Examining the four newspapers with the highest daily circulation in the country ( '' The New York Times '' , '' The Los Angeles Times '' , '' The Wall Street Journal '' and '' USA Today '' ) a student group of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press , Politics and Public Policy found that newspapers " almost uniformly " characterized waterboarding as torture from the 1930s until the September 11 attacks , at which point a " significant and sudden shift " occurred . Between 2002-2008 , newspapers only seldom referred to waterboarding as torture . The group also noted the newspapers described waterboarding as torture far more frequently when it was performed by countries other than the United States
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Waterboarding