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O, Say, Can You Read? U.S. and Brazilian Online News and Print Media Coverage
of U.S. Military Involvement in Post-war Iraq[1]
by
Tania H. Cantrell
Graduate Student
The University of Texas at Austin
School of Journalism
1 University Station A1000
Austin, TX 78712
(Cell) 512-203-6400
(Fax) 512-471-7979
[log in to unmask]
ABSTRACT
This exploratory analysis considers U.S. and Brazilian online
newspaper along with U.S. and Brazilian print magazine coverage of
the time period marking the one-year anniversary of the War in
Iraq. Using a Narrative Paradigm Theory approach, the U.S. themes of
Reverence for the U.S. Dead, the American Value of Persistence and
Rebuilding Iraq emerge, while the Brazilian topics of Reverence for
Life, Powerful Language and Attitude Toward Pres. Bush surface.
Recommendations include the call for a greater evaluation of press
freedom within the global public sphere.
Submitted to the International Communication Division, Markham Competition, of
the AEJMC National Convention,
San Antonio, Texas, August 2005
O, Say, Can You Read? U.S. and Brazilian Online News and Print Media Coverage
of U.S. Military Involvement in Post-war Iraq[2]
ABSTRACT
This exploratory analysis considers U.S. and Brazilian online
newspaper along with U.S. and Brazilian print magazine coverage of
the time period marking the one-year anniversary of the War in
Iraq. Using a Narrative Paradigm Theory approach, the U.S. themes of
Reverence for the U.S. Dead, the American Value of Persistence and
Rebuilding Iraq emerge, while the Brazilian topics of Reverence for
Life, Powerful Language and Attitude Toward Pres. Bush surface.
Recommendations include the call for a greater evaluation of press
freedom within the global public sphere.
Submitted to the International Communication Division, Markham Competition, of
the AEJMC National Convention,
San Antonio, Texas, August 2005
U.S. media propagation of American themes is dangerous. "The threat
derives not so much from their embodiment of the 'American Way of
Life', as that of the 'American Dream of Life'. It is the manner in
which the U.S. dreams and redeems itself, and then imposes the danger
for the dependent countries. It forces us… to see ourselves as they see us…"
(Dorfman and Mattelart, 1975, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 95)
"If the United States were to look at itself in one of those
image-distorting mirrors, it might see Brazil staring back at it from
the glass."
(Kelly, K. J. (1992, Nov/Dec). Hello Brazil: Is South America
today a reflection of North America tomorrow? Utne Reader, 54, pp. 50.)
Introduction
This study explores two nations' news coverage, that of the United
States and Brazil, of an international event, the War in Iraq[3]
during a time period marking the Coalition Forces' one-year
anniversary[4] in the Middle East. United States' and Brazilian
coverage are highlighted for a number of stipulations. The primary
reason is the absence of a leading Latin American voice in the
international conversation concerning the United States' and Great
Britain's coordinated movement into and involvement with the
reshaping of Iraq since early 2003.
Other stipulations cascade from this initial consideration. One taps
into U.S.-Latin American relations. In the tri-border area where
Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet, a significant Arab population
with Arab extremists thought to have ties with Osama bin Laden and Al
Qaeda exists[5]. The Bush administration's redefinition of terrorism
– "as a catch-all concept that includes guerrilla warfare,
paramilitary activities, narcotics production and trafficking,
illegal migration, arms and human trafficking, and money
laundering"[6] – would give credence to how a
potentially-invadable[7] country and its media report on the war on
terror. Another ties in to an attempt to reveal national media bias
about the war through the direct or indirect relationship each nation
has to the war; the United States is the co-leader of the Coalition
Forces, and Brazil is a non-Coalition nation.
In addition, the United States and Brazil share similar colonization
histories, have historically struggled with issues of race and class,
and both, using the terms semi-loosely, are democracies with free
presses, among other points. A fourth considers the question of
global journalism[8], or a "common journalistic culture"[9]. This
implies that citizens of varying nations rely on similar
international news media storytelling[10] structures and reporting
routines[11] to gain information, particularly international information.
Summarily, this study will explore the overarching question:
How are nations – namely, the United States, the leader of the
Coalition Forces, and Brazil, a non-Coalition, democratic country
-- telling the story of U.S. involvement in Iraq?
More particularly,
RQ#1: How is the U.S. news media – namely the New York Times and Time –
telling the story of U.S. involvement in post-war Iraq?
RQ#2: How is the Brazilian news media - namely O Folha de São Paulo and Veja
– telling the story of U.S. involvement in post-war Iraq?
RQ#3: How do the two nations' stories compare?
Narrative Paradigm Theory grounds this study.
Theoretical Context and Literature Overview
Narrative Paradigm Theory (NPT)[12] is, arguably, a general
communication theory that grew out of Walter Fisher's work in the
early 1970s at the University of Southern California, where he
posited that all forms of communication are best viewed as stories
shaped by history, culture and character. Fisher's theory has
numerous dimensions, incorporating individual (via
storyteller/originator/author and storyhearer/receiver/co-author
considerations)[13], organizational and/or societal (as per the
story's place of presentation, or the placement, setting or location
of the community in which a story takes place or occurs
symbolically), even routinized (perhaps the constancy with and manner
in which stories are recited) levels of story context, process and
evaluation[14].
