FOREIGN NEWS COVERAGE IN U.S. NEWSMAGAZINES
FOREIGN NEWS COVERAGE IN U.S. NEWSMAGAZINES
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Date
1977
Authors
YUSUFU, ABBA
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Abstract
This investigation explored and analyzed the
coverage of foreign news events in Time, Newsweek, and
U.S. News & World Report in 1960 and 1970. It
specifically explored trends in 'attention' devoted to
various geopolitical regions of the world, and various
subject-matter and their related issues. Intermagazine
analysis showed no differences. However, cumulatively
the three newsmagazines revealed some concrete trends:
(1) Dominance of World, West European and Asian affairs,
and also of political/diplomatic, military/defense and
economic/business affairs during the two periods. (2)
Persistence of 'cold war' and 'cold war-related' themes
on the cover stories during the two periods. (3) At
the international level there was greater interaction
between developed countries and least interaction between
underdeveloped countries. (4) A generally narrow
dispersion of foreign news coverage: more about developed
and less about underdeveloped countries and (5) A
general decrease in the number of foreign stories, but
a small increase in space allocation. Explanations for
these trends were suggested from the data, extra-media
data and other conjectural sources: certain regions
and subject-matter dominated the coverage possibly because
of greater U.S. national interest in and/or
closer political-cultural affinity to those regions and
issues of events. 1960 being the edge of the climax
of the 'cold-war' period naturally demanded greater
attention to this theme, and 1970, though it saw the
thawing of the cold-war and the beginning of detente,
yet had some spillovers from the 'cold-war' period.
The third and fourth trends possibly reflected the
relative significance of various countries in international
politics. The fifth trend primarily reflected
the turning away from the multifarious concerns of
the 'cold-war' period to a concern with more detailed
analysis of events and issues. Possible consequences
of the trends on public opinion and foreign policy
were suggested and limited research recommendations
made.
Description
Presented to the Faculty of the Annenberg School of Communications in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of
Arts
• •*.
1977
On Behalf of the Faculty of the Annenberg School of Communications and
the University of Pennsylvania we Hereby Accept this Thesis
Keywords
FOREIGN,, COVERAGE,, U.S. NEWSMAGAZINES