Doctoral Dissertations

Daniel Riffe

Date of Award

6-1981

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Eugene F Shaw

Committee Members

George Everett, Michael Logan, Jerry Lynn

Abstract

This study explored the phenomenon of second-hand foreign news: the citation by American reporters of foreign news media and agencies as sources of news.

Specifically, the study sought evidence of a negative relationship between a newspaper's reduced level of foreign correspondent staffing and its annual percentage of foreign news items containing second-hand news. A comparative case study design was used, and data were collected through analysis of samples of the foreign news content of the New York Times and Chicago Tribune for 1969-1979 inclusive. The Tribune had reduced its staff of full-time, American correspondents overseas during the 11-year period, while the Times' staff size remained stable.

The study also sought to identify the qualitative labels used by reporters to specify the partisan or controlled nature of the sources cited, and to determine if these labels were most often used when information contradicting that of the cited media source was not provided.

No direct relationship was found between staff size and the small annual percentage of second-hand news. Both papers gradually increased their percentage of items containing second-hand information, independent of both staff size and overall reductions in foreign coverage. The Tribune's staff cut, however, did have some impact on the paper's choice of originating agents for items containing second-hand news; the paper was forced to rely more on wire-service copy.

Labels were used most often to indicate that cited media sources were government-controlled or partisan, particularly in items from the socialist and third-world nations where control of information is greatest. Further, labels were most likely to be used when no information refuting a media source's assertion was provided.

The findings were viewed as positive evidence of reporters' or other gatekeepers' awareness of their critical role as purveyors of foreign news. Although they were faced with a newsgathering environment that occasionally limited their access to all but advocacy sources such as controlled or partisan media, the reporters provided, in many cases, qualifying labels that enabled readers to assess meaningfully the cited source's own special interest.

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