Western media

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Western media is the

developing countries (often, non-Western countries) around the world.[1]

History

The roots of the Western media can be traced back to the late 15th century, when

spread of the printing press, from which the publishing press derives its name.[2]

In Britain, newspapers developed during a period of political upheaval that challenged the absolute rule of the

British monarchy. In 1641, newspapers were allowed to publish domestic news for the first time.[3] Despite strict controls placed by the political elite on the print media to restrict the expansion of the press, the print industry continued to grow. By the late 18th century, over 10 million newspapers were distributed annually in Britain alone.[3]

Bosah Ebo writes that "during the

Radio Free Europe were established by the U.S. as counterpoints to the Communist-dominated news media in the Eastern Bloc.[5] Scholar James Schwoch writes, "Western-inspired television programming and development in Cold War Germany and Europe began as not so much a case of the unfettered free flow of information from West to East, but rather as a strong counterbalance preventing, or discouraging, the Soviet-sourced first flow of the European television landscape."[6]

During the

migrants from East Germany perceived Western media outlets to be more reliable than East German media outlets.[7]

Characteristics

New Left Review editor Tariq Ali asserts that "the notion of a free press in the Western media in the 20 century evolved as a counterpoint to the monopolistic State-owned model of erstwhile Soviet Union with the aim of showing its superiority by accommodating diversity of voices. In terms of what it published and what it showed, the Western media gained its peak during the Cold War era."[8]

Global coverage

In 2011, "The Protester" was named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine
  • Africa – A 1997 study found that the American newsmagazine Newsweek and the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel regularly reported on Africa issues, but that "most of the news comes from regions of conflict and can be regarded as crisis news."[9] The study found that "the ratio of crisis to non-crisis news" was more balanced in Newsweek than in Der Spiegel.[9]
  • which?][10]

Coverage of military conflicts

Criticism of the media coverage leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq has been acute.[11] One study examined every evening television news story related to Iraq on ABC, CBS, and NBC. The study found that "that news coverage conformed in some ways to the conventional wisdom: Bush administration officials were the most frequently quoted sources, the voices of anti-war groups and opposition Democrats were barely audible, and the overall thrust of coverage favored a pro-war perspective."[11] However, the study also found that "it is too facile to conclude that anti-war positions were completely marginalized. In contrast to the common critiques of media coverage, even as elites in the United States were not publicly sparring, journalists turned to foreign officials for the anti-war perspective."[11] The network media did commonly report "opposition from abroad—in particular, from Iraq and officials from countries such as France, who argued for a diplomatic solution to the standoff."[11]

coverage of the Syrian Civil War, arguing that it is overly favorable to the Syrian opposition and fails to take into account extremist elements within the opposition.[12]

Coverage of human rights

Coverage of global

Global North between 1985 and 2000. A regression analysis of human rights reporting by the newsmagazines The Economist and Newsweek found that "these two media sources cover abuses in human rights terms more frequently when they occur in countries with higher levels of state repression, economic development, population, and Amnesty International attention. There is also some evidence that political openness, number of battle-deaths, and civil societies affect coverage, although these effects were not robust."[13]

In 2008, an empirical analysis of the effects of "naming and shaming" of governments that are said to perpetrate human rights abuses (by media outlets as well as by governments and

nongovernmental organizations) found that "governments put in the global spotlight for violations often adopt better protections for political rights afterward, but they rarely stop or appear to lessen acts of terror." The study also found that "In a few places, global publicity is followed by more repression in the short term, exacerbating leaders' insecurity and prompting them to use terror, especially when armed opposition groups or elections threaten their monopoly on power."[14]

Ownership patterns

The

advertiser-supported virtually from the start."[16] The contrasting Western European model sees public media as "a representation of the national culture."[17]

Press freedom

Press Freedom Index scored the following countries the highest in 2018: Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Jamaica, Belgium, New Zealand, Denmark, and Costa Rica.[18] UNESCO reported in 2014 that "the freedom to publish in the 27 countries of the Western Europe and North America region has remained strong and widely upheld."[19]

Criticism

Main article: Anti-Western sentiment
See also:
The New York Times controversies

In the 1970s, some scholars in communications studies, such as Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Jeremy Tunstall and

Hindu nationalists in India, and the Chinese authorities have all pressed for restrictions on Western media in their respective nations, viewing it as a possible threat to Asian values.[20] Other scholars, such as Fred Fejes, Daniël Biltereyst and Hamid Naficy, have criticized the "media imperialism" theory, arguing that it unjustifiably relies on a "hypodermic needle model" of media effects, overstates the influences of media on the audience's behavior and views, and romanticizes "national culture" unduly.[20]

From Iran

See also: Press TV

From India

See also: Godi media

In 2015, Arnab Goswami, the former editor-in-chief of India's most popular English news channel Times Now, criticised the hegemony of Western media has ruined the balance of power that is required. He also supported his argument by citing that US and UK together contribute 74% of the source of global news, whereas all of Asia contributes only 3%. He said. "If I had to summarise that in one line, it basically says that Indians are the 'least insular people, most open-minded', 'Americans are the most insular people', but they have complete dominance over the global narrative in terms of news."[21][22]

