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Role of the U.S. press in regional conflicts

Role of the U.S. press in regional conflicts. “It is a mark of a democracy that its press is filled with bad news. When one comes to a country where the press is filled with good news, one can be pretty sure that the jails are filled with good men.”Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Impact Proximity

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Role of the U.S. press in regional conflicts

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  1. Role of the U.S. press in regional conflicts “It is a mark of a democracy that its press is filled with bad news. When one comes to a country where the press is filled with good news, one can be pretty sure that the jails are filled with good men.”Daniel Patrick Moynihan

  2. Impact Proximity Well known persons Human Interest Unusual event Independence Competition Audience interest Newshole Staffing News values selection in the U.S.

  3. Freedom to gather news • News flow in open societies • Highly developed media systems • Equipment • News? Or • Propaganda

  4. Associated Press---8,500 foreign subscribers in 112 countries • 480 foreign correspondents, 71 bureaus, “stringers” • Location of bureaus • Cost of broadcasting from abroad • Equipment • Satellite time, phones, cameras, video

  5. Big international stories • Iranian hostage crisis ‘81 • Beirut war in Lebanon 80’s • Arab-Israeli conflicts • Airplane hijack stories • Pan Am jet bombing • Tiananmen Square demonstrations • 90-91 Gulf War

  6. International stories • ‘89 Berlin Wall • ‘91 Soviet Union • ‘91 Rodney King • ‘94-95 OJ Simpson • Swiss Airliner Crash ‘96 • ‘97 Princess Di • ‘98 Clinton-Lewinski Scandal • ‘99 Kosovo

  7. Trends • Tabloidization and entertainment • Budget cutting at network level • Neglect of foreign news • Headline service concentrates on “crisis reporting” • “coups and earthquakes” syndrome • Americans uninformed on world events

  8. Difficulty in Gaining Access:Spies or Propagandists? • Iran-Iraq War • South Africa--’85--ousted the press • Lebanon--T. Anderson kidnapped ‘84-’91 • Algeria--49 killed--’93-’95 • Croatia, Bosnia--50 journ. killed-’91-’94 • Chechyna

  9. Issues re: U.S. international coverage • Too few bureaus and journalists in the right locations • Denial of visas, censorship, lack of access, harassment of reporters • Limitations and subjectivity of news reported for people far away • Sensitivity about negative coverage

  10. Ethnocentrism and racism • Proximity and American lives make a story for U.S. audiences • Reflection of our national concerns--our foreign policy • Emphasis on change--”the journalism of exception”

  11. Background of restrictions • Vietnam War-Press-military relations • Press had free rein in Vietnam • Military felt press contributed to defeat • Press felt that military lied, misled press • Falklands War provided new model • Grenada controls followed; press blamed White House for restrictions

  12. Reporting today’s wars • Persian Gulf War--42 days • CNN turned world into global community--world wide media event • “a real-time” war--”CNN effect” • CNN viewed in Baghdad, Riyadh, D.C • Combatants tried to control and manipulate the media

  13. Military briefings “Pools” of reporters Military escorts Military controlled news flow e.g. ‘smart bombs’ Rumors, speculation Huge audiences Public opinion supported the war Support for military censorship “not another Vietnam” Media manipulation during Gulf War

  14. Lessons for the press • Gov’ts at war will try to control & manipulate news • Report called mil. restrictions “censorship” • Somalia ‘92 • Haiti ‘94

  15. Supreme Court rulings • First Amendment right to inform • The right to be at “public events” • Duty to prevent gov’t from “deceiving people & sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.”

  16. CPJ Postmortem 1998 • 25 journalists murdered in line of duty • 118 journalists in prison for their work • Onerous new press laws • Explosion of violence against journalists in Sierra Leone, Congo and Colombia • 472 killed in past 10 years • World press freedom day May 3

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