Posts

  • Tell NBC: Debate the Afghanistan War
  • Take Action for a Real Debate on Afghanistan War
  • No Debate on War
  • Open up the Afghanistan War Media Debate

Filed under:

Peter Hart

Peter Hart was the activist director of FAIR for 15 years, as well as the co-host of FAIR's radio show CounterSpin. He is now the senior field communications officer for Food & Water Watch.

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Comments

  1. Bob H

    November 14, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    When your there to sell Snake oil, the last thing you want is a diss’d customer to show up and speak bad of it. So you make sure that those people who show up, are there to support it.

    What we need to do, is just stop listening to the snake oil salesman.

  2. Doug Latimer

    November 14, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    What if they gave a war

    And nobody blamed?

  3. Doug Latimer

    November 14, 2014 at 6:57 pm

    (Apologies for the repeat.

    I forgot to check notification of follow-up comments.)

  4. Drew

    November 16, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    I agree, the lack of diversity is a problem.

    As I’ve said before: I say this as someone who supports the strikes in Iraq and Syria. But I don’t want anti-war advocates to be sidelined: I want them on to be debated and to lose these debates publicly.

  5. Chris Tracey

    November 18, 2014 at 4:43 pm

    Everyone must write/call these shows and voice your strong disapproval. Today. Right Now.

  6. jg

    December 3, 2014 at 12:21 am

    They and their allies CREATED ISIS. They have been arming, funding and training the Syrian terrorists since 2011. It is reported already in many places that the Saudis are the main problem, and Turkey has hosted the terrorists on its territory. The CIA was apparently helping send Libyan arms to Syria when the Benghazi incident occurred.

    Even Joe Biden let slip that US so-called “allies” are the problem. Biden isn’t in on the whole US/Nato/Allies deals, apparently.

    We should be demanding accountability for sponsoring terrorism, rather than just debating the idea of airstrikes.

    http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

  7. hp

    December 18, 2014 at 9:46 pm

    Anti-Semites! Anti-Semites! Anti-Semites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Oh, whoops.. Wrong article.
    (you’re still anti-Semites)

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