NEW YORK, March 12: The US media bought the claims of the Bush administration on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction hook, line and sinker, and that led to the war on Iraq without question, says a study.

The study, reported by the Baltimore Sun on Friday, quotes Susan Moeller, the University of Maryland journalism professor who led the study, as saying: "The President (Bush) sets the agenda, while reporters, constricted by arrangements with unnamed sources, do not sceptically scrutinize his statements."

Ms Moeller gives the press a poor grade, saying the public lacks suitable context to assess the claims about whether foreign powers are posing a threat with WMDs.

"It has been irresistible for policy-makers to use threats of WMD as powerful tools of public persuasion and as forceful rationales for policy initiatives," Ms Moeller says, adding that it has been equally irresistible for the media to report both the doomsayer arguments and the defence and security arguments verbatim."

The study examines coverage, among others issues, after the US Congress authorized the use of force against Iraq.

The US news outlets studied include the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, US News & World Report and National Public Radio.

"On the whole... the media failed the public," Ms Moeller concludes.