This analysis examines the mainstream media’s 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 1, 2007 – a period of 49 months.
There were 441 domestic outlets included in PEJ’s 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.
To gauge the coverage over the 4-plus years of the war PEJ paired the word “Iraq” with four key search phrases: “private security companies,” “private military contractors,” “private military firms,” and “private military companies.”
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 “issue” stories that at least touched on the idea of PSCs in the U.S. media.
“Private security companies” turned up in 102 accounts in U.S. outlets. “Private military contractors” showed up in 122 pieces. “Private military companies” appeared in 61 stories. The phrase “private military firms” appeared in 27.
Those stories were then culled to remove duplicates and to count only once stories that used two or more of the PEJ search terms – such as a story that used both “private military contractors” and “private military firms” 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.
Using this system, PEJ arrived at 248 stories in 93 mainstream outlets over the 49 months we searched.
A list of the outlets that ran at least one story is listed below:
Associated Press
ABC News
Albany Times-Union
Albuquerque Journal
American Prospect
American Spectator
Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times
Atlantic Monthly
Austin American Statesman
Baltimore Sun
Baltimore Daily Record
Bangor Daily News
Boston Globe
Boston Herald
Buffalo News
Business North Carolina
Business Week
Charleston (WV) Gazette
Charleston (SC) Post and Courier
Charlotte Observer
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun Times
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Contra Costa Times
CNN
Christian Science Monitor
Daily Bruin
Dallas Morning News
Deseret Morning News
Durham (NC) Herald-Sun
Economist
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Policy
Fox News
Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Grand Rapids Press
Great Falls Tribune
Greensboro News & Record
Harpers
Houston Chronicle
Kansas City Star
Los Angeles Times
Lebanon (PA) Daily News
Lexington (KY) Herald Leader
Las Vegas Journal Review
Market Watch
Miami Herald
Nation
Newark Star Ledger
NewsHour
Northern Star
Norwich Bulletin
National Public Radio
New Yorker
(NY) Daily News
New York Post
New York Times
Orlando Sentinel
People
Philly Inquirer
Philly Tribune
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Raleigh News & Observer
Richmond Times
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Salon
San Mateo Times
San Diego Union-Tribune
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Seattle Times
Slate
San Francisco Chronicle
San Jose Mercury News
The State (Columbia S.C.)
Tacoma News Tribune
Tallahassee Democrat
Time
Toledo Blade
Tulsa World
USA Today
UPI
Vanity Fair
Virginian Pilot
Washington Post
Washingtonpost.com
Washington Times
Washington Monthly
Weekly Standard
Wichita Eagle
Wichita Business Journal