In a media application, Fisher's "stories" are news. In that
"everyone [regardless of race, class, gender, ethnicity, etc.] needs
news," and that all, through the sharing of stories are "daily
newsmakers," extra responsibility for transmission of stories across
space and time belongs to journalists[15]. "News is thus the result
of this invariant need for accounts of the unobserved [such as war
reports from distant lands], this capacity for filling in others [via
the media], and the production of work of those in the media
[storytelling journalists]"[16].
NPT focuses uniquely on journalists' stories and their messages,
claiming that stories can be evaluated based on their narrative
coherence, or their internal and external consistency, and their
narrative fidelity, or their ability to resonate with the ideal
audience[17], a time-less and territory-less permanent public that
believes in values of truth, good, beauty, etc. It also requires a
unique setting for story transmission and reception: an open
democratic society, or a community of people existing within a free
society who willingly and naturally examine ideas.
Many elements influence which stories are "cited" and "recited", or
placed in print for greater permanence, and which ones the media
choose to report on as well as how they present them. Access to
information is a factor, as are other national and international
politics, economic considerations, cultural implications, individual
dispositions – specifically those of the reporters, time and space,
etc. In the end, how the facts of these narratives are arranged is
the individual reporter's decision. Ultimately, it is a process of framing.
Media frames, largely unspoken and unacknowledged, organize the world both
for journalists who report it and, in some important degree, for us who rely on
their reports. Media frames are persistent patterns of cognition,
interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and
exclusion, by which symbol-handlers routinely organize discourse,
whether verbal or visual. Frames enable journalists to process large
amounts of information…: to recognize it as information, to assign it
to cognitive categories, and to package it for efficient relay to
their audiences.[18]
Incorporating framing into the first tenet of NPT – narrative
coherence, or how the story hangs together – allows a focused
interpretation on the text of the newspaper and/or newsmagazine
article through a narrative or textual analysis to deduce common
story themes across media and culture. This is crucial to this study
and to the development of NPT. While NPT has been used to explain
the power of narrations in such instances as presidential speeches
and political party platforms, history texts, plays,
physician-patient interviews[19], the assessment of movies, the
coverage of terrorist bombings and indigenous peoples, organizational
culture[20], among other topics, it is important to note, that no
known examples of NPT application to cross-cultural media examples
exist. Researchers have compared, for example, newsmagazines across
various countries to understand how national and international news
have been covered, finding no support for the traditional East-West
or North-South news relationship definition[21]. Other researchers
have discussed how Iraqi War stories have been covered
internationally, noting that foreign presses have covered the war
better, evading the emotion and opinion prevalent in U.S. media as
well as using more and a greater variety of sources in their
stories[22]. Others have even considered the sources of the New York
Times, noting the unreliability of second-hand sources but citing
that the New York Times' number of international news items has
decreased; U.S. citizens are getting less and less international news[23].
But direct applications of NPT lack. It is, therefore, hoped that
not only will this study create/add to the literature connecting NPT
with media studies, but also that it will provide a new perspective
by which to consider international print media coverage.
Methodology
A simple clip file analysis tracking one day per week coverage of a
similar newspaper report and weekly newsmagazine article was
conducted. The two papers are New York Times, from the United
States, and A Folha de São Paulo (http://www.folha.uol.com.br/), the
Brazilian daily. The two magazines include the U.S. weekly Time and
the Brazilian weekly Veja. These two newspapers and magazines have
been chosen because of their similarities within their host
countries; for example, by content considerations and professional
judgment, each is to each nation as the other is to its.
Generally speaking, clippings were purposively, or non-randomly[24],
extracted from the Times and Folha sites and Time and Veja hard
copies during the period of Wednesday, Feb. 2 – Wednesday, April 28,
2004. This time expanse roughly equals the one-year anniversary of
the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein and his regime. In an
attempt to make a comparison among articles, only stories fairly
similar in nature, or addressing similar occurrences, and more
news-based were chosen. On some days (Feb, 4, 2004, Feb. 11, 2004,
for example), the Times did not have any Wednesday War in Iraq
stories[25]. In total, 22 newspaper (9 NYT, 13 Folha[26]) and 16
magazine (8 Time, 8 Veja[27]) articles were collected.
Analysis of U.S. and Brazilian news media stories on the Iraqi war
employed a mixed holistic-categorical content methodology[28]. This
means stories were first read and analyzed according to date
selection, newspaper, headline, byline, dateline, approximate length,
the sources quoted and general article tone toward the United
States. Then, articles were read to see what themes generally
emerged from the story content. Elements from the reports were used
as evidence to substantiate the categories, or themes.
This methodology focuses on the text, relying on routinized,
professionalized methods of news reporting[29] as some basis for
cross-cultural story comparisons, rather than considering either
storyteller (journalist) intentions or storyhearer (audience)
implications. A focus on structure, or consistent media routines,
rather than individual journalist or audience biases, allows for a
more macro level of journalistic interpretation[30].
Again, the main questions[31] guiding this study include:
RQ#1: How is the U.S. news media – namely the New York Times and
Time – telling
the story of U.S. involvement in post-war Iraq?
RQ#2: How is the Brazilian news media - namely O Folha de São Paulo
and Veja – telling the story of U.S. involvement in post-war Iraq?
