CHAPTER 9:
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
COVERAGE
Protests in the Arab Spring
The Foreign News Niche
News people commonly assume that the public is
interested primarily in what goes on in the U.S.
In a 2012 poll, 39 percent of the sample claimed to
watch international news most of the time.
Wire services are major sources of international
news.
Only a few news organization continue to specialize
in international news, including The New York
Times and CNN.
Foreign News on Network News
Foreign News Gatekeeping
In the past, specially trained, American journalists
supplied much of the foreign news in the U.S. press.
Today, foreigners now largely supply U.S. media with
news about their home countries.
This is cheaper but lacks the traditional U.S.
perspective.
Increasingly, these foreign correspondents are
nonprofessionals who are using websites and social
media to report observations.
Cultural Pressures
News always reflects the historical period and the
reporters backgrounds and experiences.
The journalists who gather news for mainstream U.S.
media must operate within the context of U.S.
politics and political culture.
Besides reflecting the U.S. value structure, stories
also must conform to established U.S. stereotypes.
The ready availability of contrary images on the
Internet may eventually make it more difficult to
maintain stereotypes.
Political Pressure
Overt and covert political pressures to publish or
suppress news stories play a greater role in foreign
news production than on the domestic scene.
Correspondents reporting from various regions of
the world often must do their host countrys bidding.
Many countries engage in heavy censorship.
Scores of countries have barred foreign reporters
entirely from entering or have expelled them after
entry.
Media Diplomacy
The Al Jazeera Effect the decline of the western
medias virtual monopoly on creating the political
images that shape world affairs.
The Internet introduces new avenues for different
perspectives.
Journalists occasionally take the initiative in serving
as go-betweens for hostile governments.
Gathering the News: The Beat
ABC
CBS
International news bureaus are vanishing
Latin America
Havana
Mexico City
London
Moscow
Rome
Baghdad
Islamabad
Kabul
Jerusalem
Beijing
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Nairobi
Totals: 13
Havana
Europe
London
Moscow
Bonn
Paris
Middle East
Baghdad
Islamabad
Kabul
Tel Aviv
Amman
Asia
Beijing
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Africa
Johannesburg
14
NBC
Havana
London
Moscow
Frankfurt
Baghdad
Cairo
Islamabad
Kabul
Tel Aviv
Tehran
Beijing
Hong Kong
Tokyo
13
Network Coverage of World Regions
MarchApril 2009
Region
Total number of
Stories with
Stories with link
stories
visuals
to United States
Middle East
56
(180)
28
39
Western
Europe
Asia
29
(14)
24
18
28
(8)
18
15
Africa
25
(2)
11
North
20
America
Latin America 8
(5)
13
(4)
Eastern
Europe
Caribbean
(4)
(0)
Australia
(0)
Source: Grabers research compiled from Vanderbilt Television News Archive data.
Criteria for Choosing Stories
Foreign news, like domestic news, is selected
primarily for audience appeal rather than for
political significance.
A focus on:
U.S. activities in foreign countries
Events that affect Americans directly in a major way
Relations of the United States with potentially hostile states
Government upheavals and leadership changes in friendly
states as well as activities of European royalty
Dramatic political conflicts
Disasters
Media and War in the Modern Age
After the Vietnam War, many observers believed that
fighting lengthy wars had become nearly impossible for
democratic societies in the age of full-color, battlefront
television.
As a response, many government began to restrict coverage
of wars. Complaints have caused the military to repeatedly
revise its rules.
In the U.S., recent efforts have been to train and embed
journalists in a way that they will smoothly fit into the
military unit. Stories written by embedded journalists are
subject to military censors.
The practice of embedding journalists have raised questions
of continued objectivity.
Coverage of War
Good frames for friends and bad frames for foes -Legacy media tend to cast U.S. policies in a favorable light.
Uncritical, flashlight coverage reporting of foreign
news usually lacks a sense of history and meaning of
successive events.
News distortions Just like domestic news, foreign news
often neglects major social and economic problems.
Overemphasis on conflict negative news is more
prevalent in the U.S. media than in the media of many
other societies.
Coverage of Foreign Affairs
Support of the Status Quo The media usually accept
official designations of who are friends and enemies of the
United States and interpret these friends and enemies
motives accordingly.
The Indexing Hypothesis The media generally
emphasize the governments positions until many respected
sources voice strong dissent.
The CNN Effect The belief that graphic media coverage
of events abroad on occasion forces the U.S. government to
engage in unplanned and undesired interventions.
