Public Diplomacy and International Politics: The Symbolic Constructs of Summits and International Radio News

by Robert S. Fortner

Overview

This book examines international radio news coverage of the four superpower summit meetings between Soviets and Americans from 1987 to 1990. It concentrates on the symbolic constructs used by radio services to report about the summits, including their treatments of the two superpowers, their leaders, and their perspectives as recorded in interviews, press conferences and releases, joint communiques, and briefings. The study assesses the degree of success enjoyed by each of the superpowers in directing the nature of international news coverage, particularly the public relations battle between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. It also weighs the viability of specific talking points written to direct U.S. summit statements by the National Security Council, and the degree to which news coverage was tainted by propaganda. Finally, it is able to suggest the nature of each service's contribution to diversity in international news flow, and to the ongoing debate about the equality of the international communication and information order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275935948
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/27/1994
Series:	Praeger Series in Political Communication
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

ROBERT S. FORTNER is Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has also written International Communication: History, Conflict, and Control of the Global Metropolis (1993). He has taught at Northwestern University, Drake University, the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and The George Washington University, where he was founding chair of the Department of Communication. He has done international research for the BBC, VOA, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and has served as a panel member on VOA satellite broadcasting for the National Research Council.

Table of Contents

Introduction
International Broadcasting as Public Diplomacy
Symbolic Constructs in International Broadcasting
The 1987 Washington Superpower Summit
The 1988 Moscow Superpower Summit
The 1989 Summits
The 1990 Washington Superpower Summit
Conclusions: Trends in News Coverage and Propaganda, 1987-1990
Symbolic Constructs and Historical Circumstances: Effects on the Global Information Order
Appendix 1: Treatment Coefficients for NSC Themes
Appendix 2: Treatment Coefficients for Summit Principals and Their Countries
Appendix 3: Percentage of Stories Devoted to Selected Summit Issues, by Summit and Service
Appendix 4: Rank Order of Principal Superpower Summit Issues,
References
Index