RQ#3: How do the two stories compare?
Results
Several themes emerged from U.S. and Brazilian coverage in the war
in Iraq. In response to the research questions, this section first
presents The U.S.-Made Story, followed by the Brazilian-Made Story,
and concludes with a comparison between the two.
U.S.-Made Story
Reading through both the selected NYT newspaper and Time news
magazine articles revealed three noteworthy themes from among U.S.
media stories: Reverence for the U.S. Dead; American Values ~
Persistence; and Rebuilding Iraq.
Reverence for the U.S. Dead
This theme trisected into three sub-categories: U.S. death
announcements, U.S. fatality and/or casualty reporting and U.S. heroism.
Regarding U.S death announcements, adjacent to many of the articles
purposively selected was a link to "Names of the Dead." Following
the link revealed the running tally of only U.S. military-associated
persons killed the previous day in Iraq and/or a location of fighting
in the War on Terror. Their names and identification (age, rank,
military division (army, etc.), hometown and military unit) were also
listed. For example,
"The Department of Defense has identified 564 American service members who
have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the death
of the following
Americans yesterday…[italics added by author]"[32]
Fatality and/or casualty reporting also focused primarily on U.S.
associations. For example, one article leads with,
A suicide bombing on Tuesday outside the house of a police chief killed the
attacker and wounded seven others.[33]
No reference is made to the citizenship of any of the victims. The
next paragraph reads, though,
In other violence, an American soldier died in a bomb explosion, and Spanish
soldiers and Iraqi police officers put down a protest by job seekers
[italics added
by author].[34]
Although the second paragraph does call attention to Spanish action,
the story focuses on American involvement and the American
death. The three paragraphs that follow list and explain separate
attacks – some deadly -- against American soldiers. Only about
two-thirds of the way into the article does the reader implicitly
learn that the persons in the lead were probably Iraqi:
A police major, Ali Jawad, said guards outside the house of Brig. Gen. Qeis
Hamza, Hillah's police chief, fired at the car when they saw it speeding…
Four of the wounded were guards and the three others were residents of nearby
houses, Major Jawad said.[35]
Other articles report non-U.S. deaths and injuries, but they remain
centered on U.S. fatalities. For example, another article begins,
Two European engineers were shot to death…[36]
Following a brief summary of the deadly drive-by attack, the next
paragraph reads,
The attack came less than 24 hours after a group of American missionaries were
shot in their car [italics added by author].[37]
Print media coverage about the U.S. dead also suggested U.S. heroism.
One particular article gave an in-depth background to the lives of
four former-U.S. military civilians to contextualize their deaths. It ended,
"He was a soldier and a warrior."
The gruesome deaths of Teague and his colleagues on the road to Fallujah made
one thing clear above all: for their former brethren in the U.S.
military, there are
still battles to fight.[38]
In brief, through only U.S. death tallies, a constant tie to U.S.
fatality and casualty reporting, and hints of U.S heroism, U.S. print
coverage predominantly reverences the U.S. dead and wounded.
Regarding Coalition member fatalities, civilian casualties, and other
war dead or afflicted, information lacks. The last element of this
finding – the notion of heroism –blends this section with a second
theme that surfaced, American Values.
American Values ~ Persistence
The strongest U.S. value that stood out from among the U.S. print
media examples was the U.S. ideal of persistence, of seeing a course
through. The following citation clearly presents this:
President Bush vowed on Tuesday night that the United States would not bow to
the surge of violence in Iraq, saying that to change course in the
face of mounting
attacks would betray the Iraqi people and embolden America's enemies around
the world…
Seeking to tamp down concern that Iraq is spinning out of control,
Mr. Bush said
he would provide the military with whatever forces it needed to quell the
insurgency and come up with whatever money is necessary…[italics added by the
author][39]
This notion of commitment is reinforced through other press
stories. In one, the plan to prepare and send fresh troops to Iraq
is discussed with relation to increased violence in Iraq.
The Pentagon has drawn up new plans to send fresh troops quickly to Iraq in
case it decides it must keep 135,000 or more American soldiers deployed beyond
July, senior officials said Tuesday…
Their revised assessment came as new violence flared in Iraq, even as American
forces opened up the battered Sunni insurgent stronghold of Falluja
so residents
could return on the first day of a truce…[italics added by author][40]
The print media further suggests persistence to a successful
end. For example, one article explores three ways for President Bush
and the United States to win in Iraq: send in more troops, delay the
handover, and declare mission accomplished and leave[41]. In
addition, staying on course should produce a win-win situation for
Ira q as well as the United States. Pres. Bush was quoted saying,
"A free Iraq will confirm to a watching world that America's word,
once given,
can be relied upon even in the toughest times [italics added by author]."[42]
In short, at least one U.S. value that rises from the U.S. media
story of the Iraqi War coverage is the American value of persistence,
especially in accomplishing a military mission. Another is part of
what that overall mission entails.
Rebuilding Iraq
According to how the U.S. public was informed, part of the United
States' intentions in Iraq was not only to oust Saddam Hussein, but
also to rebuild a new, democratic Middle Eastern society. Several
articles highlighted the good (Iraqi independence, for example) and
bad (costly U.S. investment, for instance) associated with
reconstructing a "headless" nation.
