Silicon Valley:A recent opinion poll has claimed that a majority of Americans believe that President George W Bush puts a positive spin on events in Iraq.

A Harris Poll found that 62 per cent adults believe that President Bush "makes things sound better than they are" in Iraq and he also tops the list of those who are least trusted by a substantial margin of 40 per cent compared to 23 per cent for Democratic leaders.

The public has become deeply skeptical of all the major sources of news about events in Iraq. Most people see them as either making the news sound better than it is, or making it sound worse than it is. Only minorities (mostly small minorities) believe that any of the six sources covered in this Harris Poll get the balance about right.

While a 54 per cent majority believe that Republican leaders make things sound better, a majority of 56 per cent also thinks that Democratic leaders and TV reporters make things sound worse than they are.
 
While military leaders compare favourably with other sources, only 35 per cent of adults think they get the balance about right and 39 per cent think they put a positive spin on events.

Editors, journalists and media owners don't fare any better, with only 17 per cent trusting the newspaper accounts and 14 per cent trusting the television reporting on Iraq. A 54 per cent of the 2,383 adults surveyed between May 8 and 14, 2007 believe TV reporters make things in Iraq sound worse than they. About half of the public believes that newspapers also make the news from Iraq sound worse than it is.