In 2020, Reuters was conducting an investigation about a hack-for-hire company based in India.[23] The report originally contained a photo of Arvind Kumar, instead of the hacker Sumit Gupta of Belltrox. The story was primarily reported on by three journalists not based in Delhi. A fourth journalist in Delhi was credited with taking the photo of Kumar. Kumar, a businessman who owns Lasa Pharmaceuticals, showed proof of identity to ThePrint, who contacted Reuters. Reuters admitted to an error of mistaken identity caused by the businessman’s sharing of same address with the hacker and they removed photo.[24]

From China

See also:
CGTN

Following the Chinese

double standards on terrorism."[26]

From Russia

See also: RT (TV network)

Russian media and government often claims that Western media is biased against Russia.

rolling news channel in Britain, behind BBC News and Sky News).[30][31]

An article by Andrei P. Tsygankov on editorials in

Syria, and its poor human rights record.[27]

See also

References

  1. S2CID 154757214
    .
  2. doi:10.1191/0266355406gh380oa
    :

    At the same time, then as the printing press in the physical technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was now born.

  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0203869048
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  4. ^ Bosah Ebo, "Media Diplomacy and Foreign Policy: Toward a Theoretical Framework" in News Media and Foreign Relations: A Multifaceted Perspective (ed. Abbas Malek: Greenwood, 1997), pp. 48.
  5. ^ Melissa Feinberg (December 11, 2017). "Cold War propaganda: the truth belonged to no one country". Aeon.
  6. ISBN 9780252075698
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  7. ISBN 978-3110165005
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  8. ^ "Without free flow of information, there can be no serious democracy". The Hindu. July 10, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  9. ^
    doi:10.1080/02560054.1997.9653203
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  10. ISBN 978-0791439296
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  11. ^
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  12. ^ Abrahms, Max (October 30, 2017). "Syria's Extremist Opposition". Foreign Affairs.
  13. ^ Howard Ramos; James Ron; Oskar N. T. Thoms (July 2007). "Shaping the Northern Media's Human Rights Coverage, 1986–2000" (PDF). Journal of Peace Research (4).
  14. S2CID 154303864
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  15. ^ a b Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry & Jerry Goldman, The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America (Centgage: 9th ed. 2008), pp. 167-68.
  16. ^ Michael P. McCauley, "Introduction" in Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest (eds. Michael P. McCauley, Deedee Halleck, B. Lee Artz & Eric E. Peterson: M.E. Sharpe, 2003), p. 141.
  17. ^ Katarzyna Konarska, "Globalisation, Local Media Markets and the Media Regulatory Systems of the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Main Aspects" in Media, Power and Empowerment: Central and Eastern European Communication and Media Conference 2012 (eds. Tereza Pavlíčková & Irena Reifová: Conference Proceedings of the 5th Central and Eastern European Communication and Media Conference: Media, Power and Empowerment, Prague, Czech Republic, April 21–28, 2012).
  18. ^ "2018 World Press Freedom Index". Reporters Without Borders.
  19. ^ "World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Regional Overview of Western Europe and North America" (PDF). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Communication and Information Sector. 2014. p. 7.
  20. ^
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  21. ^ Arnab Goswami: Western media never questioned their narrative about Iraq's WMDs, Dec 10, 2015 "Arnab Goswami: Western media never questioned their narrative about Iraq's WMDs", Dec 10, 2015.
  22. ^ Youtube: Hegemony of Western media has to end, Dec 10, 2015 ["Youtube: Hegemony of Western media has to end"], Dec 10, 2015.
  23. ^ "Exclusive: Obscure Indian cyber firm spied on politicians, investors worldwide". Reuters. June 9, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  24. ^ Mihindukulasuriya, Regina (June 29, 2020). "Reuters goofs up, shows innocent Delhi man as wanted Indian hacker behind global spy racket". ThePrint. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  25. ^ a b Dawn, Yiqin Fu, "Chinese are angry at western media's portrayal of the Kunming attack, Dawn (March 5, 2014).
  26. ^ BBC News, Kunming, John Sudworth, Mar 3, 2014 "Shock and anger after Kunming brutality", March 3, 2014.
  27. ^ a b New East network expert panel, Is Western media coverage of the Ukraine crisis anti-Russian?, The Guardian (August 4, 2014).
  28. ^ Emma Daly (May 3, 2018). "Rising Hostility to Media Threatens Real Democracy". Human Rights Watch.
  29. ^ Julia Ioffe, What Is Russia Today?: The Kremlin's propaganda outlet has an identity crisis, Columbia Journalism Review (September/October 2010).
  30. ^ Oliver Bullough Inside Russia Today: counterweight to the mainstream media, or Putin's mouthpiece?, New Statesman, May 10, 2013.
  31. ^ Laughlin, Andrew, Jan 14, 2013 RT Russian news channel goes HD on Sky, Digital Spy.
  32. S2CID 146971401
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