Proof that We're Winning in Iraq

Howard Kurtz unwittingly supplies the essential data.

"In the first five months of this year, Tribune editors placed Iraq on the front page on average every third or fourth day--there were 41 Iraq stories in 151 days. In the same period last year, there were 74 Iraq articles on Page 1. There were 138 stories in 2004.

"How does that compare to other newspapers? . . . The Washington Post led all U.S. newspapers with 132 front-page articles on Iraq in the first five months of this year. The war is not only a national story for the Post, it is a local story with the White House, State Department and Pentagon in its back yard. Still, this year's number was down from the 161 articles on the front page in the same period of 2005. The Post ran twice as many stories in early 2004 as it has in 2006.

"At the other end of the spectrum of front-page coverage, USA Today, the nation's largest circulation newspaper, had 21 Page 1 articles on Iraq in the first five months of this year, 22 the year before and 42 the year before that. "For those who want to keep track, here are other statistics. The New York Times 113 (2006), 143 (2005) and 216 (2004). The Los Angeles Times, 127, 155 and 238. Looking at a smaller paper, The Boston Globe's count was 32, 65 and 143."