11. • DEAR SIR,
• FIRSTLY I MUST FIRST SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THIS
TRANSACTION; THIS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEEN
INTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET THOUGH KNOW THAT
A TRANSACTION OF THIS MAGNITUDE WILL MAKE SOMEONE
APPREHENSIVE AND ELATED BUT I AM ASSURING YOU THAT ALL
WILL BE WELL AT THE END OF THE DAY. I HAVE DECIDED TO
CONTACT YOU DUE TO THE URGENCY OF THIS TRANSACTION
AS WE HAVE BEEN RELIABLY INFORMED OF YOU DISCRETNESS
AND ABILITY TO HANDLE TRANSACTION OF THIS NATURE.
• LET ME START BY INTRODUCING MYSELF PROPERLY , I AM MR.
TIJANI YUSUFU CREDIT OFFFICER WITH THE UNION BANK OF
NIGERIA PLC (UBA) BENIN BRANCH, I CAME TO KNOW OF YOU IN
MY PRIVATE SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND REPUTABLE
PERSON TO HANDLE THIS CONFIDENTIAL TRANSACTION,WHICH
INVOLVES TRANSFERING HUGE SUM OF MONEY TO A FOREIGN
ACCOUNT REQUIRING MAXIMUM CONFIDENCE
• THE PREPOSITION:
• A FOREIGNER AND AN AMERICAN , LATE ENGR JOHN CREEK
(SNR) AN OIL MERCHANT WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF
NIGERIA UNTIL HIS DEATH MONTHS AGO IN KENYA AIRBUS (
12.
13. Third election coming up
• Africa’s largest democracy (140m
people)
• Religious and regional issues
• President Olusagun Obasanjo
• Unsuccessful 3rd term bid
• Vice-president Atiku Abubaker:
“There will be no elections if
I am blocked from standing”
• Africa’s most oil-rich country
26. Q&A: Nigerian election
• An interesting story?
–You bet!
• Will you find it US online media?
–Rhetorical question!
• Who is the president of Africa?
–Well, we know who’s Anna Nicole
Smith…
• Could it be that the info-rich are also
info-poor?
–Too true!
28. Info rich … or poor?
Percentage of Americans in 2003 believing
that:
• Evidence of links between Iraq & al
Qaeda – 48%
• Weapons of mass destruction been
found – 22%
• World favored the US going into Iraq –
25%.
• Overall 60% had at least 1 of 3
misperceptions
29. More recently …2006
• Only 32% of Americans could name
Vladimir Putin as the president of
Russia;
• Just over four-in-ten (43%) could name
Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state.
- (2006 July, Pew report).
NOTE: 31% getting online news 3 or
more x a week.
30. Effect:
• For the American public, whose
geographical illiteracy is well
documented, it must seem the
globe is spinning out of control.
- Stevenson & Griffin
• … (1994!).
31. Picture of a paradox …
• International affairs remains an
afterthought in many American
newsrooms, despite trends in
technology and trade that are
tying the nations of the world
closer together. – Peter Grier, CSM
• Just as it is more vital to
understand what is happening
across the globe, and it is simpler
to report the story we are less
32. Foreign is local
• “…the demarcation between home
and abroad is dissolving as never
before. … A London commuter
worries about safety on the tube, but
this is linked to what is going on in
Pakistan and elsewhere.” -Franks.
• “Readers in L.A., and New York, and
Nebraska live in a globalized world
where Windows help calls are
answered in Bangalore…” - Editor &
Publisher Dec 06.
33. Foreign is local
• “If you understand that if the
Middle East goes up in smoke,
gas goes to $5 a gallon, that's
local. If your National Guard unit
is in Afghanistan, that's a local
story.” - Burl Osborne, AP
• “…foreign news isn’t foreign
anymore. It’s domestic news. It’s
impossible to decouple what
happens overseas with domestic.”
34. Are audiences uninterested?
• An ASNE study in 1990 found
that 41% of people said they
were very interested in foreign
news, but just 5% of editors
thought their readers were
interested. - Brandt Ayers.
35. A media lag
In 2002, in a Pew study:
• 86% of newspaper editors said
companies in their community had
overseas investments.
• Only 50% said that they regularly or
fairly regularly covered these stories
locally.
• Similar splits were found for stories
about immigrants, university
connections, and foreign business &
investment Dwight L
36. Reasons …
• Closing and downsizing bureaus is a
symptom and a cause of dwindling
coverage. - Ginsberg.
• Tom Rosenstiel says that decline in
foreign news is not in response to
reader demand, but in response to
cost cutting. – Seplow.
37. 9.11 puts world back on map
US papers carried more stories
on Afghanistan on page 1 in the
four months after 911 than in the
previous four decades. - Michael
Parks.