For instance, regarding the good for Iraq, one article in particular
reported specific stories and efforts to train Iraqi Civil Defense forces:
…[T]he marines of the Third Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Fourth
Marines – which calls itself the Dirty Third – were waiting to begin
training the
Iraqis Tuesday morning…[43]
U.S. motivations in providing training to the Iraqis aimed for a
security architecture that would be prepared to handle a transfer of
sovereignty from U.S.-led Coalition Forces to the to-be Iraqi
government in July 2004[44].
These and other examples of the "good" associated with rebuilding
Iraq are far overshadowed by the quantity and severity of the "bad"
-- primarily the cost of U.S. military and civilian lives, as pointed
out in the first section ("Reverence for the U.S. Dead"). Additional
"bad" surfaced through reports on the enormous U.S. military monetary
commitment, lack of certainty regarding length and numbers of troop
deployments[45], and considerations for exiting the Iraq
situation[46]. Missing accounts of additional positive U.S. efforts
to help with the reconstruction of Iraq indicate a U.S. media bias
away from positive postwar U.S. involvement in Iraq.
To summarize, an analysis of sampled NYT and Time news articles
indicate that at least three themes surfaced from the U.S. media
storytelling of the one-year anniversary time period of U.S.-led
Coalition force involvement in Iraq. Those topics included Reverence
For the U.S. Dead, the American Value of Persistence and Rebuilding
Iraq. What of the Brazilian perspective?
The Brazilian-Made Story
In reading through the Brazilian material, a number of themes also
stand out. The most noteworthy are the Reverence for Life, the Power
of Language, and Attitude toward President Bush. Evidence from both
the Folha and Veja accounts connect these themes, reinforcing them
and, therefore, presenting them as truths to the audience[47].
Reverence for Life, or Not
Brazilian print media report the deaths, from the selected articles,
not only of U.S. military men and women who have lost their lives in
Iraq, but also servicemen and servicewomen who form the Coalition Forces.
One account is particularly telling:
Nesta quarta-feira, batalhas entre guerrilhas xiitas e membros da coalizão
continuaram acontecendo em várias frentes. Os confrontos já causaram a morte
de mais de 30 soldados da coalizão e 160 iraquianos em apenas três
dias, segunda
informações do Pentágono.
[Translated: This Wednesday, battles between Shiite guerrillas and Coalition
members continued on various fronts. The engagements have already caused the
death of more than 30 Coalition soldiers and 160 Iraqis in just three days,
according to information from the Pentagon.][48]
It is particularly interesting to note the number of Iraqi deaths
associated with Coalition fighting in addition to the number of
Coalition member lives lost. In other accounts, how deaths were
reported was also of note. For example,
Imagens da agência de notícias Associated Press mostraram um homem
espancando um cadaver com uma barra de ferro. Em outra imagens, rebeldes
aparecem amarrando uma corda no corpo de uma das vítimas, que foi arrastada
pelas ruas da região, puxada por um veículo. Ainda segundo correspondentes da
Associated Press, dois corpos foram atirados de cima de uma ponte.
[Translated: Agency images from Associated Press news showed a man beating a
cadaver with an iron rod. In other images, rebels appeared tying a
cord on a body
of one of the female victims, that was dragged through the streets of
the region,
pulled by a car. Still according to Associated Press correspondents,
two bodies
were taken from on top of a bridge.][49]
The report of the female victim, for some reason, is particularly disturbing.
In summary, Brazilian news media reported deaths, regardless of
nationality, and, in many instances, graphically. They paid no more
attention to one nation than another, thereby reverencing all the
dead, but desecrating the faceless and identity-less victims through
accurate accounts of how bodies were treated. Their language in
doing so was powerful, creating bloody mental images, but their
language was also strong in other regards as well.
Powerful Language
In addition to verbally depicting harsh death scenes, the Brazilian
reports are also very clear in their writing on political
issues. One citation in particular blends the last theme with this
one. After describing how "(translated) four American civilians were
attacked, assassinated and mutilated the week before"[50], Brazilian
news continued, reporting,
Al-Sadr, 30, contrário à presença Americana no Iraque, vem tentando
persuadir os
xiitas a incrementar os ataques contra a coalizão e angariar novos membros que
possam aderir à "luta anti-EUA".
[Translated: Al-Sadr, 30, to the contrary of the American presence in Iraq,
continues trying to persuade the Shiites to increase attacks against
the Coalition
and recruit new members who can unite with the "fight against the
United States
of America[italics added]."[51]
The Portuguese expression "luta contra os EUA" cannot be disregarded
or watered-down as anything but very anti-United States sentiment.
Returning to the power of the language in describing the deaths,
Veja stories (see March 17's "Todos Querem Ser Al Qaeda (Everyone
Wants to be Al Qaeda)"[52], for example) surrounding the Shiite
clerics, against whom the United States and Coalition Forces have had
many fights, are noteworthy for their particularly vivid
accounts. This researcher felt the need for a stronger stomach in
reading through them.
Brazilian reports use powerful language to create strong mental
pictures and to express certain political views. This idea blends
into a third theme that arose from a textual analysis of Brazilian
news media stories concerning U.S. post-war involvement in Iraq, that
of the Brazilian attitude towards U.S. President Bush.
