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Abstract:
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For many years, researchers and politicians have worried about negative images and stereotypes reported of Third World countries by Western news organizations. The concern extends to the Western media's emphasis on hard news and the tendency to avoid reporting development or nation building stories. This study looked at news story content from a group of Third World countries in Africa as well as the three major U.S. commercial broadcast network newscasts. In an effort to gain insight into the manner in which Third World news sources report stories, a sample of African stories aired on the CNN World Report program was examined. A sample of 1,340 news stories was collected during a four-year time period from 1990 through 1993. An analysis of the sample revealed a statistically significant difference in the number of African hard news stories aired on the U.S. commercial broadcast network newscasts and CNN World Report. African contributors to CNN World Report reported statistically significant more development news stories about Africa than the U.S. commercial broadcast network counterparts. In addition, the U.S. network sample revealed a much greater number of African hard news stories than development stories aired on the evening news. However, African contributors to CNN World Report reported an almost equal number of hard and development news stories. |