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CONFLICTING COUNTRIES – CONFLICTING PERSPECTIVES? A comparative analysis of the Tampa Crisis in Australian and Norwegian media Ingebjørg Sørenes Master’s thesis in Journalism Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo Spring, 2010 II Abstract How do national media position themselves when two Western countries suddenly fall into a diplomatic crisis? Is the news coverage coloured only by patriotism and national allegiance, or will additional factors such as the degree of press freedom, socio-cultural norms, news values and media profile influence the degree of consensus between press and the authorities? I have tried to answer this in a comparative analysis of the coverage of the Tampa crisis in two Norwegian and two Australian newspapers. Using quantitative content analysis and a discourse analysis inspired by Laclau & Mouffe, I examine the similarities and differences between the four newspapers, and discuss the findings in the light of Hallin & Mancini‟s set of three Models for comparing media systems. I also examine which news values were given prominence to, and whether “enemy images” were formed. The study shows that the Australian newspapers primarily focused on people smuggling and realpolitik, while the Norwegian newspapers presented the Tampa crisis as an attack on Norwegian, humanitarian principles. The Norwegian newspapers conveyed enemy images of Australia as a nation, but there were few enemy images of Norway to be found in the Australian newspapers. Sammendrag Hvordan posisjonerer de nasjonale mediene seg når to vestlige land plutselig havner i en diplomatisk krise? Farges nyhetsdekningen utelukkende av patriosisme og nasjonal lojalitet, eller vil tilleggsfaktorer som grad av pressefrihet, sosiokulturelle normer, nyhetsverdier og medieprofil påvirke graden av konsensus mellom pressen og myndighetene? Dette har jeg forsøkt å besvare i en sammenlignende analyse av ”Tampa”-sakens dekning i to norske og to australske aviser. Ved hjelp av kvantitativ innholdsanalyse og en diskursanalyse inspirert av Laclau & Mouffe, undersøker jeg likheter og forskjeller mellom avisene, og diskuterer funnene i lys av Hallin & Mancinis tredelte modell for sammenligning av mediesystemer. Jeg undersøker i tillegg hvilke nyhetsverdier som ble vektlagt i dekningen, og hvorvidt fiendebilder ble dannet. Studien viser at ”Tampa”-saken i australske aviser primært handlet om menneskesmugling og realpolitikk, mens de norske avisene formidlet konflikten som et angrep på norske, humanitære prinsipper. De to norske avisene formidlet fiendebilder av Australia som nasjon, mens det var få fiendebilder å spore av Norge i de australske avisene. III IV Acknowledgments Completing this thesis has been a tough and time consuming academic challenge that I could never have accomplished single-handed. I would especially like to thank IMK for giving me an extention, and my supervisor Terje Rasmussen for his professional insight, patience and optimism throughout the period. I am also grateful to the University of Oslo for enabling me to do research in Sydney by granting me a travel scholarship in spring 2006. In Sydney, Ben deserves a big thank-you for giving me shelter, and for his warm- heartedness. I would also like to thank Sam for kindly providing me with a working space in her office during my stay. Thanks to my dear family and friends for your support and care, especially Stine, for her exemplary academic focus, and ability to put things into perspective. My parents deserve thanks for their kindness and patience. This thesis is partly a result of your healthy and contagious interest in news and current affairs. My superior at Infopaq, Linn Kathrine Lomholt, deserves special thanks for showing flexibility and for understanding the challenges related to studying and working full time. A big thanks also goes to the editorial staff for brightening up my days with their humorous ways. Finally, thank you Neil for everything you have done for me. You have persistently pulled me across obstacles, provided invaluable project management insight, spent innumerable hours proof reading, and been a full time house husband over the past months. Life has been on hold for a while, but now the project is finally complete– no April fool‟s! Berlin, 1 April 2010, Ingebjørg Sørenes V VI Content ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................ V 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... - 1 - 1.1 MOTIVATION/ RATIONALE .................................................................................................................. - 1 - 1.2 OBJECTIVE ............................................................................................................................................... - 2 - 1.3 OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS ........................................................................................................... - 4 - 2 THE TAMPA CRISIS .............................................................................................................................. - 5 - 2.1 CRITICAL REPORTS OF BIAS AND CENSORSHIP ............................................................................ - 8 - 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................ - 11 - 3.1 COMPARING MEDIA SYSTEMS ......................................................................................................... - 12 - 3.1.1 Norway and the Democratic, Corporatist Model ...................................................................................... - 14 - 3.1.2 The Australian press – a member of the Liberal Model? .......................................................................... - 16 - 3.2 NEWS VALUES ...................................................................................................................................... - 19 - 3.3 NATIONALISM, CONFLICTS AND ENEMY IMAGES ...................................................................... - 22 - 3.3.1 The Norwegian virtue regime ................................................................................................................... - 24 - 4 RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................................ - 25 - 4.1 DATA SELECTION ................................................................................................................................ - 25 - 4.1.1 Newspapers ............................................................................................................................................... - 26 - 4.1.2 Time frame ............................................................................................................................................... - 27 - 4.1.3 Selection of coding units........................................................................................................................... - 28 - 4.2 METHODOLOGIES ................................................................................................................................ - 29 - 4.2.1 A quantitative Approach ........................................................................................................................... - 29 - 4.2.2 The quantitative Content Analysis ............................................................................................................ - 31 - 4.2.3 A qualitative approach – Discourse Analysis ........................................................................................... - 34 - 4.2.4 Implementation of the Discourse Theoretical Analysis ............................................................................ - 38 - 5 QUANTITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS ......................................................................................... - 40 - 5.1 QUANTITY AND DISPERSION OF THE WHOLE COVERAGE ....................................................... - 40 - 5.2 EDITORIAL COVERAGE ...................................................................................................................... - 41 - 5.2.1 Quantity .................................................................................................................................................... - 41 - 5.2.2 Size (area) ................................................................................................................................................. - 44 - 5.2.3 Illustrations ............................................................................................................................................... - 45 - 5.2.4 Sources...................................................................................................................................................... - 46 - 5.2.5 Inclination ................................................................................................................................................. - 50 - 5.2.6 Inclination over time ................................................................................................................................. - 53 - 5.3 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................