THE REAL ENEMY:

Europe's Left in Denial (Wall Strret Journal, February 1, 2005)

Media-Tenor, a media analysis center headquartered in Bonn, Germany, studied the Iraq election coverage of 41 main European media outlets in Germany, France, the U.K., Spain and Italy between Jan. 17 and Jan. 26. The analysis compared this with 12 leading Arab TV stations and newspapers. Specifically, the researchers looked at how the journalists presented the legitimacy of the elections. The results "even stunned our Arab researchers," Markus Rettich, director of political studies at Media Tenor, told us.

"European media portray a dramatic picture ahead of the elections in Iraq. The legitimacy of the election is strongly questioned. Almost no positive Iraqi sources are quoted," Media Tenor writes.

The Arab media, on the other hand, "make significantly fewer skeptical statements regarding the legitimacy of the elections in Iraq. In contrast to the Europeans, the Arab coverage quotes more Iraqi sources. As far as legitimacy is concerned, Al Jazeera & Co. seem to be reporting about a different election," Media Tenor concludes.

During the observation period, ambivalence or outright negative reporting about the legitimacy of the election always topped at least 60% of the European coverage. In the Arab media, positive reporting about the legitimacy usually topped 60% and sometimes was even 100%.