This analysis examines the mainstream media\u2019s coverage of private security companies (PSCs) in Iraq over the course of the war. It looked at stories that appeared in mainstream media outlets that are archived on the Lexis\/Nexis database. <\/p>\n\n
The time period examined was from the start of the war Thursday, March 20, 2003 to Thursday, April 1, 2007 \u2013 a period of 49 months. <\/p>\n\n
There were 441 domestic outlets included in PEJ\u2019s Lexis\/Nexis search, which mirrors the Lexis\/Nexis universe for general news sources. This list was then cut down to focus solely on domestic mainstream local and national news outlets, removing foreign and specialty publications, TV and radio programs and Web sites. <\/p>\n\n
To gauge the coverage over the 4-plus years of the war PEJ paired the word \u201cIraq\u201d with four key search phrases: \u201cprivate security companies,\u201d \u201cprivate military contractors,\u201d \u201cprivate military firms,\u201d and \u201cprivate military companies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
In total PEJ found 93 out of the 441 U.S. media outlets that aired or published stories including at least one of these four key search terms. Removing straight news accounts about casualties or incidents, we were left with a small list of \u201cissue\u201d stories that at least touched on the idea of PSCs in the U.S. media. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cPrivate security companies\u201d turned up in 102 accounts in U.S. outlets. \u201cPrivate military contractors\u201d showed up in 122 pieces. \u201cPrivate military companies\u201d appeared in 61 stories. The phrase \u201cprivate military firms\u201d appeared in 27. <\/p>\n\n
Those stories were then culled to remove duplicates and to count only once stories that used two or more of the PEJ search terms \u2013 such as a story that used both \u201cprivate military contractors\u201d and \u201cprivate military firms\u201d to address the issue of PSCs. The same story appearing in different newspapers was counted each it appeared. And the same story appearing on a TV outlet at different times was counted each time it aired. <\/p>\n\n
Using this system, PEJ arrived at 248 stories in 93 mainstream outlets over the 49 months we searched. <\/p>\n\n
A list of the outlets that ran at least one story is listed below: <\/p>\n\n
Associated Press <\/p>\n\n
ABC News <\/p>\n\n
Albany Times-Union <\/p>\n\n
Albuquerque Journal <\/p>\n\n
American Prospect <\/p>\n\n
American Spectator <\/p>\n\n
Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times <\/p>\n\n
Atlantic Monthly <\/p>\n\n
Austin American Statesman <\/p>\n\n
Baltimore Sun <\/p>\n\n
Baltimore Daily Record <\/p>\n\n
Bangor Daily News <\/p>\n\n
Boston Globe <\/p>\n\n
Boston Herald <\/p>\n\n
Buffalo News <\/p>\n\n
Business North Carolina <\/p>\n\n
Business Week <\/p>\n\n
Charleston (WV) Gazette <\/p>\n\n
Charleston (SC) Post and Courier <\/p>\n\n
Charlotte Observer <\/p>\n\n
Chattanooga Times Free Press <\/p>\n\n
Chicago Tribune <\/p>\n\n
Chicago Sun Times <\/p>\n\n
Cleveland Plain Dealer <\/p>\n\n
Contra Costa Times <\/p>\n\n
CNN <\/p>\n\n
Christian Science Monitor <\/p>\n\n
Daily Bruin <\/p>\n\n
Dallas Morning News <\/p>\n\n
Deseret Morning News <\/p>\n\n
Durham (NC) Herald-Sun <\/p>\n\n
Economist <\/p>\n\n
Foreign Affairs <\/p>\n\n
Foreign Policy <\/p>\n\n
Fox News <\/p>\n\n
Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel <\/p>\n\n
Ft. Worth Star Telegram <\/p>\n\n
Grand Rapids Press <\/p>\n\n
Great Falls Tribune <\/p>\n\n
Greensboro News & Record <\/p>\n\n
Harpers <\/p>\n\n
Houston Chronicle <\/p>\n\n
Kansas City Star <\/p>\n\n
Los Angeles Times <\/p>\n\n
Lebanon (PA) Daily News <\/p>\n\n
Lexington (KY) Herald Leader <\/p>\n\n
Las Vegas Journal Review <\/p>\n\n
Market Watch <\/span> <\/p>\n\n Miami Herald <\/span> <\/p>\n\n Nation <\/span> <\/p>\n\n Newark Star Ledger <\/span> <\/p>\n\n NewsHour <\/p>\n\n Northern Star <\/span> <\/p>\n\n Norwich Bulletin <\/span> <\/p>\n\n National Public Radio <\/p>\n\n New Yorker <\/span> <\/p>\n\n (NY) Daily News <\/p>\n\n New York Post <\/p>\n\n New York Times <\/p>\n\n Orlando Sentinel <\/p>\n\n People <\/p>\n\n Philly Inquirer <\/span> <\/p>\n\n Philly Tribune <\/p>\n\n Pittsburg Post-Gazette <\/p>\n\n Raleigh News & Observer <\/p>\n\n Richmond Times <\/p>\n\n St. Louis Post-Dispatch <\/p>\n\n St. Paul Pioneer Press <\/p>\n\n Salon <\/p>\n\n San Mateo Times <\/p>\n\n San Diego Union-Tribune <\/p>\n\n Seattle Post Intelligencer <\/p>\n\n Seattle Times <\/p>\n\n Slate <\/p>\n\n San Francisco Chronicle <\/p>\n\n San Jose Mercury News <\/p>\n\n The State (Columbia S.C.) <\/p>\n\n Tacoma <\/span>News Tribune <\/p>\n\n Tallahassee Democrat <\/p>\n\n Time <\/p>\n\n Toledo Blade <\/p>\n\n Tulsa World <\/p>\n\n USA Today <\/p>\n\n UPI <\/p>\n\n Vanity Fair <\/p>\n\n Virginian Pilot <\/p>\n\n Washington Post <\/p>\n\n Washingtonpost.com <\/p>\n\n Washington Times <\/p>\n\n Washington Monthly <\/p>\n\n Weekly Standard <\/p>\n\n Wichita Eagle <\/span> <\/p>\n\n Wichita Business Journal <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This analysis examines the mainstream media\u2019s coverage of private security companies (PSCs) in Iraq over the