Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment Author Jordan Perez, Eduardo Roberto Published 2017-08 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Hum, Lang & Soc Sc DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2199 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/376517 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment An investigation of Australian journalists and gatekeepers Eduardo Roberto Jordan Pérez School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research Arts, Education & Law Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2017 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment 1 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment Abstract This research project will examine whether the cultural training that news editors receive in their organisations affects their international news selection, and whether this ultimately affects international news reportage in Australia. The study is based on previous research focusing on three main areas of scholarship, drawn from a wider range of international theatres. These three bodies of work focus on: (1) factors affecting the selection, construction and presentation of international news; (2) how news editors and news directors function as gatekeepers of international news within newsrooms, and how they prioritise international news; and (3) whether cultural training occurs in Australian newsrooms, and if so, how it influences the gatekeeper’s news selection process, and through it, world news coverage in the Australian news media. This study partially replicated research completed by Australian media scholar Peter Putnis in 1996 (Putnis 1996), and extended it to three Brisbane news bulletins: a commercial television bulletin, a public radio news bulletin, and a commercial online portal. The data obtained from the news bulletins were gathered during a constructed week to analyse whether the selection and framing around the presentation of international news in Australia had changed since Putnis’ seminal work. In addition to the aforementioned qualitative analysis of media content, a number of news editors and media experts across Australia were interviewed to determine their self-perception of gatekeeping responsibilities; and assess their degree of agency as gatekeepers in conjunction with institutional news priorities and directions. Within this framework, the gatekeepers were asked how important cultural training was for them and how they believed such training changed the reporting outcomes. These interviews were then used to develop a radio documentary that was broadcast on the national community radio network. Using these interviews as both data for qualitative research and source content for a media production demonstrates 2 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment how such information-gathering methodologies are shared and used in both journalism studies research and journalism production. The argument proposed in this study is that international news is not prioritised in Australian journalism; and that a lack of world news coverage persists because Australian news editors believe international news is not important to their audiences —even though Australia is a multicultural country. It then argues, based on interviews with news editors and news directors, that cultural training is needed to create awareness about events happening outside Australia. These research aims are demonstrated through both the series of radio documentaries, and the exegetical component of this work. 3 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment Statement of originality and ethical clearance This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. The research for this thesis was authorised by the Griffith University Ethics Committee under protocol number HUM/15/13/HREC. Signed Eduardo Roberto Jordan Pérez 4 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment Table of contents Abstract 2 Statement of originality and ethical clearance 4 Acknowledgements 10 Preface 12 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 13 1.1 General concepts 14 1.2 Content analysis sample and creative component overview 15 1.3 Structure of this research project 18 2 Chapter 2: Literature review 21 2.1 Determinants of global news context and presentation 21 2.1.1 Geographical proximity as a determinant of international news coverage 26 2.1.2 Cultural affinity as a determinant of international news coverage 28 2.1.3 Hierarchy of nations as a determinant of international news coverage 33 2.2 Gatekeeping as a process of news selection 36 2.2.1 Cultural background of gatekeepers 38 2.3 The international news agency wholesalers as part of the gatekeeping process 40 2.4 The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) and the MacBride report 44 2.4.1 NWICO and journalism 47 2.5 Purpose of the research project 49 3 Chapter 3: Methodology 51 3.1 Philosophical assumptions of research 52 3.2 Qualitative research in Journalism 54 3.2.1 Rationale for choosing a case study in this research project 56 3.2.2 Qualitative analysis of international news 59 3.2.2.1 Content analysis 61 3.2.3 Research methodologies in studying journalism practitioners 62 3.2.3.1 Participant observation 63 3.2.3.2 Interviewing as data collection 65 3.3 Creative component as an academic method of research 69 3.3.1 Bruce Redman and Family First – A Federal Crusade 70 3.3.2 Mia Lindgren and Deadly Dust 71 3.4 The creative component: methodologies of production 72 3.5 Content analysis 84 5 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment 4 Chapter 4: Results 86 4.1 Content analysis results 86 4.1.1 Percentage of international news 87 4.1.2 Regions covered by the Brisbane media 91 4.1.2.1 International news origin from the three selected news bulletins 92 4.1.2.2 Percentage of world regions covered by Seven News Queensland 94 4.1.2.3 Percentage of world regions covered by ABC Brisbane 612 AM 95 4.1.2.4 Percentage of world regions covered by Brisbane Times 97 4.1.3 Type of international news covered according to Putnis (1996) 99 4.1.3.1 International news content from the three news bulletins 101 4.1.3.2 Type of international news published by Seven News Queensland 104 4.1.3.3 Type of international news published by ABC Brisbane 612 AM 107 4.1.3.4 Type of international news published by Brisbane Times 110 4.2 Radio documentary outcome and topics 112 4.2.1 Australian foreign news: The Editor 114 4.2.2 The work of an international news editor 116 4.2.3 What training to international news editors and journalists undertake? 118 4.2.4 Multiculturalism and Australian international news editors 121 5 Chapter 5: Discussion 123 5.1 Key findings about determinants of international news coverage 123 5.1.1 Geographical proximity as a determinant of international news coverage 124 5.1.2 Cultural affinity as a determinant of international news coverage 128 5.1.3 Hierarchy of nations as a determinant of international news coverage 132 5.2 International news coming from the United Kingdom in Australia 136 5.3 Topics chosen to publish in newsrooms 142 5.4 Cultural training and the gatekeepers in Australia 146 5.5 The radio documentary as part of this research project 149 6 Chapter 6: Conclusion 152 6.1 Overview 152 6.2 Key discoveries 154 6.3 Limitations of this project 156 6 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment 6.4 Future work 158 Appendix A: Raw data from the content analysis 161 Appendix B: List of news editors and media experts who participated in this research project 167 Appendix C: Scripts for the radio documentary 168 Appendix D: Questionnaires 186 Appendix E: Methodology coding 188 Reference List 190 7 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment Table list Table 1: Justification of this research project as a case study, according to the features proposed by Creswell (2013, p. 105) 57 Table 2: Strengths and weaknesses of participant observation according to Hansen et al (1998, p. 62) 64 Table 3: Profile of news editors who participated in the radio documentary 78 Table 4: Profile of the media experts who participated in the radio documentary 79 Table 5: News organisations that were contacted for interviews and did not reply, and the number of editors contacted from those organisations 79 Table 6: Outcome of the radio documentary published at the national radio program The Wire 83 Table 7: Topics and interviewees selected for the radio documentary sections 113 8 Australian Foreign News Coverage in the Global News Environment Figure list Figure 1. Model of international television news flow (Paterson 1998, p. 81, fig. 6.1) 42 Figure 2. Comparison of published international and non-international news items for each news bulletin 88 Figure 3. Average number of published international and non-international news items per bulletin/monitored session 89 Figure 4. Percentage of international news items per each region from the three news items 92 Figure 5. Percentage of regions covered by Seven News Queensland 94 Figure 6. Percentage of international news stories published by ABC Brisbane 612 AM 96 Figure 7. Percentage of international news stories published by Brisbane Times 98 Figure 8. Percentage of international news topics by Putnis (1996) from the three selected news bulletins 102 Figure 9. Percentage of international news topics published by Seven News Queensland 105 Figure 10.