Newspaper comformity to national foreign policy in coverage of the 2003 Iraq war in The New York Times, The Times of London and The People's Daily (China)

This study examined the media's conformity to government foreign policy by comparing the coverage of the 2003 Iraq war in The New York Times, The Times of London, and The People's Daily of China. National foreign policy was identified as an external factor influencing the media's framing of the war, and public opinion was treated as an intervening factor of the relationship between media frames and government foreign policy. Findings suggest the prestigious newspapers generally followed the official lines in covering the Iraq war. Further, a strong domestic public opinion opposing government foreign policy failed to mitigate media conformity to government foreign policy.