Deck 10: Foreign Affairs Coverage

Question 1

Which type of news organization would be most likely to cover foreign affairs news?

A) blogs
B) talk radio
C) cable news
D) social media

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Indexing refers to which of the following?

A) the fact that that the media generally emphasize the government's positions until many respected sources voice strong dissent
B) foreign affairs correspondents' use of index cards to keep their notes in the field
C) journalists' use of call lists for their elite government sources
D) none of these

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT one of the pressures that shape foreign affairs news?

A) cultural pressures
B) political pressures
C) media diplomacy
D) economic pressures
E) All of these are pressures that shape foreign affairs news.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

The __________ is the belief that media coverage of foreign affairs has at times prompted political action by the government

A) Red Cross effect
B) Media Intervention effect
C) CNN effect
D) Amnesty International Media effect
E) None of these

Question 5

The Indexing effect suggests that political elites drive foreign affairs coverage; the CNN effect suggests foreign affairs coverage drives the decision making and behavior of political elites.

Question 6

Foreign affairs gets a lot more coverage than domestic politics from U.S. news outlets.

Question 7

Americans do not need to pay attention to foreign affairs news because they are highly attentive to international politics and relations.

Question 8

Foreign affairs stories rarely comprise even 20% of national news coverage.

Question 9

The economics of news have little to do with the volume of foreign affairs news from major U.S. outlets.

Question 10

Though many claim Americans are not interested in foreign affairs, some metrics reflect a more substantial audience for news on international affairs than these arguments suggest.

Question 11

Pressure for sensational coverage is even greater when covering foreign affairs.

Question 12

Though international news bureaus are on the decline generally, a few major outlets remain committed to keeping their international bureaus and the provision of coverage based on facts on the ground.

Question 13

Citizen journalists and bloggers are in a position to pick up some of the international reporting slack; the problem is that most are unlikely to reach mass audiences.

Question 14

Cultural and political factors rarely influence reporting; well-trained professional reporters from anywhere tell largely the same stories.

Question 15

Threats to foreign reporters around the world is on the rise, making global understanding of events around the world more difficult.

Question 16

Because terrorist events are sensational, they tend to receive a lot of coverage from U.S. outlets, no matter where they occur.

Question 17

International relations tend to color U.S. reporting of other places-friends and allies get good framing while enemies and antagonists get negative framing.

Question 18

What are some of the characteristics foreign news stories must have in order to "make the news"?

Question 19

Name some of the pressures that shape foreign affairs news.

Question 20

How do cultural pressures shape foreign affairs news?

Question 21

How do political pressures shape foreign affairs news?

Question 22

How do economic pressures shape foreign affairs news?

Question 23

What makes reporting on foreign affairs and/or war different from reporting on
domestic affairs? How are the sources different? How does the foreign affairs reporting we see look different than reporting on domestic issues? What are the implications for our current situation in Iraq or for democracy more generally?

Question 24

What are some of the hazards of coverage containing some of the common biases in foreign news? Specifically, what are the implications of "good frames for friends, bad frames for foes," emphasis on conflict, and uncritical flashlight coverage?

Question 25

Discuss the indexing hypothesis. What is indexing? How does it emerge? What are the implications of indexing for the information news consumers receive? How might journalists move beyond indexed coverage?