Table Of Content

THEDETERMINANTSOFINTERNATIONALCOVERAGE INUS.TELEVISIONNEWS By GUYGOLAN ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTFIEDEGREEOF DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA 2003 Copyright2003 by GuyGolan TomyparentsDinaandAmnon. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writingadissertationisalongandmanytimesdifficultjourney. Thesuccessful completionofthisjourneywasdueinlargetothesupportandencouragementIreceived fromfourcommitteemembers. IwouldliketoacknowledgeDr.MarilynRobertswhoservedasmydissertation chair. Throughthegoodtimesandthebad,Marilynservedasawonderfulmentor,guide andafriend. Herresearchexpertisealongwithhergreatpeopleskillsandpatient guidancegreatlycontributednotonlytothisspecificdissertationbuttomyoverall successinmydoctoralstudies. Iwouldliketoacknowledgemyotherdissertationcochair.Dr.WayneWantawho hasforfouryearsnotonlyservedasmyacademicmentor,butalsoasaproductive researchpartnerandagreatfriend. Fromourfirstco-authoredconferencepaperuntilour mostrecentone,Waynegavemetheconfidencetosucceedinacademicresearchandfor thatIwillalwaysbegrateful. IwouldliketoacknowledgeDr.RalphLowensteinforhisgreatencouragement andsupportduringthedissertationprocess. Ralph’swarmpersonalityhelpedmeget throughthetougherdaysofthisdifficultprocess. Ralph’scompassionandcareforhis studentswillalwaysbesomethingIwilltrytoemulate. IwouldliketoacknowledgethegreatcontributionofDr.KenWald. Dr.Waldhas withoutadoubtservedasthemostactiveoutsidecommitteememberinuniversity history. Alwayswillingtoassist.Dr.Waldhaschallengedme,guidedmeandinspired IV meduringmyfouryearsattheUniversityofFlorida. Hetaughtmewhatthedifference betweenapoliticalprofessionalandapoliticalscientistwas. Hesetaveryhighacademic standardformeandthenshowedmehowtoreachit. Iwouldfinallyliketoacknowledgethegreatcontributionofafellowdoctoral studentnamedRyanBakkertothisdissertation. RyanalongwithhismentorDr.Jeff Gillgreatlyassistedmeinthemethodologicalsectionofthedissertation. Ryan’s personalityisararecombinationofamethodologicalgeniusandfriendlinessand willingnesstoassistothers. Hewillwithoutadoubtbeagreatassettoanyacademic institutethatwillhirehiminthefuture. V TABLEOFCONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv LISTOFTABLES ix ABSTRACT x CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 1 Newsselectionprocess 2 Event-orientedapproach 3 Contextualapproach 4 Purpose 5 Importanceofthestudy 6 Structureofpresentation 7 2 LITERATUREREVIEW 9 InternationalnewsonAmericantelevision 9 Gatekeeping 11 Newsworthiness 13 Newsworthiness:operationaldefinition 14 Investigatingthelinternationalnewsselectionprocess 17 Determinantsofinternationalnewscoverage 18 Event-orientedapproach 18 Deviance 19 RelevancetotheUnitedStates 21 Limitationsoftheevent-orientedapproach 22 Contextualapproach 23 Geography 24 Culturalaffinity 25 Religiousaffinity:Introductionofanewvariable 27 Hierarchyofanation 29 Identifyingtheproblem 31 Shoemaker,Danielian,andBrendlinger(1991) 33 Limitationsofthestudy 34 Currentstudy 36 VI 3 METHODOLOGY 37 Basicdesign 37 Independentvariables:Countrycharacteristics 40 Deviance 41 RelevancetotheUnitedStates 43 TradewiththeUnitedStates 43 Geographicdistance 43 U.S.foreignaid 44 U.S.privateinvestmentinanation 44 Culturalaffinity 45 TravelfromtheUnitedStatestoanation 45 Migration 45 Pressfreedom 46 Religiousaffinity 47 Religiouscomposition 47 Religiousdiversity 48 Positioninhierarchyofnations 49 Grossnationalproduct 50 Exports 50 Militaryexpenditure 51 Population 51 Geographicsize 52 Multivariateregression 52 3 RESULTS 55 Contentanalysis:Thedependentvariable 55 Poissonregression 58 Influentialcaseanalysis 60 Evaluatingthehypotheses 63 Evaluatingcoefficienteffects 67 4 DISCUSSION 70 Patternsincoverage 70 Instability 72 RelevancetotheUnitedStates 73 Cultural/religiousaffinity 76 Locationinhierarchyofnations 78 Summary 81 Contributiontofield 82 Contributiontoindustry 84 Limitations 85 Futureresearch 87 vii APPENDIX A OVERALLCOUNTRYCOVERAGE 90 B NATIONALDEFENSECOUNCILINSTABILITYDATA 95 C COOK’SDISTANCEPLOT 105 WORKSCITED 106 BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 112 viii LISTOFTABLES Table page 1. Countrycoverage:Top20countries 57 2. Coveragebyregion(top20countries) 58 3. Poissonmodel:NetworkandCNN(unstandardizedb,P-value) 59 4. Poissonmodel:excludinginfluentialcases:Networks(unstandardizedb, P-value) 61 5. Poissonmodel:Excludinginfluentialcases:CNN(Unstandardizedb,P-value)....62 6. Firstdifferencesscores:networks 68 A-1. Overallcountrycoverage 90 B-1. NationalDefenseCouncilinstabilititydata 95 IX AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillmentofthe RequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy TFEDETERMINANTSOFINTERNATIONALCOVERAGE INUS.TELEVISIONNEWS By GuyGolan May,2003 Chair; MarilynRoberts Cochair: WayneWanta MajorDepartment: MassCommunication Televisionnetworknewsprogramsserveasanimportantsourceofnewsaboutthe worldformostAmericans. Whilemanyinternationalnewsstoriesreceivecoverageon networknewsprograms,thevastmajorityofinternationaleventsdonot. Thecurrent studyinvestigateswhatcharacteristicsmakeacountrynewsworthytoAmericannetwork newsprograms. AcontentanalysisofeveryeveningnewsprogramoftheABC,CBS,NBCand CNNnetworksfrom1999revealsadisparityintheamountofcoveragethat190nations fromaroundtheworldreceivedfromthenetworks. Thecurrentstudyanalyzes190 nationsformorethanadozenvariablesthatpreviousresearchfoundtobehighly associatedwithcoverage. X