Dispatches from the front : war reporting as news genre, with special reference to news flow

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During Gulf War II, the American government implemented new media policies which,due to their potentially manipulative impact, became a subject of concern to academics,social commentators and the media alike. Key to these policies was the Department ofDefense's Embedded Media Program which allowed hundreds of selected reporters toaccompany US forces to the war front. The US openly tried to win international supportfor the war, and critics felt that this policy was designed to saturate the media withreports supporting the American point of view. This study examines these policies, thehistory of war reporting as a separate news genre, as well as the fluctuating relationsbetween the US military and the media. Because of the US media policies, the fact thatonly one South African newspaper reporter was in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedomphase of the war and South African newspapers' consequent reliance on foreign newssources, there was a real possibility that the American position would be propagated inthe local press. To test whether this was the case, the way the war was reported on infour leading South African newspapers is examined in terms of gatekeeping,agendasetting and framing. Using an adapted version op Propp's fairytale analysis as astandard, it compares the slant and content of the South African coverage to the wayfour senior US government officials presented the war. Also, the coverage of thenewspapers is compared to one another. The analyses indicate that while most of theinformation published by the newspapers came from American sources, the newsreports generally did not mirror the US standpoint, but instead criticised President Bushand the war on Iraq. Neither the frequency of the newspapers, nor its culturalbackground showed any correlation with the way the war was depicted by the differentnewspapers. It is therefore concluded that while the US might have been successful intheir attempt to occupy the media territory in terms of sources cited, they were notable to sway the opinion of the South African press in their favour. However, the US isaware of these failures and plans to rectify the mistakes made in Gulf War II by meansof proactive global operations started in times of peace.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University