The Media and International Affairs

For Wednesday: 

• Jan. 6 Comm. report, Appendix 4, (pp. 806-811), "Malign Foreign  Influence,"  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT-4-4.pdf

King Abdullah

English language news sources on Gaza:

• Al Jazeera
• Jerusalem Post
• Israel Press Office
• Palestine Media Room
• UN in Palestine

Problems of the 24-hour news cycle

 New York Times corrects its report of the Gaza blast:

Matthew Kendrick, Morning Consult 2022: 

When asked to find Ukraine on a blank map of Europe, only about 1 in 3 voters correctly located the country, slightly more than the 28 percent who were able to identify Iran on a map roughly two years ago in the wake of a U.S. strike on the Islamic Republic’s most powerful commander. Nearly 3 in 4 voters were able to find Russia on the map.

In 2020, only 28 percent could locate Iran. 

In 2017, only 36 percent could locate North Korea

Ditto knowledge of foreign leaders

Agrabah:  

• In 2013, 30 percent of Republicans favored bombing.
• And 44 percent of Democrats would accept its refugees.

Americans unsure of what is international and what is not. 

• In September 2017, only 54 percent knew that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
• They are not even sure about New Mexico.

Sources of bias in international news

• Affinity
• Foreign news sources: resources and ability
• Access
• "Flashlight" coverage

Foreign bureaus close.  Why?

• Basic economics
• Lack of audience interest
• Political pressure
• Language and access

LOOK CAREFULLY AT BYLINES!

A stringer us a freelancer but one who, rather than pitching ideas to a newspaper, magazine or other medium, is paid to do a specific job for various reasons. (See http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=Dealing_with_stringers.)

• Freelancers
• Stringers

Reuters:

Reuters, like many news organisations, uses freelance journalists to supplement its network of staff journalists. We use "stringers" in places where the flow of news is not sufficient to justify the presence of a staff correspondent, in countries where the authorities may not allow Reuters to assign a staff journalist or to cover stories of a specialist nature when we do not have the necessary expertise among our own staff. We also occasionally use ad-hoc stringers for individual stories and assignments. 

Embedded journalist (325-26 of 10th ed)

The Hazards of International Journalism

• Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists
• David Bloom (Pitzer `85)
• Lara Logan (unfortunate downward spiral)

Military Media Manual

Public relations and other countries