Attitude Towards President Bush
It is not uncommon knowledge that politically speaking, Brazil does
not care for the United States, nor President Bush and his
policies[53]. A more thorough commentary on this topic is beyond the
scope of this paper. However, with this knowledge, it is interesting
to note the theme that emerged from these articles in this regard.
The title of the March 10 Veja article just about says it all – "É
Ele (Kerry) o Anti-Bush (Translated: Is He (Kerry) the
Anti-Bush?)" Although his title, especially in a land predominantly
Catholic, can give a Saviouristic-quality to President Bush and pit
Kerry against him, obviously defining him, in four words or less, as
the devil, understanding of national sentiment towards Bush as well
as the lead paragraph dismisses this notion:
Ele é o homen pelo qual o mundo esperava: John Forbes Kerry, o anti-Bush. Na
terça-feira passada, o Partido Democrata sacramentou sua candidatura à
presidência dos Estados Unidos. A tradição política que Kerry
representa em seu
país, sua sofisticação pessoal e a promessa de recolocar a política externa da
superpotência nos trilhos do multilateralismo sinalizam colossal mudança em
relação ao governo de George W. Bush. Essa configuração explica por que a
candidatura do senador de Massachusetts tem a simpatia dos países da Europa –
aliados que o atual presidente tratou com maus modos – e tambèm da diplomacia
brasiliera…
[Translation: He is the man for whom the world has been waiting: John Forbes
Kerry, the anti-Bush. Last Tuesday, the Democratic Party sacramented his
candidacy to the presidency of the United States. The political
tradition that
Kerry represents in his nation, his personal sophistication and the promise of
replacing the superpower's external politics on the trails of
multilaterism signals
colossal changes in relation to the government of George W. Bush. This
configuration explains why the candidate, a senator from
Massachusetts, has the
sympathy of the European nations – allies who the current president
maltreated –
and also that from Brazilian diplomacy. [Italics added by author.][54]
The article goes on to compare both Kerry's and Bush's official
accomplishments, pitting how each will handle, for example, the War
on Terrorism, the global anti-Americanism, the U.S. economy, even how
each will act towards Brazil, favoring Kerry's proposals.
In other stories, anti-Bush sentiment is not so strong; rather, most
information from the White House appears statement-driven (as in the
reporter had rewritten a press release that had come over the wires,
or heard and/or attended a press conference – all being very
controlled situations). However, it is clear from this example what
Brazilian media's attitude toward President Bush and the U.S.
involvement in Iraq is.
The Comparison ~ U.S. and Brazilian News Media Stories about the
Post-War Involvement
Comparison of the major themes surfacing from a textual analysis of
how the U.S. and Brazilian media have addressed the U.S.-led Iraqi
War reveals two main points. One concerns casualty reports. Another
distinguisher can be grouped as "sources and information."
One of the strongest differences between U.S. and Brazilian coverage
of the one-year anniversary time period was the casualty reports.
Brazil always gave not only a more complete picture of who was dying,
but also a more graphic one. This indicates a strong U.S. bias –
perhaps even a sanitizing - in the reporting of U.S. deaths, even
though many "friends" fought with the United States in
Iraq. Additionally, U.S. print media focused substantially on U.S.
costs – American dead, American wounded, American financial
investments, etc. At least in this sense, and echoing what another
NPT study has found, foreign, or, in this case, Brazilian media
provide more encompassing, or better international, coverage.
A second element differentiates, yet also unifies, U.S. and Brazilian
media coverage. The coverage diverges when considering who was
authoring the two nations' media coverage. By far, U.S. media had
more individual journalist bylines. This is probably because of the
large foreign correspondent population various U.S. news
organizations employ, not to mention the "pretended" media access
U.S. war reporters were given by the U.S. military[55]. Taking this
"access" into account, this researcher was surprised by the lack of
more direct quotes within U.S. coverage. Brazilian media's reliance
on government sources such as press releases, even wire reports, as
mentioned previously, did not seem unusual.
U.S. and Brazilian coverage converge, though, in relation to the
similarity of information presented within stories. Although all
media normally had a variety of sources to substantiate their
stories, it became obvious that many sources, regardless of the
language barrier, were similar. This held consistent even though
Brazil relied heavily on the French Wire Press in Washington for its
coverage, whereas the United States, generally speaking, had a
particular foreign correspondent to cover any given story. Taking
this into consideration, similarities in the information presented
echoed, allowing both sources' accounts to resonate or "ring true."
At the same time, and wedging U.S. and Brazilian coverage apart
again, tones of the articles differed. Generally speaking, and
probably not surprising, when judging articles in their entirety,
Brazilian coverage is more negative in tone towards the United States
than the United States is towards itself. That many U.S. reporters
were "embedded" with the U.S. troops may explain this seeming lack of
objectivity[56].
Limitations
As with any study, this analysis is not free from error. Several
key limitations are inherent to the study. One is the qualitative
approach; a nonparametric sample prevents generalizability. However,
while quantitative research permits more breadth, qualitative
research allows more depth, which has been the goal of this
exploratory study. Quantitative methodological additions that could
have strengthened the findings, though, include a general comparison
of word count (language barriers blur this somewhat, but count seems
more dependable than "inches," especially in the online environment)
and a consideration of article placement or prominence, again taking
online differences into consideration.
