ABC News specials mark Iraq war anniversary
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC News will mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War with a comprehensive look at the situation on the ground.
The weeklong "Iraq 5 Years Later: Where Things Stand" will kick off Saturday and include every one of the network's platforms from TV (including "Good Morning America," "World News" and "Nightline") to online to ABC News Radio. The work is being led in Baghdad by correspondents Terry McCarthy and Bill Weir, with White House correspondent Martha Raddatz traveling with Vice President Dick Cheney to the Middle East.
McCarthy worked on the first "Where Things Stand" in 2003 as a reporter for Time and has missed only one of the seven of them.
Part of the coverage will be the results of an exclusive poll of 2,200 Iraqis, sponsored by ABC News, BBC & Germany's ARD and NHK Japan. The poll details have not been released, but McCarthy said some of the results are surprising.
"I think they're starting to think that they can pull it (the country) back, but there's still a long, long way to go," said McCarthy, whose current tour of duty in Iraq has lasted four weeks.
McCarthy, Weir and other reporters spent time in more than 20 cities in Iraq to do the reports. Weir, who will anchor "GMA's" weekend editions from Iraq, also traveled with an Army unit across the country.
McCarthy acknowledged that there is viewership fatigue among the American people in regards to the war. But he said that Americans still recognize it's an important story, as 160,000 U.S. troops remain in harm's way in the country. He said part of the approach with "Where Things Stand" is focusing on the stories of the individual Iraqis and American soldiers.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
