Overview

Wasburn compares U.S. commercial news reports on a wide variety of events with those produced by the news media of several other nations. The events include the Falklands War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Tiananmen Square Uprising, several political assassinations, major trade disputes between the U.S. and Japan, the Intifada, U.S. presidential nominating conventions and a presidential inauguration. Different patterns of coverage—amount of attention given an event, language used to describe an event, selection of particular occurrences to characterize an event, and descriptions of U.S. and international public opinion of the event—are shown to reflect different political, economic, and strategic interests of nations, historical contexts in which news was constructed, national differences in values that influence the production of news, and differences in historically specific relations between news media and the governments of their countries. Attention is given to contrasts between the national image of the United States constructed by U.S. commercial news media and the images of the United States produced by various foreign news media. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with political communication, journalism, political science, and political sociology.

Full Product Details

Author:   Philo C. Wasburn
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Praeger Publishers Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.20cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.462kg
ISBN:  

9780275978105

ISBN 10:   0275978109
Pages:   208
Publication Date:   30 November 2002
Recommended Age:   From 7 to 17 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction What Our News Media Say We're Talking about Us: The Social Construction of the United States by America's News Media We're Talking about Them: U.S. News Media Construction of Wars between Other Nations We're Talking about Them: U.S. News Media Construction of Other Nation's Internal Wars and Assassinations What Their News Media Say: Four Case Studies The U.S. as a Former Enemy: Russian National Television Construction of the U.S. After the Collapse of the Soviet Union The U.S. as a World Military Power: An Indonesian Newspaper's View of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf Crisis The U.S. as a World Economic Power: Radio Japan's View of the U.S. in International Trade Disputes The U.S. as a Friend-at-a-Distance: Views of the 1996 Presidential Nominating Conventions and the Presidential Inauguration on British, Canadian, and French Television Implication Reassessing Our News Media and Reassessing Our Understanding of Others and of Ourselves References Author Index Subject Index

Reviews

This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so. -Contemporary Sociology Philo Wasburn presents a lucid account of the nature and consequences of news and public information. -Contemporary Sociology The book's strength is its comparitive method. Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted framings of international events are peculiar to particular countries or media outlets, and how nations' unique histories and media systems influence coverage and shape public opinion....Because the writing is accessible to undergraduates, case study chapters could be used in courses on international communication, or media and politics. -Communication Research Trends Academics and other serious consumers of international news will find this discourse-centered analysis of journalistic practice very rewarding. The most important organizing concept in the book is that of the symbolic universe--an unexamined, uncontested, and taken-for-granted vision of the basic moral values and historical narratives that define the identities and presumed motivations of nations and their leaders, thereby explaining the meanings of newsworthy events....Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates and above. -Choice ?Philo Wasburn presents a lucid account of the nature and consequences of news and public information.?-Contemporary Sociology ?The book's strength is its comparitive method. Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted framings of international events are peculiar to particular countries or media outlets, and how nations' unique histories and media systems influence coverage and shape public opinion....Because the writing is accessible to undergraduates, case study chapters could be used in courses on international communication, or media and politics.?-Communication Research Trends ?This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so.?-Contemporary Sociology ?Academics and other serious consumers of international news will find this discourse-centered analysis of journalistic practice very rewarding. The most important organizing concept in the book is that of the symbolic universe--an unexamined, uncontested, and taken-for-granted vision of the basic moral values and historical narratives that define the identities and presumed motivations of nations and their leaders, thereby explaining the meanings of newsworthy events....Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates and above.?-Choice

This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so. -Contemporary Sociology Philo Wasburn presents a lucid account of the nature and consequences of news and public information. -Contemporary Sociology The book's strength is its comparitive method. Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted framings of international events are peculiar to particular countries or media outlets, and how nations' unique histories and media systems influence coverage and shape public opinion....Because the writing is accessible to undergraduates, case study chapters could be used in courses on international communication, or media and politics. -Communication Research Trends Academics and other serious consumers of international news will find this discourse-centered analysis of journalistic practice very rewarding. The most important organizing concept in the book is that of the symbolic universe--an unexamined, uncontested, and taken-for-granted vision of the basic moral values and historical narratives that define the identities and presumed motivations of nations and their leaders, thereby explaining the meanings of newsworthy events....Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates and above. -Choice ?The book's strength is its comparitive method. Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted framings of international events are peculiar to particular countries or media outlets, and how nations' unique histories and media systems influence coverage and shape public opinion....Because the writing is accessible to undergraduates, case study chapters could be used in courses on international communication, or media and politics.?-Communication Research Trends ?Philo Wasburn presents a lucid account of the nature and consequences of news and public information.?-Contemporary Sociology ?Academics and other serious consumers of international news will find this discourse-centered analysis of journalistic practice very rewarding. The most important organizing concept in the book is that of the symbolic universe--an unexamined, uncontested, and taken-for-granted vision of the basic moral values and historical narratives that define the identities and presumed motivations of nations and their leaders, thereby explaining the meanings of newsworthy events....Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates and above.?-Choice ?This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so.?-Contemporary Sociology

?This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so.?-Contemporary Sociology

This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so. -Contemporary Sociology Philo Wasburn presents a lucid account of the nature and consequences of news and public information. -Contemporary Sociology The book's strength is its comparitive method. Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted framings of international events are peculiar to particular countries or media outlets, and how nations' unique histories and media systems influence coverage and shape public opinion....Because the writing is accessible to undergraduates, case study chapters could be used in courses on international communication, or media and politics. -Communication Research Trends Academics and other serious consumers of international news will find this discourse-centered analysis of journalistic practice very rewarding. The most important organizing concept in the book is that of the symbolic universe--an unexamined, uncontested, and taken-for-granted vision of the basic moral values and historical narratives that define the identities and presumed motivations of nations and their leaders, thereby explaining the meanings of newsworthy events....Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates and above. -Choice ?Philo Wasburn presents a lucid account of the nature and consequences of news and public information.?-Contemporary Sociology ?The book's strength is its comparitive method. Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted framings of international events are peculiar to particular countries or media outlets, and how nations' unique histories and media systems influence coverage and shape public opinion....Because the writing is accessible to undergraduates, case study chapters could be used in courses on international communication, or media and politics.?-Communication Research Trends ?Academics and other serious consumers of international news will find this discourse-centered analysis of journalistic practice very rewarding. The most important organizing concept in the book is that of the symbolic universe--an unexamined, uncontested, and taken-for-granted vision of the basic moral values and historical narratives that define the identities and presumed motivations of nations and their leaders, thereby explaining the meanings of newsworthy events....Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates and above.?-Choice ?This quality work raises many questions. For example, we often hear that American audiences receive very little international news, and that this leads to ethnocentric views about the world. Ironically, Wasburn suggests, international news can also be distorting in its reflection of the audience's symbolic universe. Any news that does not do such mirroring may not be accepted as relevant to the audience. Another concern is whether these findings, like numorous other studies of the mass media, could inform jounalists and policymakers. It is time for jounalists to pay attention to decades of research delineating how news routines are creating reality that clouds audience's understanding of international relations. Perhaps awareness of ethnocentric reporting would encourage journalists to talk with researchers. We should surely hope so.?-Contemporary Sociology

Author Information

PHILO C. WASBURN is Professor of Sociology at Purdue University. He is the author of Political Sociology: Approaches, Concepts, Hypotheses and Broadcast Propaganda: International Radio Broadcasting and the Construction of Political Reality (Praeger, 1992).

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