Another consideration is theoretical; a number of ways could have
been used to dissect the articles and to have substantiated or
evidenced the themes. Is there, however, an international media
theory more applicable to cross-cultural studies? More research
developing international theories, incorporating Northern and
Southern as well as Eastern and Western perspectives, needs to be addressed.
Coder bias needs to be considered as well. The researcher is a
female, Caucasian, U.S. citizen. Although she has lived almost the
majority of her life outside the United States, including a number
years in Brazil, she was raised as a U.S. military officer's
daughter. Inherent ethnocentrism may have clouded some
interpretation, but it is hoped that her international experience
raises her sensitivity to international interpretation.
Discussion
Studying two nation's news media coverage of U.S. military post-war
involvement in Iraq has allowed for a few noteworthy similarities and
differences in international reporting, in general, to surface.
The similarities in coverage – for example, the events, even though
purposively chosen for comparison -- indicates a media agenda beyond
what American gatekeepers seem able to control. The consistency
among newsmagazine story ideas, times and approaches to covering the
topics, indicates a new level of globalization among the media, a
globalized routinization of storytelling ideas and techniques. How
does this "common journalistic culture" occur? What will the cultural
implications of uniform media storytelling be on individual cultures
around the world? Surely, an analysis simply of Brazilian and U.S.
media is not sufficient enough to answer these questions, although it
may be enough to suggest them as much needed areas of further research.
Weighing similarities and differences of U.S. and Brazilian coverage
of this one major event together, another interesting trend
appears. Even though U.S. media seems to have more primary accounts
through foreign correspondents, and Brazil more secondary accounts,
the general story facts – deaths, casualties, etc. – are the
same. While the framing of the stories starkly differ – U.S. media
"localizes" the War in Iraq by manipulating the story angle to
highlight U.S. involvement in the U.S.-led Coalition forces and, as
previously noted, sanitizes its war coverage, among other points –
basic facts do not (at least in these instances). Considering the
aforementioned lack of reliable second-hand sources, as well as basic
translator difficulties when covering foreign stories, this seems
naïve. The question rises, though, what is the role that media bias
plays in war reporting? Only a partial answer -- the tension between
objective and subjective war reporting – has been
suggested. Additional research in this area is needed.
Conclusion
This analysis has focused on the narrative coherence of the texts,
or the meanings specifically in the stories. Considering narrative
fidelity – the ability of stories to hang true when compared with
other similar tales - of stories told by U.S. and Brazilian news
media would indicate that only by checking multiple international
sources as well as multiple national sources can one get a better,
more complete picture of events abroad. Narrative analysis, or the
methodology that allows for text dissection, has revealed that the
U.S. media sanitizes its war stories. Perhaps Americans don't want
to know the extent to which Coalition, or U.S., bodies were
mutilated. But other "free" presses are telling these stories
openly. Whispering through this study, as suggested by the
subjective U.S. reports as compared with the more objective Brazilian
accounts, is that Americans are experiencing less press freedom than
other nations, because of the military control of information. If
that is indeed the case, what can be done? True journalism, true
civic journalism, which informs a public and inspires it to action,
needs to engage Americans in this much needed journalism conversation
within the larger, more global public sphere.
[1] An earlier version of this paper was presented at the
Texas-Brazilianist Conference on Feb. 19, 2005.
[2] An earlier version of this paper was presented at the
Texas-Brazilianist Conference on Feb. 19, 2005.
[3] The War in Iraq is considered an "international" event here
because of the international uproar it caused. Although United
States public opinion regarding the war was mixed, international
public opinion (non-Coalition forces, primarily strong European
nations such as Germany and France) very much opposed United States
and Coalition Forces involvement.
[4] From March 19, 2003 through May 1, 2003, the United States and
the Coalition Forces were at war against Iraq. On March 17, 2003,
President Bush, during an address to the nation, gave a 48-hour
deadline to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or the United States and its
coalition allies would initiate military action against the Iraqi
regime. Military operations against Iraq officially began around
9:30 EST – almost two hours after the said deadline – on March
19th. On May 1, 2003, President Bush announced the end to major
combat in Iraq.
[5] Blanche, E. (2003, May). "Al Qaeda: The Latin American
connection. Middle East, 334, pp. 28-31.
[6] Arrarás, A., & Deheza, G. I. (Fall 2004). Widening the War on
Terror. Hemisphere: A Magazine of the Americas, 14, p. 22.
[7] This thought merges President Bush's actions of sending U.S.
Special Forces soldiers to the Philippines, Georgia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, the Horn of Africa and Colombia in the global war against
terrorism with the fact that a significant Arab extremist group
resides in the Latin American tri-border region, which encompasses
the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (see Blanche,
E. (2003, May). Al Qaeda: The Latin American Connection. Middle
East, 334, 28-31.)
[8] Reese, S. D. (2001). Understanding the global journalist: A
hierarchy-of-influences approach. Journalism Studies, 2 (2), pp. 173-187.
[9] Patterson, T. E. (1998). Political roles of the
journalist. In Graber, D. McQuail, D., & Norris, P. (eds.) The
politics of news (pp. 17-32). Washington, D.C.: Congressional
quarterly press, p. 29.
