Press Coverage and the War on Terrorism: NATO Split Over Iraq?

While America’s traditional European allies have been generally supportive of Bush’s anti-terrorism campaign, there has been criticism of unintended harm to Afghan civilians and of the treatment of prisoners. The criticism became sharper when Bush described Iraq, North Korea, and Iran as an “axis of evil,” and sharper still when suggestions surfaced that the United States might attempt to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq.

A roundtable of leading correspondents from France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom will reflect on their countries’ media coverage of President Bush’s foreign policy and the war on terrorism. Some of the issues to be explored in this thirteenth forum in the series on Press Coverage and the War on Terrorism include:

• How is the European press portraying Bush’s war on terrorism?
• Is the coverage more critical than in the American press?
• Is the anti-terrorism war as big a story in Europe as it is in the United States?
• Has the European press changed its appraisal of the Bush presidency since September 11? If so, how?