The National Interest onInternet News Sites

Bella ModyUniversity of Colorado Boulder

Linda HofschireIndependent Researcher

Presented at ICA May 09 ChicagoUpdated June 29 2009

High expectations of the internet

-to provide a global public sphere, -to emphasize our common humanity rather than parochial national interests-to promote cosmopolitanism

• Hypothesis:

news designed for extra-national audiences will cover civil war and humanitarian crises more comprehensively in terms of causes and remedies

Comprehensive coverage index

operationally defined to include• Time of coverage• Article type: coverage through features,

backgrounders, opinion columns in addition to hard news

• Quotes from non-traditional sources like rebels, non-governmental orgs, human rights monitors and refugees in addition to government officials

• Data from a 10-news org comparison of scores on an 11-item Comprehensive Coverage Index of the Darfur Sudan civil war over 26 months (Jan 03-Feb 05)

• Coverage on each of 11 dimensions was ranked from 10=high to 1=low

• Rank values across the 11 indicators were summed and divided by 110

• Comprehensive coverage scores: national print dailies Wash Post 73/110NY Times 70/110Guardian UK 65/110Le Monde 64/110Al Ahram 49/110People’s Daily 44/110Weighted mean score for national print dailies: 64.80

Comprehensive coverage scores for extra-national online news media

• Mail and Guardian Online S Africa 68/110BBC.CO.UK 66/110English.Al Jazeera.Net 59/110China Daily 53/110Weighted mean score for extra-nationally focused online news: 63.65

• A priori expectations of influences on comprehensiveness of foreign coverage:

-Current national interest in country being covered-Historical geopolitical location based on shared

experience of Western colonization in the 19th-20th century

-Ownership of media organization (any state role?)-Extra national versus national geopolitical

readership

• Comprehensive Coverage scores for all 10 news organizations based on National Interest in Sudan:

Low National Interest in Sudan: UK, France, US, South Africa: 68.11

Medium-High National Interest in Sudan: Qatar, Egypt, China: 52.42

t(958)=57.02, p<.001

• Comprehensive Coverage scores for all 10 news organizations based on shared historical experience of 19-20th century colonization by West:

No shared experience of 19th-20th century colonization by West: UK, France coverage : 68.13

Shared historical experience of shared colonization by West coverage: 58.61

t(958)=23.76, p<.001

• Comprehensive Coverage scores for all 10 news organizations based on state ownership of news org:

No state ownership: NYT, WP, Le Monde, M+Guardian South Africa : 68.78

State ownership: al Ahram, BBC.CO.UK, China Daily, Al Jazeera : 58.19

t(958)=28.79, p<.001

• Extra-national press weighted mean score on compreh coverage of humanitarian conflict: 63.65

• National press weighted mean score on

compreh coverage of humanitarian conflict: 64.80

t(958)=2.32, p<.05

• Relative impact of predictors on the comprehensiveness of coverage of this one civil war and humanitarian conflict:

Betas sig at p<.001• Private ownership 0.44• No Western colonization 0.37• Low national interest in Sudan 0.28

• Extra-national geo-political 0.20

market

• Findings- Coverage of humanitarian news varies

due to longstanding political and eco reasons mentioned frequently in the literature

- The state in which the news org is located continues to be a major influence

- The media platform (viz. the Internet) is one of many influences

• How should “global” media be defined?

-Based on audience? medium? Universal access?

-Based on political economy questions related to the news org owner and owner interests, e.g. the BBC vs. Al-Jazeera?

• Should predictions about coverage by “global” news orgs vary based on the nature of their claim to globalness?