"Did the media stumble on Iraq, downplaying opposition to war with Saddam Hussein until the USA's recent confrontation with Germany and France in the United Nations and worldwide protests gave them no choice?" asks Peter Johnson. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writes, "For months both major U.S. cable news networks have acted as if the decision to invade Iraq has already been made, and have in effect seen it as their job to prepare the American public for the coming war [3]."