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.