The news media elite are to the left of the public in 
    several policy areas related to the war on terrorism, a 
    poll “of opinion leaders and the general public conducted 
    by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in 
    collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations,” 
    found. While 56 percent of the public believes “efforts 
    to establish a stable democracy” in Iraq will succeed, 63 
    percent of the news media elite think it will fail; a 
    plurality of 48 percent of the public think going to war 
    in Iraq was correct, but 71 percent of the news media 
    elite consider it a bad decision; the public is split 
    evenly at 44 percent on whether the Iraq war has helped 
    or hurt the war on terrorism, but an overwhelming 68 
    percent of the news media elite say it has hurt; and 46 
    percent of the public believe torture of terrorist 
    suspects is often or sometimes “justified,” 78 percent of 
    the news media elite contend it is “rarely” or “never” 
    justified. Plus, news media elite approval of Bush’s job 
    performance — at a lowly 21 percent — is half that of the 
    public’s.