[10] McQuail differentiates between factual reporting and
storytelling. He argues that factual reporting is a move towards
objectivity, and suggests that storytelling is fabulative. Citing
Tuchman, McQuail reminds readers of the importance of credible
sources as potential signs that a story is more fact based and not
entertainment-oriented nor propagandistic. (Please see McQuail,
D. (2000). Mass communication theory, 4 ed. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications, p. 347-8.) This study will later return to
the idea of sources as verification of "authentic" storytelling.
[11] Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1996). Mediating the
message: Theories of influences on mass media content (2nd
ed). White Plains, NY: Longman, pp. 105-138.
[12] Fisher, W. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a
philosophy of reason, value, and action. Columbia, S.C.: University
of South Carolina Press.
[13] Ibid, p. 18.
[14] Cragan, John F., & Shields, Donald C. 1998, Understanding
Communication Theory: The Communicative Forces for Human Action,
Chapter 6: Narrative Paradigm Theory, pp.150-174. This is blended
with a media-sociological perspective, as presented in Shoemaker, P.
J., & Reese, S. D. (1996). Mediating the message: Theories of
Influences on mass media content. White Plains, NY: Longman Publishers.
[15] Molotch, H., & Lester, M. (1997). News as purposive
behaviour: On the strategic use of routine events, accidents and
scandals. In D. Berkowitz (ed.) Social meaning of news: A
Text-reader (pp. 193-209). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications,
Inc., p. 293.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Griffin, Em., 1997, A First Look at Communication Theory, 3rd
ed., Chapter 25: Narrative Paradigm, pp. 322-332.
[18] Gitlin, T. (1980). The whole world is watching: Mass media in
the making and unmaking of the new left. Berkley, CA: University of
California Press, p. 7.
[19] Butcher, H. K. (2004). Written expression and the potential to
enhance knowing participation in change. Visions: The Journal of
Rogerian Nursing Science, 12 (1), pp. 37-51.
[20] Barker, R. T., Rimler, G. W., Moreno, E., & Kaplan, T.
E. (2004). Family business members' narrative perceptions: Values,
succession, and commitment. Journal of Technical Writing and
Communication, 34 (4), pp. 291-321.
[21] Buckman, R. T. (1993, Winter). How eight weekly newsmagazines
covered elections in six countries. Journalism Quarterly, 70 (4),
pp. 780-792.
[22] Yin, J. (2004, Jan./Feb.). Drawing the lines in a time of
war: A professor brings a unique perspective to the Detroit Free
Press and leads a brown-bag lunch about the different and similar
roles of the media in China and the U.S. The American Editor, pp. 16-17.
[23] Riffe, D., Aust, C. F., Gibson, R. J., Viall, E. K., & Yi,
H. (1993, Autumn). International News and Borrowed News in the New
York Times: An update. Journalism Quarterly, 70 (3), pp. 638-646.
[24] Poindexter, P. M., & McCombs, M. E. (2000). Research in mass
communication: A practical guide. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, p. 81.
[25] This may correlate with increased media attention on the
critical Haiti situation.
[26] Because of story "length" differences – generally speaking,
U.S. stories were much longer than Brazilian – four extra Brazilian
articles were included in the sample in an increased effort to
balance the amount of U.S. and Brazilian online newspaper coverage.
[27] It must be noted that accessibility to full-text Veja articles
was extremely limited. The researcher was only able to secure three
full-text articles (on the dates of April 14, 2004, March 24, 2004,
and March 17, 2004) for this analysis. The other information by
which this study is conducted is in the form of abbreviated
abstracts. To make a more fair comparison, full-text Time articles
during the non-full-text Veja article dates are skimmed for details
for this analysis.
[28] Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R. & Zilber,
T. (1998). Narrative research: Reading, analysis and
interpretation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
[29] See Tuchman, G. (1997). Making news by doing
work: Routinizing the unexpected. In D. Berkowitz (ed.) Social
meaning of news: A text-reader. (pp. 173-192). Thousand Oaks,
CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. and Reese, S. (2001). Understanding the
global journalist: A hierarchy of influences approach. Journalism
Studies, 2 (2), 173-187.
[30] Paraphrased from a Theories of Communication class lecture
given March 31, 2005 by Dr. Stephen D. Reese at The University of
Texas at Austin.
[31] Based on literature surrounding international media coverage,
as discussed in the preceding section, plausible hypotheses could be
made. For example, this researcher could consider the quality of
news reporting differences and hypothesize that Folha and Veja
coverage will be better than NYT and Time coverage, when one
considers sources used in the writing. However, the purpose of this
study is more exploratory. The researcher is looking for trends
among the nations' reporting styles to gage a holistic picture of the
coverage. Sources, for example, will be included in this analysis,
but will not be the focus.
[32] Gettleman, J. (2004, March 17). Two engineers killed in Iraq
in latest attack on foreigners. The New York Times, A-8.
[33] AP. (2004, March 31). Iraqi suicide bombing wounds 7 as number
of daily attacks rise. The New York Times.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Gettleman, J. (2004, March 17). 2 engineers killed in Iraq in
latest attack on foreigners. The New York Times, A-8.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Calabresi, M., Burger, T. J., Dickerson, J.F., Donnelly, S. B.,
Bennett, B., Faris, S., Walt, V., Caudros, P., Kauffman, E.,
McDowell, J., & Stewart, F. (2004, April 12). Into the
cauldron: The murder of four American civilians in Fallujah provokes
a vow of retaliation. But can anything defuse the rage in
Iraq? Time, p. 33.
