Chapter 6: The Holy War Summary

Bill O'Reilly analyzed network coverage of the Iraq war the day it started. He demonstrated media bias by showing that two of three networks had nearly five minutes of "war protest" coverage, with no contrasting "pro-war" coverage. This happened at a time when more than 2 of every 3 Americans supported the decision to go to war against Iraq. If the networks claimed to be "balanced," this was not a good example for them. O'Reilly sees the networks skewing to an internationalist bent, as opposed to an American point of view. This view strongly resisted the move by the United States to act without full UN backing.

Walter Cronkite summed up this position by heaping criticisms on the Bush Administration about the "pre-emptive" war. He sees the United States as a true internationalist - that is, a country no...