Image of the Other and the Self in the American and British press during the Gulf Crisis and War (eBook)

Ingrid Deweweire (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
564 Seiten
Books on Demand (Verlag)
978-3-7583-8464-6 (ISBN)

Infos

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops on 2 August 1990 triggered a large-scale military operation conducted by Washington as well as a huge media campaign. This study seeks to compare the American press with the British press during the Gulf Crisis and War. The main objective is to examine the journalistic discourse of opinion as developed by newspapers belonging to the so-called quality press and deconstruct the ways in which this discourse was developed. This raises questions about the language adopted by editorialists and journalists and in particular about the way in which the Other - enemy and allies - and the Self - the USA and the UK - were described by the American daily papers, the New York Times and the Washington Post and the British daily papers, the Times and the Guardian and the Sunday newspapers, the Sunday Times and the Observer during the crisis and the war. The study is based on a comparative analysis of editorials, opinion articles and letters to the editor published in the selected newspapers in order to highlight subjects and themes in connection with the image of the Other and the Self and show the differences and similarities in the processing of information in both the American and British press.

After graduating as a teacher in Belgium, the author worked in the financial sector in Luxembourg before returning to teaching. She has a PhD in Foreign Languages and Literature.

Textauszug

Chapter I:
Presentation of the American press44

1.1 The features of the American press

“Congress shall make no law […] abridging the

freedom of speech, or of the press […]”.

First Amendment to the United States Constitution, 1791

The First Amendment to the Constitution gives the press the right to publish and freely inform the public. It is, as such, one of the cornerstones of American democracy.45 In accordance with the First Amendment to the Constitution, there is no order of journalists and no federal laws restricting their freedom. Journalists see themselves as the “guardians of democracy”. It is in this sense that the American press is often described as the Fourth Estate because of its influence.46 A tradition of independence of the press with regard to political power was born out of this First Amendment, as well as, according to Robert Chesnais, “freedom of tone that can go up to libel”.47 Even though it is a priori protected from government interference, the press is dependent on the laws of the market and in most cases depends economically on advertising revenues. Advertising accounts for three quarters of its source of income and also causes a steady increase in pagination.48

Despite its submission to economic pressures and its dependence on public taste the press is free to say, write and publish what it wants49 as long as journalists respect the law. Moreover, journalists themselves stress the need to respect fundamental values, such as responsibility, truth, impartiality, accuracy and honesty.50 The search for objectivity constitutes an ideal for the American press.51 Most American newspapers try to separate information from opinion. Events are reported in a few sentences at the beginning of an article before being subsequently broken down into an accumulation of data, which, for Michel Rezé and Ralph Bowen, gives “an impression of objectivity inasmuch as the event does not seem to be artificially reconstructed”.52

American newspapers are not subject to the federal licenses, unlike broadcast media.53 The American press is mostly a local press. Apart from USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, only a few major local newspapers, such as the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times and the Washington Post, have a national readership. Therefore, the newspapers that pay particular attention to local communities are mainly focused on local information and devote little space to international news.54 Besides quality newspapers there are tabloids, such as the Star and the National Enquirer, which favour sensational news.

In spite of the increased importance of and stiff competition from other broadcast media and television in particular, which have contributed to a decrease in the circulation of daily newspapers, about 64% of Americans read a newspaper regularly in the late 1980s,55 including the popular and voluminous Sunday edition whose circulation was higher than that of daily newspapers.

