ABC News Listens to Viewers' Concerns About Iraq Coverage

March 23, 2006 — -- Over the last 24 hours, ABC News has been reading hundreds of messages sent in by viewers in response to President Bush's claim that the media are undermining support for war in Iraq.

Viewer opinions ran the gamut, but the vast majority believed the media were biased in their Iraq coverage.

"I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, for a solution to this, because it seems that our major media networks don't want to portray the good," a woman from West Virginia asked President Bush at a recent town hall.

Teena from Wisconsin agreed.

"If we have the capabilities of the media and we can see the blood, bombs, killing and horror, shouldn't we also see the teaching, cleanup, building, training of soldiers … and the many other great things I know our soldiers are doing for us?" she wrote.

Many of the postings expressed a desire to get a better sense of the reconstruction effort, and the improvements in daily life for Iraqis.

"I think you should cover how many women are now allowed to work, how many kids are now enrolled in school and excelling," wrote Renee from Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M.

Mary Mutschler's son is in the Navy. She wrote from Oregon: "We need to hear about deaths, and what's going on as far as that's concerned. But we need to hear what's going good also."

The latest national poll reveals that 31 percent of Americans believe the media make things in Iraq sound worse than they are.

But some of our viewers, like Deborah from Texas, said delivering the bad news served an important purpose.

"It is the job of the media," she wrote, "to report what's happening on the war front, and that means insurgent attacks and sectarian violence."