The Global President: International Media and the US Government

(Paperback)

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In The Global President: International Communication and the US Government, scholars Stephen J. Farnsworth, S. Robert Lichter and Roland Schatz provide an expansive international examination of news coverage of US political communication, and the roles the US government and the Presidency play in an increasingly communicative and interconnected political world. This comprehensive yet concise text will engage and inform students in many intersecting disciplines, as it includes analyses of not just the Presidency, but US foreign policy and contemporary political media itself. The media developed to keep pace with the headwinds of political change are being asked more and more to adapt to and enhance the ways in which policy-makers, voters, and students make sense of the process of governance.

The realities of an ever-changing political landscape are magnified nowhere more greatly than in the realm of foreign policy, and the stakes surrounding the need for quality communicational skills are no higher than at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because - when the voices of the US government speak - the world is listening. This book provides students a perfect entry point into the complex and amorphous relationship between media and government, where that relationship has been, and where it looks to be heading in the future.

Reviews

Those who continue to accept Fouad Ajami's oft-quoted claim that Al-Jazeera is 'a dangerous force' can profit from reading this analysis of international media coverage of American government during the George W. Bush and Obama presidencies. Farnsworth, Lichter, and Schatz use 'what [they] believe is the largest database of international television news content ever created' to show why this and other pieces of conventional wisdom about international media's coverage of the US should be revised. That Al-Jazeera gave even Bush 'surprisingly favorable coverage' is only one of the surprises that emerge from the authors' data analysis. The analysis interrogates both well-established theoretical principles such as that there is an 'international two-step flow' of media influence; and popular assumptions such as that sophisticated European media outlets flayed Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign (coverage of Palin was actually 'far more positive in European media than in the U.S. media') . . . [T]heir findings are sufficiently arresting to interest any media scholar. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates, all levels; graduate and research collections. * Choice Reviews *
The Global Presidents findings benefit from a variety of analyses of the tone of foreign coverage, and the book does add nicely to the canon on coverage of the United States in the international media. . . .[T]he project is a worthwhile addition to understanding media coverage and the perception of America abroad, and for that reason alone, it would be helpful for courses in journalism and political science. * Presidential Studies Quarterly *
Based on a wealth of data from countries around the world on the image of America in TV news over the past decade, this impressive study is a must-read for understanding how perceptions of the country and its leaders have changed and the potential for the President of the United States to exert strategic influence. -- Holli A. Semetko, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Media and International Affairs Emory University

Author Bio

Stephen J. Farnsworth is professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Mary Washington and director of the University's Center for Leadership and Media Studies. He is the author or co-author of several books on media and politics and a former daily newspaper journalist. Farnsworth was recognized with an award for his dedication and service to Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, at the American Political Science Association Conference 2016.

S. Robert Lichter is professor of communication at George Mason University, where he directs the Center for media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media research organization.

Roland Schatz is the president of the New York - based Media tenor Ltd., a provider of international media content analysis.