When the British 'Tommy' went to war, public opinion followed

This article seeks to outline how public opinion changed over the course of the government's announcement of 2nd Gulf War in Iraq until the scandal over the alleged ‘sexed‐up’ Downing Street intelligence dossier. Using quantitative analysis of opinion poll data, together with in‐depth interview...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of public affairs 2005-02, Vol.5 (1), p.4-19
Main Authors: Baines, Paul, Worcester, Robert M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Censorship
Embedded systems
Intelligence services
Interviews
Iraq War
Iraq War-2003
Journalism
Journalists
News
Persian Gulf War
Political communication
Politics
Prime ministers
Propaganda
Public opinion
Public opinion surveys
Scandals
Studies
United Kingdom
War
Weapons of mass destruction
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Summary:This article seeks to outline how public opinion changed over the course of the government's announcement of 2nd Gulf War in Iraq until the scandal over the alleged ‘sexed‐up’ Downing Street intelligence dossier. Using quantitative analysis of opinion poll data, together with in‐depth interviews with journalists to show how the media were complicit in providing a positive spin for the government's stance on war, the authors conclude that the positive change in public opinion once the British soldiers were deployed occurred through one of the following mechanisms: 1) a patriotic effect, 2) government communication expertise and the management of a complicit news media, 3) the public basked in the reflected glory of the initially successful military or 4) some combination of the above. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1472-3891
1479-1854
DOI:10.1002/pa.1