[39] Stevenson, R.,W., & Jehl, D. (2004, April 14). Bush asserts
'we must not waver [sic] on terror or Iraq.' The New York Times,
nytimes.com, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/14/ politics/14BUSH.html?adxnnl=1
&adxnn1x=1082505183… Retrieved April 20, 2004.
[40] Shanker, T., & Sanger, D. E. (2004, April 21). Pentagon drafts
Iraq Troop plan to meet violence. The New York Times, nytimes.com ,
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/21/politics/21MILI.html?hp=?pagewanted=print&position=.
Retrieved April 21, 2004.
[41] Powell, B., Calabresi, M., Cooper, M., Thompson, M., McAllister,
J.F.O., & Butters, A. L. (2004, April 19). No easy options: An
eruption of Iraqi insurgency tests U.S. resolve and plays havoc with
plans to hand over control. How will the president respond? Here
are three scenarios. Time, pp. 35-41.
[42] Stevenson, R.,W., & Jehl, D. (2004, April 14). Bush asserts
'we must not waver [sic] on terror or Iraq.' The New York Times,
nytimes.com, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/14/ politics/14BUSH.html?adxnnl=1
&adxnn1x=1082505183… Retrieved April 20, 2004.
[43] Kifner, J. (2004, April 28). With skeptical eye, marines
train Iraqis for Falluja patrols. The New York Time, nytimes.com,
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/international/middleeast/28TRAI.html.
Retrieved May 3, 2004.
[44] "New Iraqi Army in Training." (2004, February 25). The New York
Times, A2.
[45] Shanker, T., & Sanger, D. E. (2004, April 21). Pentagon
drafts Iraq Troop plan to meet violence. The New York Times,
retrieved an April 21, 2004 from
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/21/politics/21MILI.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position.
[46] McGeary, J., Calabresi, M., Thompson, M., Faris, S., Walt, V.,
& Zabriskie, P. (2004, March 15). Which was is the exit? The date
is set for a handover to the Iraqis, but everything else is
trouble. Time, 36-43.
[47] In a recent study, however, it was discovered that "there are
different truths to different audiences." (Please see Yin,
J. (2004, Jan.-Feb.) Drawing the lines in a time of war: A
professor brings a unique perspective to the Detroit Press and leads
a brown-bag lunch about the different and similar roles of the media
in China and the U.S. The American Editor, p. 17.
[48] Folha Online. (2004, April 7). Violência continua no Iraque;
coalizão perde 30 homens. (Violence continues in Iraq; Coalition
loses 30 men). Folha Online,
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u71367.shtml.
Retrieved April 14, 2004.
[49] Folha Online. (2004, March 31). Ataques matam nove no Iraque;
corpos são mutilados. (Attacks kill nine in Iraq; bodies are
mutilated). Folha Online,
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u71149.shtml.
Retrieved April 14, 2004.
[50] Folha Online. (2004, April 7). Violência continua no Iraque;
coalizão perde 30 homens. (Violence continues in Iraq; Coalition
loses 30 men). Folha Online,
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u71367.shtml.
Retrieved April 14, 2004.
[51] Ibid.
[52] Gryzinski, V. (2004, March 17.) Todos querem ser Al
Qaeda: Inspirados por Bin Laden, os radicais de Alá multiplicam os
grandes atentados. (Everyone wants to be Al Qaeda: Inspired by Bin
Laden, radicals of Allah multiply large attempts.) Veja. Pp. 48-49.
[53] Just as an examples of anti-U.S. sentiment from Brazil, Brazil
now fingerprints Americans entering their country. Also, it is
expensive for Americans to obtain Brazilian visas ($100, which is
about the equivalent of what it costs a Brazilian to apply for an
American visa). This noted, it appears that Brazil is definitely
pushing back on some recent international United States legislation
with which it disagrees – that being the fingerprinting of visitors
to American soil as well as the high cost to visit the States.
[54] "É Ele (Kerry) o Anti-Bush (Translated: Is He (Kerry) the
Anti-Bush?)?" (2004, March 10). Veja, p. 56.
[55] U.S. and British defense officials planned to incorporate some
600 reporters within individual military units. While this was
interpreted to provide "greater access to the battlefield than was
ever provided in the tightly restricted journalistic environment of
Gulf War I," it really silenced the media; the military gained
much-wanted control over the media, potentially their greatest enemy
on the battlefield (Reese, S. D. (2004). Militarized journalism:
Framing dissent in the Persian Gulf wars. In S. Allan and B. Zelizer
(eds.) Reporting war: journalism in wartime (pp. 247 to 265). New
York: Routledge, p. 260; Wall, J. M. (2003, Oct. 18). A muzzled
media. Christian Century, 120 (21), p. 61; Jurkowitz, M. (2002,
Nov. 20). Pentagon drawing battle lines with press. The Boston Globe, p. C3).
[56] Tumber, H. (2004). Prisoners of news values? Journalists,
professionalism, and identification in times of war. In S. Allan and
B. Zelizer (eds.) Reporting War: journalism in wartime (pp. 190 to
205). New York: Routledge.