Media 'distort civilian casualties'

Published: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:00:00

New research has highlighted the role the media can potentially play in the public's perception of civilian casualties in armed conflicts. The study in BioMed Central's journal Conflict and Health examined the reporting of casualty numbers in the Iraq conflict and how discrepancies can lead to distortions in the public's appreciation of the number of civilian deaths. In February 2007 the Associated Press news agency surveyed around 1,000 US adults about the war in Iraq.

Whilst the respondents accurately estimated the death-toll of US soldiers (the median estimate was 2,974 while the actual toll at the time was 3,100), they grossly underestimated the number of Iraqi civilian casualties (the median answer was 9,890 at a time when several estimates put the toll at least ten times that number and some as high as 50 times that number). Researchers looked at the potential causes for the discrepancy by examining 111 US newspapers and five non-US papers to collate the number of coalition and Iraqi fatalities reported in the media between March 2003 and March 2008. They specifically looked at tallies (numbers of death over a period of time) and the descriptions of specific casualty events.

Unsurprisingly the US papers were found to have reported more coalition deaths and events, while in four out of the five non-US newspapers the pattern was reversed. While the results were expected, the authors of the study however have used their research to question whether they are "consistent with the goals and tenets of ethical and accurate journalism". "We feel that this study casts an important light on the role of the media in covering armed conflict and communicating the human costs of war to the public," Schuyler Henderson from Columbia University said.

"Our paper calls into question the role of the media in providing a tool for civilians to accurately gauge the true effects and outcomes of military action and ongoing warfare."

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