National Influences in Foreign News

Abstract

/ This article examines the impact of national influences and national interests upon foreign news coverage. To this end, it examines the newspaper reporting on the 12 November 1991 `Dili Massacre', a case study neglected by academic research and press coverage analysis. This work introduces the distinction between intra-media and extra-media influences while looking at nuanced dimensions regarding the source of national influences on the basis of differences between the press and government agendas as well as the level of critique within the coverage. In considering all these variables, this study proposes an elaborated analysis and assessment of foreign news that runs counter to previous findings in the literature, notably Lee and Yang's study on national interest in foreign news.