7. Public Enemy No. 4: The media!
Among the favorite targets: the New York Times, and especially its elder news analyst R.W. "Johnny" Apple. Criticism of Apple has become so constant as to become a clichi, one often unexamined. As the Web site Daily Howler pointed out, for example, Fox News' Brit Hume complained on April 10, saying, "Let me mention one other person who deserves special mention. And it's R.W. 'Johnny' Apple, legendary reporter of the New York Times. This is what he wrote today. 'News of fierce fighting in Hilla, 50 miles south of Baghdad, and on the eastern and southern sides of the capital belies talk of collapse.'"

The headline of Apple's piece? "Bush's War Message: Strong and Clear." And it featured such fiercely antiwar statements as "Bush has carried the country with him, and most of the second-guessers among Washington's policy experts are keeping their voices down these days."

Fox's Sean Hannity busily trashed the media with statements like, "If you read the New York Times [or] the Washington Post at any point during that three-week period [since the war began], you would think we were losing this war." Of course, when it suited his needs, Hannity was happy to turn tail. While arguing with Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., about whether Iraqi citizens were welcoming U.S. troops, Hannity chided the congressman, "You're not reading the New York Times."

6. "Coalition of the willing"
Another Bush administration catchphrase, it is, understandably, a hotly contested term. But that didn't bother several cable news anchors. "Some world leaders, even close allies, criticized the U.S. and its coalition of the willing prior to the war in Iraq," said CNN's Paula Zahn. "When we come back, we'll hear and see some of the other reaction in the world to what has been happening in the last several days, including the reaction in the coalition of the willing," previewed Peter Jennings on ABC. And Fox's Sean Hannity was more than happy to make statements like, "Look at the coalition of the willing."

5. When "war" just doesn't do the trick
Ever forget the name the government has given to the war? Not if you watched Fox News or MSNBC. Unlike CNN, which used a more neutral "War in Iraq" graphic, the two networks seemed locked in a tight competition over who could show the phrase "Operation Iraqi Freedom" more often and more prominently.

Fox News won the contest for quantity, with the words on the screen nearly 24/7. MSNBC, however, scores points for size, with huge hanging signs and wall graphics screaming "Operation Iraqi Freedom" emblazoned throughout its warehouse-like studio.

4. That big clock
MSNBC placed a "deadline" clock on its graphics-heavy screen, counting down, second by second, President Bush's 48-hour deadline for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq. Perhaps the network missed the president's statement that war would be "commenced at a time of our choosing"? The clock ultimately ran out, disappearing before any significant invasion news.

3. And now, a word from our sponsor ...
Rather than stick to its version of "fair and balanced" news coverage, Fox News often opted for a much simpler, direct route: looping gratuitous speech excerpts by President Bush, including agitprop like, "The vise is closing, and the days of a brutal regime are coming to an end" and "Against this enemy we will accept no outcome except complete victory." The clips were not related to any story or feature, they were usually just used to lead into or out of commercial breaks, to make sure they maintained a pro-war state of mind, we guess.

2. The war promo
House ads MSNBC ran between programs and during commercial breaks functioned like movie trailers, both promoting the war and touting its heroes in such heart-tugging cinematic style they could have been produced by the Defense Department's Tori Clarke. MSNBC ran one promo, scored with "The Star-Spangled Banner," that flashed phrases like "land of the free" and "home of the brave" over shots of soldiers, tanks and Iraqi children. The Microsoft-NBC joint venture also ran promos using similar footage over the sound of patriotic speeches, such as John F. Kennedy's "pay any price" inaugural address, and others by President Bush.

1. The Osama-Saddam connection
Ultimately, Fox wins the top prize not for its relentlessly pro-war anchors and news angles, but for the simple graphic that so often brought viewers back from commercials. "War on Terror" the intro began, before whooshing off the screen as a new phrase jumped on and took its place: "Target: Iraq."

Enough said.

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