Television News, Public Opinion, and the Iraq War: Do Wartime Rationales Matter?

The idea that the public is swayed by the rationales for war that circulate throughout the media environment is well established in popular discourse. Research on the determinants of support for war, however, has largely ignored the role that such rationales might play. This study is the first to directly test the possibility that rationales for war present in news coverage influence public support for war. Pairing a detailed computer-assisted content analysis with measures of public support for the Iraq War, this study shows that, contrary to popular wisdom, rationales for war present in television news have only a limited impact on public attitudes about U.S. military action.