ABC News launches the eighth installment of the “Iraq: Where Things Stand” series on Sunday. The series looks at what life is like for the Iraqi people through interviews, reporting and a public opinion poll.
According to the release, the poll shows “dramatic advances in public attitudes, with declining violence and improved living conditions fueling Iraqis’ confidence.”
In-country reporting from correspondents Terry McCarthy and Martha Raddatz will be broadcast across all ABC News platforms.
Interview with a male respondent in Wassit (D3/KARL)
Click continued to see the release…
Six years after the beginning of the war in Iraq, ABC News will once again feature the award-winning series — Iraq: Where Things Stand — for an in-depth look at what life is like for the Iraqi people and the country now and since the war’s start. Over the past six years, ABC’s comprehensive series has periodically examined Iraqis’ own assessments of life since the U.S.-led invasion. Beginning March 15, the news division will feature the results from ABC’s latest exclusive, national public opinion poll of more than 2,200 Iraqis, as well as in-country reporting from correspondents Terry McCarthy and Martha Raddatz, each of whom has covered the war extensively since its start. Iraq: Where Things Stand will begin airing across ABC News’ broadcasts and platforms on Sunday, March 15 and will continue into the week.
The central component of the division-wide series is ABC’s sixth national public opinion poll in Iraq, co-sponsored with international media partners, that provides the latest independent update on Iraqis’ own assessments of their security and living conditions, political attitudes, views of the US, and expectations for their future. This year’s survey shows dramatic advances in public attitudes, with declining violence and improved living conditions fueling Iraqis’ confidence and prompting a crucial shift in their preferences for the country’s governance. The face-to-face, random-sample survey of more than 2,200 Iraqis in all 18 provinces, co-sponsored with ABC by the BBC and the Japanese network NHK, continues ABC’s exclusive on-the-ground reporting of how Iraqis themselves view conditions there some six years after the start of the war.
ABC News’ Terry McCarthy, who has reported extensively from Iraq over the years, will report for all broadcasts and platforms in the week ahead. He has traveled throughout the country interviewing Iraqis about their experiences in the six years since the invasion, as well as their expectations going forward. ABC News’ Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz, who has traveled to Iraq almost twenty times since the start of the war, will also contribute reporting from the country. McCarthy and Raddatz have both contributed to the previous installments of Iraq: Where Things Stand and bring historical perspective and a deep understanding of the complex situation on the ground.
Reports from Iraq: Where Things Stand will begin airing on Sunday, March 15 on the weekend edition of Good Morning America and will continue throughout the week on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, World News Sunday, Good Morning America, World News with Charles Gibson, and Nightline. The series will also be featured on ABC News Radio, ABC NewsOne, ABCNEWS.com, and ABC News NOW. Results from the poll will be released on Monday morning.
This marks ABC News’ eighth installment in the comprehensive “Iraq: Where Things Stand” series. ABC News first broadcast the series in November 2003, marking the six-month anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Other installments aired on the one-year anniversary of the war in March 2004, on the eve of Iraq’s first election in January 2005, in December 2005, in March 2006 on the fourth anniversary of the invasion, in September 2007 on the eve of the Petraeus-Crocker assessment of the surge, and in March 2008 to mark the war’s 5th anniversary. The series has been recognized with five Emmy Awards, including the first to cite a public opinion poll.