IRAQ WAR THROUGH THE LENS OF NATIONALITY

On March 19, 2003, the United States military led a "pre-emptive" strike on Iraq, thrusting media into a heightened responsibility to keep the American public informed. By May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush had declared the war over, but at the time of this study, Spring 2005, violence prevailed in Iraq. Throughout the Iraq War, different styles of print media coverage appeared between the United States and German presses - reflective of each country's stance on the Iraq war. As influenced by numerous factors, U.S. and German newspapers covered the Iraq conflict in different ways.To assess the accuracy of those predictions, a content analysis of German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) and U.S. newspaper, the Washington Post, was conducted. This study may offer an explanation as to why the United States and Germany shared such opposing opinions about the Iraq War-each country's citizens experienced the news from different perspectives.