CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A national survey released last month listed the news stories Americans followed most closely in 2008.

Number one was the U.S. economy. Second were gasoline prices. Third, the Wall Street bailout.

Missing from the list of 15 topics? The Iraq war, in which more than 4,200 Americans and at least 90,000 Iraqis have died.

It was the first time since the war started in 2003 that Iraq didn't make the list, which is put out by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 

"People have gotten lost in the economy," said the Rev. Jim Lewis, a founder of West Virginia Patriots for Peace. "People have gotten lost in the elections."

Patriots for Peace formed during the run-up to the war. Since then, members have staged numerous rallies and protested every member of the Bush administration who came near Charleston.

As the economic meltdown becomes many Americans' top concern, the group is trying to link the war in Iraq with the country's financial woes in an effort to keep its cause in the public eye.

The U.S. has spent at least $500 billion so far on the Iraq war, by some estimates.

"For the past two years we really have been pushing hard about the cost of the war," Lewis said. "Lately, more so because the economy has been so much on people's minds."

Anne Montague, the director of Thanks! Plain and Simple, agrees that many Americans are anxious about their own economic situations. Her West Virginia organization supports soldiers and veterans without taking a position on the war.

"Things are not so good for many Americans," she said. "So I think most Americans have a lot of sympathy, but they're also trying to survive."

Less coverage

In 2007, Iraq made up about a fifth of the print, online and broadcast news content analyzed at Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism, said Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the project. 

In 2008, war coverage dropped by 75 percent, dwarfed by stories on the economy and the presidential election, he said.

For the week of Jan. 5, the war made up less than 1 percent of news content - behind stories like the death of John Travolta's son, Jurkowitz said.

There's less coverage of Iraq in Charleston's two papers, too. The word "Iraq" showed up more than 4,000 times in 2003 and 2004, compared to about 2,100 times last year.

It's getting harder for many media organizations to cover Iraq, Jurkowitz said.

Budget woes have resulted in staff cuts and the closings of foreign bureaus.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A national survey released last month listed the news stories Americans followed most closely in 2008.

Number one was the U.S. economy. Second were gasoline prices. Third, the Wall Street bailout.

Missing from the list of 15 topics? The Iraq war, in which more than 4,200 Americans and at least 90,000 Iraqis have died.

It was the first time since the war started in 2003 that Iraq didn't make the list, which is put out by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 

"People have gotten lost in the economy," said the Rev. Jim Lewis, a founder of West Virginia Patriots for Peace. "People have gotten lost in the elections."

Patriots for Peace formed during the run-up to the war. Since then, members have staged numerous rallies and protested every member of the Bush administration who came near Charleston.

As the economic meltdown becomes many Americans' top concern, the group is trying to link the war in Iraq with the country's financial woes in an effort to keep its cause in the public eye.

The U.S. has spent at least $500 billion so far on the Iraq war, by some estimates.

"For the past two years we really have been pushing hard about the cost of the war," Lewis said. "Lately, more so because the economy has been so much on people's minds."

Anne Montague, the director of Thanks! Plain and Simple, agrees that many Americans are anxious about their own economic situations. Her West Virginia organization supports soldiers and veterans without taking a position on the war.

"Things are not so good for many Americans," she said. "So I think most Americans have a lot of sympathy, but they're also trying to survive."

Less coverage

In 2007, Iraq made up about a fifth of the print, online and broadcast news content analyzed at Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism, said Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the project. 

In 2008, war coverage dropped by 75 percent, dwarfed by stories on the economy and the presidential election, he said.

For the week of Jan. 5, the war made up less than 1 percent of news content - behind stories like the death of John Travolta's son, Jurkowitz said.

There's less coverage of Iraq in Charleston's two papers, too. The word "Iraq" showed up more than 4,000 times in 2003 and 2004, compared to about 2,100 times last year.

It's getting harder for many media organizations to cover Iraq, Jurkowitz said.

Budget woes have resulted in staff cuts and the closings of foreign bureaus.

"The idea of keeping an expensive and dangerous bureau in Baghdad becomes more and more daunting," Jurkowitz said.

Iraq is harder to cover than previous wars, according to one reporter. George Esper, a West Virginia University journalism professor, spent 10 years covering the Vietnam War as part of his more than four-decade career with The Associated Press.

Journalists in Iraq face hazards and challenges unlike those of previous wars, Esper said.

"If you had the stamina and the courage, in Vietnam, you could go anywhere you wanted," Esper said. "There were basically no limitations."

Military personnel went out of their way to take journalists to where the action was, he said. Reporters could even "hitchhike by air" by flagging down pilots.

After Vietnam, the military blamed the media for losing that war and imposed many restrictions, Esper said.

Today, "most of these interviews are monitored," he said. "Some officer is standing there with you. These guys [soldiers] could be easily court-martialed if they say the wrong thing."

Even when journalists can get the story, the public may be losing interest when there are fewer American casualties, Esper said.

Next steps

Lewis said it's been slightly harder in recent months for West Virginia Patriots for Peace to get coverage in the media, because of the election and transition to a new president.

Patriots for Peace is also preparing for the day most American troops leave Iraq. President-elect Barack Obama has promised to send more troops to Afghanistan, instead.

"Now the conversation is on to Afghanistan," Lewis said. "That's the big thing we've got our eye on."

Also, Patriots for Peace plans to create postcards for people to send to elected officials, suggesting how they'd rather use the millions of dollars now being spent daily on war, Patriots for Peace president Lida  Shepherd said.

They've joined a coalition called West Virginians United for Social and Economic Justice to sponsor town hall meetings across the state. They highlight how war spending affects health care and education at home.

Gary Zuckett helped put together that coalition. Zuckett is a board member of Patriots for Peace and director of West Virginia Citizen Action Group.

When he talks about the Iraq war, Zuckett likes to show people a pie chart of U.S. discretionary spending. A big red chunk covers more than half the circle. That's what Congress spends on the Pentagon.

"It's all connected. That's our message," Zuckett said. "We look at the budget as a moral document. As a society, where do we put our priorities?"

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com">alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.