Is the Iraq war vanishing from US view? (BBC)

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By Laura Smith-Spark
BBC News, Washington

The US-led war in Iraq is now five years old. Yet it seems the American media and public are paying less attention than ever.

Coverage has declined sharply, according to a Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism study, falling from an average of 15% of news output last August to just 3% in February this year.

A separate Pew study found that only 28% of Americans recently polled could correctly identify the number of US troops killed in Iraq, compared with more than half in August last year.

In response, the non-partisan Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) group launched a petition this week calling on the major US TV networks to "make sure the Iraq war is getting the coverage it deserves".

While the week of the war's fifth anniversary has seen an increase in coverage, much of it has been retrospective in tone, analysts say, rather than focused on events now.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7308882.stm