Although some major newspapers and magazines have considerable editorial staff, they cannot cover all topics and events. That is why newspapers frequently use the services of global agencies for general information, such as Reuters, Associated Press, Central Press Association and United Press International, as well as domestic suppliers, news services or agencies, i.e. “syndicates”.56 These news agencies, whose role is to provide information and opinion, are organizations specialized in gathering and delivering news to newspapers. Professional editorialists working for these syndicates are published in different newspapers, as for example in the New York Times or in a local newspaper, hence the risk of a certain uniformity of viewpoints expressed by the American press.57

Newspaper chains belonging to the same owner58 form another important feature of the American press. Some 380 of more than 1,500 dailies published in the United States were independent at the end of the 20th century.59 The others were owned by news groups. It is worth noting that more and more multimedia groups have taken control of newspapers and magazines, radio stations and television networks since the 1980s.60

No general survey of the American press would be complete without a reference to William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951),61 whose career provided the inspiration for the film Citizen Kane (1941) by Orson Welles. Another major figure in the history of the press in the U.S. is Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) who gave his name to a prize awarded by the School of Journalism of Columbia University in New York62 since 1917. These two iconic, competing figures of the media world in the U.S. founded their communication empires in the late 19th century by resorting to “yellow journalism”,63 or, in other words, tabloid journalism which publishes short news items to attract readers and increase circulation.

In conclusion, we should bear in mind that the American press is predominantly local. In accordance with the First Amendment to the Constitution it remains – at least in theory – independent of political power. Even though its mission is to inform and serve readers, the American press is subjected to the constraints of the market and advertising, the latter being its main source of income. Daily papers often rely on news agencies for their information. And yet freedom of tone and the search for impartiality characterize the press in the United States. Nonetheless, multimedia groups now control most American daily newspapers and hold a monopoly power which could restrict the freedom of the press. After the 1990s, the number of readers relying on newspapers as a main source of information declined as the Internet began to replace the traditional media thereby undercutting the business model of many newspapers at the same time.

What about the two American daily newspapers selected for this analysis? The New York Times and the Washington Post are both internationally recognized daily newspapers.64 They are characterized by the quality of their information and their independence. The choice of both dailies has also been motivated by their importance and influence in the United States.65 The New York Times and the Washington Post are indeed respectively ranked third and fifth among the major American newspapers.66

1.2 American dailies: The New York Times and the Washington Post

The Washington Post is read by people who think they are running

the government; The New York Times is read by people who think

they are running the country.67

The New York Times, described as independent and politically liberal,68 was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond in 1851.69 Although regional, this daily newspaper has an international readership70 and is distributed nationwide.71 Published in New York and often known as the “grey lady”,72 it has been awarded a large number of Pulitzer Prizes for the quality of its articles and journalists. “All the news that’s fit to print”73 appears in the New York Times which is considered as the newspaper of the elite.74 In 1990 its circulation reached 1,700,000 copies on Sundays and 1,100,000 the other days of the week.75 Every day the New York Times publishes a different column devoted, for example, to sports and leisure. Its numerous correspondents abroad have allowed the newspaper to set up a news service – the New York Times News Service – that distributes information which has been gathered by its network of numerous news agencies.

Its competitor, the Washington Post is a liberal daily newspaper,76 founded by Stilson Hutchins in 1877.77 It is published in Washington, and its investigative journalism has made its reputation. In 1994 more than 800,000 copies of the Washington Post were distributed every day and 1,000,000 on Sundays.78 The newspaper became world famous after the revelation of the Watergate scandal in 197279 by two of its journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Like the New York Times, many of its reporters have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Similarly, the Washington Post has numerous correspondents worldwide, which has allowed it to set up the News Service.80

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post generate most of their financial resources from their advertising revenues.81 Furthermore, both dailies are at the centre of press empires and multimedia groups thanks to the diversification of their activities. The New York Times and the Washington Post are read everywhere in the United States and cover all the news, whether national or international.

Moreover, in terms of similarity, it is interesting to mention the case of the Pentagon Papers published by both dailies in 1971 despite the objections...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.10.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Schlagworte: 1990-1991 • American and British press • Bush, Thatcher, Major • Dissertation • gulf war 1991 • Image of the Other and the Self • Thesis • War reporting
• ISBN-10: 3-7583-8464-8 / 3758384648
• ISBN-13: 978-3-7583-8464-6 / 9783758384646