United States Media Portrayals of the Developing World: a Semiotic Analysis of the One Campaign's Internet Web Site
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California State University, San Bernardino CSUSB ScholarWorks Theses Digitization Project John M. Pfau Library 2008 United States media portrayals of the developing world: A semiotic analysis of the One campaign's internet web site Lindsey Marie Haussamen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project Part of the Mass Communication Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Haussamen, Lindsey Marie, "United States media portrayals of the developing world: A semiotic analysis of the One campaign's internet web site" (2008). Theses Digitization Project. 3387. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3387 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the John M. Pfau Library at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses Digitization Project by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNITED STATES MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE ONE CAMPAIGN'S INTERNET WEB SITE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Communication Studies by Lindsey Marie Haussamen December 2008 UNITED STATES MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE ONE CAMPAIGN'S INTERNET WEB SITE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino by Lindsey Marie Haussamen December 2008 Approved by: Date ABSTRACT The goal of this research was to examine how the One organization's Web site either supports or rejects established literature that concludes that U.S. media contains negative representations of the developing world. This thesis offers a semiotic critique of the One -organization's Home, About, Issues, and FAQs Web site pages' visual and verbal portrayals of people in Africa, and how these portrayals establish or counteract cultural imperialism. The visual and verbal representations portrayed on One's Web site are a mixture of positive and negative representations. Many of the messages follow the all too frequently witnessed depictions of negativity; however, there are a few messages that convey positive representations of the situations facing the developing world. While the four Web pages under critical examination did display a select few positive representations of the developing nations of Africa, the overall finding is that One's portrayal of the developing world supports the general conclusion of negative portrayals in U.S. media. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who I would like to thank for their support with this project. Although I would like to take all the credit for this piece of work, this thesis would not have been possible without many others who helped me along the way. Much appreciation goes out to my thesis committee members, Dr. Heather Hundley, Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb, and Dr. Ece Algan for all their guidance and support. Thank you for sticking with me and helping me realize the potential and ultimate goal of this research. Thank you to my family. Without your love and support I would have given up on school a long time ago, but you all kept me going and helped me see the future possibilities that await me. Thank you most of all for instilling in me a passion for the larger world around me. Whether you all realize it or not, you helped me out of my bubble and showed me that there is much more to life than my immediate surroundings, and that there is much to be explored and discovered from other people and cultures around the world. iv My deepest gratitude goes out to my love and best friend, without whom graduate school and this project would have remained a future dream of mine. You have been with me from the beginning and have seen me through all the ups and downs of my work. Thank you for always sticking by my side and giving me the support and encouragement I needed to see this through to the end. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................ iv CHAPTER ONE: DOMINANCE OF UNITED STATES MEDIA Introduction........................................ 1 Statement of the Problem.......................... 5 Literature Review ............... ............... , 8 Cultural Imperialism as a Theoretical ■ Perspective....................................... 27 CHAPTER TWO: WEB SITES, NONPROFITS, AND SEMIOTICS. 41 Research Questions. ... 61 ■Method: Semiotic Analysis ........................ 62 CHAPTER THREE: VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD Pictures and Images............................. 75 Semiotic Visual Conclusions ...................... 91 CHAPTER FOUR: VERBAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD................... 95 Words.............................................. 96 Semiotic Verbal Conclusions ............... ... 112 CHAPTER FIVE: AFFIRMING CULTURAL.IMPERIALISM AND THE SEARCH FORA MORE POSITIVE APPROACH. 113 Implications............................ 119 Limitations ..... ............................ 123 Future Research ................................. 133 vi APPENDIX A: ONE'S INTERNET HOME PAGE . 136 APPENDIX B: ONE'S INTERNET ABOUT PAGE.................... 139 APPENDIX C: ONE'S INTERNET ISSUES PAGE ................ 142 APPENDIX D: ONE'S INTERNET FAQS PAGE.................... 147 FOOTNOTES................................................... 156 REFERENCES................................................. 157 vii CHAPTER ONE DOMINANCE OF UNITED STATES MEDIA Introduction Interest in international affairs has increased greatly in recent years (Ritzer, 2004). More and more events that happen in and with other countries are receiving attention and action around the world. The globe has become an interdependent network for trading, business, travel, and importing and exporting goods and ideas. Because of this, when events occur in one part of the world, no matter how far away, it has some global impact. For instance, "Saddam Hussein's death sentence was celebrated by some as justice deserved or even divine, but denounced by others as a political ploy before critical US mid-term congressional elections" (The Times of India, 2006, para. 1). Every aspect of Hussein's capture and trial was followed very closely by many people around the world. News coverage of stories such as this has become the norm in the U.S., and has come to be expected by anxious audiences. What may not be so expected is how two years after his capture, Hussein still had the power to influence politics in the U.S. with his death sentence. For instance, 1 critics accused President Bush of strategically scheduling Hussein's hanging two days before midterm elections in order to gain support for Republican control of Congress (The Times of India, 2006). It seems as if anything is possible nowadays through the media, which is why studying the media remains so important. There are two basic types'of media: mainstream media and alternative or social media. Albert (1997) stated this about mainstream media: it "aims to maximize profit or sells an elite audience to advertisers for its main source of revenue... always structured...to help reinforce society's defining hierarchical social relationships ... controlled by...major social institutions" (p. 2). These institutions include corporations and religious and political organizations. Alternative media, on the other hand, "sees itself as part of a project to establish new ways of organizing media and social activity and it is committed to furthering these as a whole, and not just its own preservation" (Albert, 1997, p. 3). Alternative media does not exist solely to gain monetary profit, and as such is not influenced by corporate sponsorship or other social institutions. In this thesis, 2 when media is discussed, it is in reference to mainstream media unless identified as alternative media. With global media networks in place today, such as NewsCorp, Time Warner, and Viacom, news, entertainment, and culture from all around the world is accessible even to those people living in the most remote areas. Thus, with such extant proliferation it is important to ask, "Who has control of these networks?" For the past 40 years, there has been a debate over which country dominates worldwide media, and the consensus seems to be that the Western world holds control where media are concerned, especially the U.S. (Thussu, 2000). In this respect, the United States is everywhere. Americans can virtually go anywhere in the world and still be surrounded by the familiarity of media from home (Stevenson, 1996). Whether it is movies, television shows, news coverage, music, or the latest fashion trends, United States popular culture can- be found in most places throughout the world, primarily exported through the media. Although goods, culture, and media are exported out of this country, it is important to realize that comparatively not much is imported from other nations and cultures. When cultural products, such as media, are introduced in the U.S., they are not exact cultural 3 replicas, but rather hybrid representations that place the original creators into a subordinate state of "otherness" while allowing the U.S. to become more desirable and exotic (Moorti, 2006). For example, the television show American Idol produces American music stars, but was created in Britain, where those stars are rarely remembered. In terms of news, the U.S. imports stories of disaster and crisis from the developing