{"id":90868,"date":"2006-12-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2006\/12\/08\/headlines-of-several-minds-on-iraq-report\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:16:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:16:36","slug":"headlines-of-several-minds-on-iraq-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2006\/12\/08\/headlines-of-several-minds-on-iraq-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Headlines of Several Minds on Iraq Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

For days, it was the worst kept secret in Washington \u2013 and almost anywhere else for that matter. Media leaks and breathless speculation practically rendered the official Dec. 6 release of the Iraq Study Group report more of a formality than a breaking-news event.<\/p>\n\n

That apparently didn\u2019t dampen public interest, however, since the report\u2019s publisher, Vintage, had already ordered a third printing of the 160-page report the day after its release. And as of the afternoon of Dec. 7, it had already climbed to number two on the Amazon.com bestseller list.<\/p>\n\n

Given that level of interest, many of the nation\u2019s newspapers naturally treated the release\u2014and the early reaction to it\u2014as page 1 news. The report\u2014a complex document\u2014painted a grim picture of the situation in Iraq, and as its title suggests, tried to help find \u201ca way forward.\u201d One major task for newspapers was to absorb the report and translate its main message into a concise headline that grabs the reader\u2019s attention and perhaps creates a significant impression.<\/p>\n\n

A PEJ review of headlines from nearly 200 (197 to be exact) Dec. 7 papers posted on the Newseum web site<\/a> reveals that there were two major story lines embedded in those headlines. One portrayed the report as largely critical of the Bush administration and\/or emphasized how dire and grim the situation was in Iraq. The other, somewhat more neutral in tone, focused on the report\u2019s theme that a shift in direction was necessary. While neither message was particulary cheery, editors seemed split over whether to focus on the idea of failure and blame or the need to change.<\/p>\n\n

By a narrow margin, the first category was the largest, with 88 headlines trumpeting the bad news for the White House as the main message of the day.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Not Working: War Policies Have Failed in Almost Every Regard, Report Says,\u201d read the Chicago Sun-Times headline.The Great Falls (Montana) Tribune put it more simply with \u201cReport: U.S. failing in Iraq.\u201d Like a number of other papers, The San Diego Union-Tribune mentioned the president directly in a headline that read: \u201cBush\u2019s war policies are big failures, study says.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Another 73 headlines primarily played up the report\u2019s conclusion that a new direction was necessary.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cChanges on Iraq crucial, panel says\u201d declared the Deseret (Utah) Morning News. \u201cIraq report charts new course,\u201d was the headline in The Burlington (Vermont) Free Press. A headline with a hint of hope in it, \u201cPanel report maps path out of Iraq,\u201d appeared on the front page of The (Toledo) Blade.<\/p>\n\n

There were another three dozen headlines that did not readily fit into any particular category. Some tended to be notably bland such as \u201cKey issue in Iraq detailed,\u201d in the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle. Others were in a questioning mood like the Virginian Pilot headline that read \u201cIs this the fix? Bipartisan panel makes 79 recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

At least five of the headlines focused on criticism or shortcomings of the study group report, including one in The Tribune of San Luis Obispo California that concluded: \u201cIraq Study Group report is short on how to clear hurdles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

A few of the papers tried to move past the findings to offer a glimpse into a murky future. In that genre, it\u2019s hard to argue with the sentiments of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Times-News headline that wondered \u201cIraq report out \u2013 now what?\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was the treatment of the eagerly awaited Iraq Study Group report across the nation's front pages? To find out, PEJ looked at nearly 200 headlines from Dec. 7, the day after its release. While there wasn’t much good news to tout, these editors seemed almost evenly divided over whether to highlight the report’s critique of the administration or its prescription for change in Iraq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","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":[337,336,98],"tags":[],"bylines":[2199],"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-90868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-content-analysis","category-news-coverage","category-war-international-conflict-1","bylines-pew-research-center-journalism-media-staff","formats-report","research-teams-journalism"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":562,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2006\/12\/08\/headlines-of-several-minds-on-iraq-report\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Headlines of Several Minds on Iraq Report","parent_id":90868},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Headlines of Several Minds on Iraq Report","description":"What was the treatment of the eagerly awaited Iraq Study Group report across the nation's front pages? 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