38. But regression expected
• A Pew survey of 218 press editors in
2002 confirmed them saying that
reader interest had increased after
911 …
• But 64% expected a shrinkage, and
almost the same said their newshole
would return to previous levels. -
Seplow
39. Yet, interest remains in 2006
• Nearly as many Americans say
they track international news
closely most of the time (52%), as
say that about national news
(55%) and local news (55%).
• New interest among women,
minorities and less-educated
Americans.
P J l 2006
40. Tho it’s Iraq, not all foreign news
• Even in the golden age of
international coverage, you
weren’t getting a lot of news on
the world – just on the Cold War.
- Andrew Tyndall.
• Thus historically, foreign news
came from where the
correspondents were sent –
rather than correspondents being
41. It’s US-centric
• Most international news is
domestic news about Americans
making news overseas, whether
as soldiers, victims of terror or
lawbreakers.
- Gains, 2003 (cited by Gartner).
42. Consequences …
• Leading US print media took cues
from the White House on
coverage of Grenada,
Afghanistan, Panama, Kuwait and
Somalia.
• A foreign country is seen only in
relation to how it affects the US.
- Silverstein 1993
43. Not unique to US
• So-called ‘global’ news is largely
domesticated in order to appeal to
national audiences.
• Stories of the 9.11
commemoration in 2002 carried
by broadcasters around the world
were all ‘domesticated’ to suit
their national audiences. - Clausen (2003)
44. Amount and type
• Quantity, or rather the lack of it, is
the first problem. The quality
problem is that more than half are
related to violence, accident and
repression.
- Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor.
• The foreign news that does
appear seldom mentions social,
cultural or scientific issues
45. Qualitative problem
Ellen Knickmeyer, ex-West Africa bureau chief for
AP:
• Afghanistan and Iraq drained
budget and reporters, meaning
that staffing fell to a level of doing
only the must-cover news like
wars and coups.
• “This reinforced view that Africa is
all bad news. Good news often
went uncovered ”
46. Stereotyped
• Too much is episodic, meaningless,
not placed in a narrative. - Suzanne
Franks
• Diet of war, disaster and poverty (and
men) – breeds a clichéd view and
image fatigue.
• “Women, the elderly & children
invisible in foreign news…” - Beaudoin
and Thorson.
47. Foreign and foreign
• There is a “foreign other” and a
“familiar other” - Franks
• The foreign other = developing
world, is more negatively framed -
Beaudoin and Thorson
48. In sum, a narrow picture
• Prevails in old media …
• Is it reflected in online?
(Recalling that, as PEJ says, this
platform is no longer a pure
reflection of the root or parent –
be it print or broadcast)?
50. Distinctive character
• The Internet’s capacity to alter
traditional notions of space ranks
amongst its most exceptional
features.
- Best et al, 2005.
• An internet presence translates to
a worldwide presence.
- Ian Lamont. 2005.
51. A globalised public sphere
Reese et al. 2006:
• Globalization and the Internet
have created a space for news
and political discourse that
overrides geography.
• The online environment
“deterritoralizes” news, such that
the user, creator, and news
subject need no longer share the
same national frame of reference
52. Potential
• We would expect that the open
nature of the Internet world
inevitably leads to cross-national
connections …
• Not to say the global has replaced
the local – “just that the nation-
state, or even the local
community, organizing principle
l d i t ” R
53. A promise fulfilled?
“Foreign news is finding its niche
on the net” because “the medium
matches the message. …by
definition, the Internet is
international.”
- Dirk Smillie, Christian Science Monitor, 1997.
54. Internet could compensate
• “The ability of the public to get
foreign news for itself may offer
one of the best solutions to
dwindling foreign reporting by
traditional media.” – Hamilton &
Jenner
• Huge potential for international
links, collaborations, content
exchanges even instant web
55. But: geography of global content
• Note if a country is a net importer or
exporter of Internet content (whether
such content is about “local issues” or
not). – cf Zook
• In countries without strong production
capabilities for online content (incl
exotic content), web users can go
direct to places where (if) there is
such content.
56. Global imbalances
• North American and Western
European countries account for
close to 90% of the domain
names in the world, but only 66%
of Internet users. – Zook, 2001
• The 2 regions do not have
extensive content about extra-
territorial affairs …
• In countries with minimal content,
Internet users go to US sites –
i US f d t t
59. A double paradox
• It is mainly non-US users who
experience the international info
potential of the Internet.
• A country at war has a media
culture that is promoting
hyperlocalism.
68. Web 2 & insularity
• Social networking – shows falsity of
“Daily Me”
• The reality alternative is “Daily Us”
• … distinct from the “Unknown Them”
• Value of diversity unrealised
• Including by non-US joining
Facebook, etc
69. Some US users go elsewhere
• Especially during the start of the Iraq
war.
