Media raise focus on Iraq

MEDIA coverage of the war in Iraq has soared in the final days of the British election campaign, according to researchers.

Two weeks ago Iraq received 8% of the election coverage in national newspapers, but that figure more than doubled to almost 18% in recent days.

News monitoring service Factiva also revealed that more than 1,100 articles mentioned the words “Tony Blair” and “Lie” or “Liar” in April.

More than 8,300 articles mentioned the prime minister by name, compared with 4,700 with Michael Howard’s name in, and 2,200 mentioning Charles Kennedy.

There were more articles about Chelsea football club than either of the opposition leaders.