International Journalism

International Journalism

International news coverage in the United States has declined dramatically in the last two decades, leaving the American public lacking in awareness of the world's diversity and beauty. This is unacceptable. The public has access to many forms of media-radio, network and cable television, newspapers, magazines and the Internet-yet lack a basic literacy in international issues. The media no longer provides comprehensive coverage of world news. However, as a far-reaching medium, American news media has an obligation to educate as well as inform the nation's populations. Therefore, despite a post-Cold War political calm, competitive media markets, and fewer foreign correspondents, news mediums must forge a new framework from which to cover international topics.

A survey by Harvard showed that network's coverage of international news has declined by 70% and newspaper coverage by 80% since the 1970's (American Society of Newspaper Editors). Both of these drastic drops have come since the end of Vietnam and the end of the Cold War. In the years of East-West mentality when American's saw Communism as a collective enemy and there were devastating military entanglements, the public was regularly up-to-date on current international events. They were personally invested, and therefore had the initiative to maintain worldly literacy. After the Vietnam War in the 1960's, the nation began to pull back from foreign concerns as the nation became enthralled by Watergate and its aftermath.

The 1980's closed the Cold War, also closing collective national fears of international violence. The decade following, American citizens began thinking as isolationists with a greater concern for domestic affairs. E...

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