How long will the pop press stomach the horrors of Iraq?

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The Bigley kidnap has forced reluctant editors to put the war back on the popular agenda


The situation in Iraq has not improved over the months - it has got worse - but even some of the serious papers have had problems maintaining interest when there has been so much more of the same. Anti-war papers such as The Independent on Sunday and The Independent have maintained their commitment to the story, providing graphic reportage of life today on the ground in Iraq and continuing to ask the questions it knows will never be satisfactorily answered about the politics leading up to the war.

Those opposed to the war are inevitably more passionate, more likely to want to keep reading about it, and more likely to maintain that passion than those who supported it. There was a decided lack of pro-war demonstrations.

It has been harder for those papers such as the Telegraph and Times which support the war. (The equally pro-war Sun can ignore it when it chooses, a lot of the time). In the case of the hostages there has been a brief respite because although there are a variety of views about Iraq "policy", there has been unanimity about the impossibility of dealing with hostage-takers.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=565696