• “Foreign news sites framed the
conflict differently than US sites:
military conflict, human interest and
media self-coverage in the latter;
responsibility frame in foreign.”
-Dimitrova et al.
(Even though AP was often used as a common
source!)
70. Foreign news from foreign
places
• Around one quarter of US Internet
news users visit foreign sites. -Best et
al, 2005.
• That doesn’t count use of search
engines – eg. Al Jazeera showed the
biggest spike of any search term in
the first month of the Iraq war. - Google
Zeitgeist 2003.
• Access to foreign online news
militates against a common political
space and collective identity -Best et al
71.
72. In other words
• Not much reflection of globalisation
in US news websites.
• Not especially unique to US,
however.
• Diversity exists – driven by national
focus.
• Global medium lags global
developments!
I b l i h l b l
77. Danny Westneat ST columnist
As I look back at the year in news, it's
clear I should have focused more on
people having sex with horses.
That's the conclusion I reach after
reviewing a new list of the year's top
local news stories. … This is the
people's-choice list.
It's not a survey of what news you say
you read.
It's what you actually read.
What's more, four more of the year's
20 most clicked upon local news
78. It's not just the horse sex!
• “The rest of the top 20 people's-
choice list is eye-opening, as well.
• … a wrenching account of a North
Bend man finding photos on a
Thai beach that captured a
Canadian couple's last moments
before the tsunami hit.
• A local congressman admitting
his vote to invade Iraq was a
79. US allure for foreign users
• http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=971
80.
81. The appeal of US culture
• Nearly one third of traffic to US news
websites comes from outside the
traditional offline distribution area. -
Best et al, 2005.
• “The fact that more than three-
quarters of the traffic to Google,
Yahoo!, and Microsoft is now coming
from outside of the U.S. is indicative
of what a truly global medium the
Internet has become.”
– http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp? press=1057
82. • “…five of the top
10 General News
sites worldwide
are operated by
U.S.-based
companies,”
• “Yahoo! News is
the category
leader, both
domestically and
worldwide, while
MSNBC and CNN
rank among the
top 5 news sites in
the U.S. and
83. Mixed feelings
• Neil Thurman: high overseas
audience raises server costs.
• They are also occasional, not
regular, visitors.
• So, some news sites would prefer
100% national audience.
87. Gated cybercommunities
Mark Tremayne (2005):
• Fewer external links than just a few
years ago.
• Own archive favored over content that is
off-site.
• 246 sites at the start of the Iraq war:
75% of links were internal. - Dimitrova et al.
• Blogs probably have more links off-site
than traditional news sites, but
blogosphere across national lines still
underdeveloped. - Reese et al 2006.
88. Summing up
• A minority of US users go offshore to
find foreign news.
• US news websites don’t aim at a
global audience, but foreigners come
anyway.
• Result: a US-centric global
information universe.
• Will it last – cf. Bollywood &
Nollywood?
92. Narcissism?
DOMESTICATION
• There is a global trend to relate
foreign news to domestic concerns.
• The result is that foreign news in
national media reveals as much as
about the countries covering the news
as about the countries being covered.
- Gundula Stoll (1998)
93. Export imperatives
• Globalising means making a local
product global, and then local again,
so that more locales can use it.
• Localisation is the process of making
a product that was designed to be
marketed on a global scale usable
locally.
• It means adaptation to innumerable
local contexts. - Alberto Orengo.
94. Customized …ghettoized?
• Many sites
allow
consumers to
personalize the
type of
international
news by region
• Shows facility of
the web – and
f t ti
95. Challenge of relevance
"I've never disbelieved in Americans'
appetite for foreign news. You can
ask whether someone is concerned
with the North American Free Trade
Agreement, or ask whether they're
interested in trucks getting free
passage between countries. You'll get
different answers. Lots of people,
besides the college educated, care if
you put it in a context they can relate
96. It’s the type of foreign news
• Public interest is “less in politics and
the stuff of governments than it is in,
say, global warming, or hoof-and-
mouth disease, or the status of
women”. - Andrew Kohut, Pew Centre.
• National survey shows readers prefer
good news and about ordinary
people, than about politics,
government, economics, disasters.
Say there is too much violence and
they want more about culture and
97. Own backyard
• One Atlanta editor cites exploding
Latino and South Asian, and
rapidly growing East Asian and
African, populations in his paper's
circulation area, and says his
readers "need to know these
guys”.
• “They live down the block from
you. Their kids go to school with
yours. They're Atlantans, too."
98. Is there a difference?
• Common refrain is that foreign news
is foreign and local news is local, and
people want and need more of the
latter and less of the former.
