Doctoral Dissertations

Jowon Park

Date of Award

8-2000

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Barbara A. Moore

Committee Members

Catherine Luther, Dorothy Bowles, Robert Peterson

Abstract

This study examined U.S. television news coverage of Korea and Japan. ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN evening news programs from 1995 to 1998 were analyzed. The research questions of this study were "how are Korea and Japan treated in American television news?" and "how do American television news stories frame Korea and Japan?" The amounts, length, rank, thematic contents, orientations, and news types of stories and the frames utilized in the news stories were analyzed. News abstracts as well as videotapes were analyzed. For frame analysis, videotapes of news stories with following themes were selected for analysis. 1. International relations with the U.S. 2. Economics 3. Demonstration and protest 4. Disaster In addition to addressing the research questions mentioned above, this study compared the differences between the networks and CNN in covering the two countries. The findings revealed the imbalance in the coverage between the two countries. In terms of news amount and rank of the stories, Japan was treated as more important than Korea in the U.S. television news coverage. These findings indicate the importance of Japan as a news item compared to Korea. In terms of thematic contents, coverage of Korea was more likely to be concerned with politics and military affairs, while news coverage of Japan was more likely to be concerned with themes such as economics, crime, disaster, culture, and science. The analysis of crisis/noncrisis orientation of news stories revealed that the coverage of the two countries tended to be crisis-oriented. However, the proportion of crisis-orientated stories was statistically higher for Korea. The percentage of soft news was higher in Japanese news. The analysis of episodic/thematic frame revealed that the news coverage of Korea and Japan is more episodic than general television news. Frame analysis examined the qualitative aspects of news stories. Frame analysis was performed according to the themes and subjects of the news stories as mentioned before. The news stories about the two countries' political relations with the United States generally utilized a cooperative frame. However, the frame analysis of economics news about the two countries revealed a different frame from international politics. The economics of Japan was heavily framed in a rival frame, while the economics of Korea was generally framed in a cooperative frame. The frame analysis of demonstration and protest stories showed a clear contrast between Korea and Japan. While demonstration and protest in Korea were mostly framed in a chaos frame, the majority of stories about demonstration and protest in Japan were framed in a democracy frame. The frame analysis of disaster stories showed a dominance of a sympathetic frame for both countries. The comparative analysis of the coverage of the two countries between the broadcast networks and CNN revealed the differences in thematic contents and news types between the broadcast networks and CNN. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that the U.S. television news coverage of the two countries is recommended to provide the audience with a panoramic view of the countries. This is hoped to lead to the creation of well-informed citizen in international affairs. In this way, television news can try to become more responsible to the audience they serve. Ultimately, this may promote the mutual understanding among nations in the global community where cooperation among nations is a key to the prosperity.

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