course of the war. It looked at stories that appeared in mainstream media outlets that are archived on the Lexis\/Nexis database. The time period examined was from the start of the war Thursday, March 20, 2003 to Thursday, April […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[],"tags":[],"bylines":[921],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[527],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-90686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","bylines-benjamin-wormald","formats-report","research-teams-journalism"],"label":false,"post_parent":90633,"word_count":566,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/methodology-41-5\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[{"id":90633,"title":"A Media Mystery","slug":"a-media-mystery","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/a-media-mystery\/","is_active":false},{"id":90642,"title":"Issues Around the Use of Contractors","slug":"issues-around-the-use-of-contractors","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/issues-around-the-use-of-contractors\/","is_active":false},{"id":90649,"title":"Character of the Coverage","slug":"character-of-the-coverage","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/character-of-the-coverage\/","is_active":false},{"id":90656,"title":"In-Depth Coverage","slug":"in-depth-coverage","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/in-depth-coverage\/","is_active":false},{"id":90666,"title":"Coverage over Time","slug":"coverage-over-time","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/coverage-over-time\/","is_active":false},{"id":90676,"title":"Coverage Differences Among Outlets","slug":"coverage-differences-among-outlets","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/coverage-differences-among-outlets\/","is_active":false},{"id":90686,"title":"Methodology","slug":"methodology-41-5","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/methodology-41-5\/","is_active":true}],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":{"id":90686,"title":"Methodology","slug":"methodology-41-5","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/methodology-41-5\/","is_active":true,"page_num":7},"next_post":null,"previous_post":{"id":90676,"title":"Coverage Differences Among Outlets","slug":"coverage-differences-among-outlets","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/coverage-differences-among-outlets\/","is_active":false,"page_num":6},"pagination_items":[{"id":90633,"title":"A Media Mystery","slug":"a-media-mystery","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/a-media-mystery\/","is_active":false,"page_num":1},{"id":90642,"title":"Issues Around the Use of Contractors","slug":"issues-around-the-use-of-contractors","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/issues-around-the-use-of-contractors\/","is_active":false,"page_num":2},{"id":90649,"title":"Character of the Coverage","slug":"character-of-the-coverage","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/character-of-the-coverage\/","is_active":false,"page_num":3},{"id":90656,"title":"In-Depth Coverage","slug":"in-depth-coverage","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/in-depth-coverage\/","is_active":false,"page_num":4},{"id":90666,"title":"Coverage over Time","slug":"coverage-over-time","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/coverage-over-time\/","is_active":false,"page_num":5},{"id":90676,"title":"Coverage Differences Among Outlets","slug":"coverage-differences-among-outlets","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/coverage-differences-among-outlets\/","is_active":false,"page_num":6},{"id":90686,"title":"Methodology","slug":"methodology-41-5","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/06\/21\/methodology-41-5\/","is_active":true,"page_num":7}]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"A Media Mystery","parent_id":90633},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Methodology","description":"This analysis examines the mainstream media\u2019s coverage of private security companies (PSCs) in Iraq over the course of the war. It looked at stories that appeared in mainstream media outlets…","og_title":"Methodology","og_description":"","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":0,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{"prc-image-alt-text":{"status":"complete","message":"No image blocks in content.","data":null},"prc-about-this-research":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add an \"About this research\" details block.","data":null},"prc-paragraph-count":{"status":"complete","message":"Found 102 paragraphs.","data":{"count":102}},"prc-internal-link":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add at least one internal link.","data":{"count":0}}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[{"key":"00e994d9-204c-4133-8408-1a2e70a6194b","termId":921}],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135662,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90686\/revisions\/135662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=90686"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=90686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}