• Such distinctions, however, are now
as anachronistic as hot type and copy
boys.
• In a world of increasingly porous
borders, the lines between foreign
and domestic blur for news just as
they blur for commerce, health,
culture, and the environment.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103. Story and the teller
Washington Post foreign correspondent Don
Oberdorfer:
• “We’re in a new era now in which the
ambiguity in what is national and what
is international is very great” -
• “If we just…say that if the news isn’t
coming from overseas then it’s not
international, we’re misleading
ourselves.”
104. Story and the teller
• Just as we see the emergence of
foreign foreign correspondents, we
are seeing the rise of local foreign
correspondents.
• “Local stories far from home”
• “Local journalists can cover foreign
stories.”
-Oberdorfer
105. Who’s “foreign”?
• Because 50% of Bloomberg’s
subscribers are outside the United
States, its staff cautions against
describing its non-U.S.-based
journalists as foreign correspondents.
• The foreign national correspondent
may be a reporter in India writing for
an Indian daily, whose work is read
over the Internet by a resident of
I di li
106. Getting first-hand reports
• There was a time when you had
people on the ground. - Scottie
Williston, ex Cairo bureau chief for CBS.
• The importance of “being there”:
without it, you sacrifice depth and
perspective of an on-the-scene
reporter. - Garrick Utley
108. Bloggers
• Anyone sending information from one
country to another is a de facto
foreign correspondent. - Garrick Utley,
1997
• But bloggers not a complete
alternative to foreign correspondents.
• Compatible: authoritative news,
personal comment.
111. Limits – for now (Pew 2006)
• The web serves mostly as a
supplement to other sources rather
than a primary source of news.
• For now, those who use the web
for news still spend more time
getting news from other sources
than they do getting news online.
112. Limits – for now (Pew 2006)
• In addition, web news consumers
emphasize speed and convenience
over detail. Of the 23% who got
news on the internet yesterday,
only a minority visited newspaper
websites.
• Instead, websites that include
quick updates of major headlines,
such as MSNBC, Yahoo, and
CNN dominate the web-news
113. Web and (G)local?
• “The public’s appetite for foreign news
has changed from a desire for a full meal
to a willingness to pick from a revolving
tray or light appetizers.” Deborah Amos, ex NPR
foreign correspondent.
• PEJ says that news organizations are
becoming more niche players related to
what they cover. But cautions: “does
localism mean provincialism”?
114. Local info – yes, but
• Grassroots news sites – hyperlocal.
(Steve Yelvington).
• Project for Excellence in Journalism
2007: for some newspapers, the new
brand to build audience around is
hyper-localism.
• Priority, but not exclusively.
• Qtn: Why isn’t hyperglobalism also a
priority?
115. Building competencies…
Need a new “Bringing the World Home:
Showing Readers their Global
Connections”, American Society of
Newspaper Editors, 1999.
Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer:
• Leverage a major event – pump out
back-ground (although this can also
be too late).
• Peg story to local affairs, incl
immigrants – but danger of missing
116. Ongoing efforts…
• The way to give Americans
understand-ing about the rest of
the world is to provide international
coverage, over the long haul, that
reflects the same values given to
reporting news at home. …
• At home, when journalists want
to tell readers and viewers about
Christianity in America, they don’t
confine their coverage to the
Branch Davidian and other
t i t t
117. Economics ahead
• There is a long tail – some day it
will wag. Who wags it is another
question …
118. Ideological: out of synch:
has to change
Organizational:
outsourcing, rich niching
Media Routine: new
topics & forms of news
Individual: up to us?
Extramedia: increasing
external sources
Shoemaker and Reese model
119. Leadership?
• “If the media don’t provide
readers and viewers with sound
international reporting, how many
will know what they are missing?”
- Edward Seaton, former president of American
Society of Newspaper Editors.
• Beware self-fulfilling prophesy.
• “A lack of knowledge breeds a
lack of interest” - Katherine Graham cited
120. Trying …
• Serve the insiders: reflect world on
door-step, & the world just a plane hop
away.
• Serve the outside users: they are part
of the audience, include them in the
social networking and other
participation.
• Avoid a cyberbubble
• Keep an eye on language access.
121. Can be done …
• Reflecting interdependency,
common humanity, diversity.
• Even what people want – horse
sex, death of Anna Nicole Smith.
Tell how is it playing elsewhere.
• Think truly global (Foreign AND
foreign).
• Connect (don’t reduce) to local.
122. Horizons
• News is a window on the world,
but the view depends on whether
it is large or small, many panes or
few, whether the glass is opaque
or clear. -
Gaye Tuchman, 1973
• Need web windows to match the
view!
• Including the Nigerian election!
