McMaster Journal of Communication - McMaster University

McMaster Journal of Communication
Fall 2004
Volume 1, Issue 1
ISSN 1710-257X
The World of News:
An International Comparative Analysis of Television News
Imre Szeman, Anne Bain, Timothy Ho,
Kurt Illerbrun, John Mani, Terri Rodak,
Stephanie Witten, Bita Zakeri
McMaster University
Keywords: television, news, globalization, national, international, social construction, framing,
comparative
Through an intensive, comparative study of daily news broadcasts from the United States,
Canada, Great Britain, Israel, Iran, Japan, Hong Kong, and Hungary over a one-month period, the
project will investigate the different ways in which major international events are covered in daily
national news broadcasts. As highlighted by the recent disagreements over the role that the
international community and the United Nations should play in world affairs, there are substantial
differences around the globe concerning the character and significance of the challenges and threats
facing humanity today. The television news provides one of the most important information
sources worldwide for citizens and political leaders in the decisions and deliberations that they make
on a daily basis. This is especially true with respect to national responses to international events and
crises, which depend to a very large degree on information provided by major media sources on
events taking place at distant locales. For this reason, the daily television news provides a rich site
for the analysis of the social construction of the meaning and significance of contemporary political
and social events, especially when such an analysis takes place in a comparative frame.
In terms of a theoretical standpoint, we accept that news broadcasts inform viewer consciousness
– how they perceive both the local and global world around them. A national citizenry obtains
information about the world around them through the medium of television news. The
institutionalized mediation of news to a national audience forms a viewership vis-à-vis the ritual of
the evening news. Therefore, it is important to study exactly what is conveyed through the news
Research Note
McMaster Journal of Communication ISSN 1710-257X Vol.1 pg1

and how it is presented – for it comes as close to representing the “truth” about the outside world as
many people will ever know.
The news is a construction. Events are presented as individual anomalous occurrences that are
largely removed from a causal historical context. Events that take months or years to unfold receive
little attention, whereas catastrophic events are given the headlines – often without accompanying
background information. Despite the discontinuous nature of news sequences, broadcasts
ultimately design a package to make the viewer feel informed. Additionally, it serves to reassure
people and reinforce beliefs that a national community is meant to share. When comparing
newscasts across cultures, then, it is significant to note the various ways in which differing social
norms, cultural standards, and national ideologies are reinforced throughout a particular broadcast.
The project will address three major questions:
+RZGRHVWKHGDLO\QDWLRQDOQHZVLQGLIIHUHQWFRXQWULHVFRQVWUXFWWKHLQWHUQDWLRQDO·DQG
relate local circumstances to global contexts?
:KDWDre the differences in the events examined and highlighted, and the relative
importance (or lack thereof) assigned to them?
:KDWNH\WHUPVRUFRQFHSWVDUHLPSRUWDQWLQFRQVWUXFWLQJWKHUHODWLRQVKLSRIQDWLRQDO
contexts to international events, and how are these configured or expressed differently in
different circumstances? (Examples might include concepts such as “globalization,”
“democracy,” “freedom,” “free trade,” “autonomy,” “national sovereignty,” and “selfdetermination”)
Research data will be collected via the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition’s
Global Video Facility at McMaster University, which allows for access to national daily news
broadcasts through the SCOLA satellite service.
While quantitative analysis is of limited utility for discursive analysis, it is necessary for
comparative and classification purposes. Basic content analysis will determine how news broadcasts
and stories are constructed and portrayed, how the news is delivered over a period of time, and who
is given a voice throughout the broadcast. Delving deeper, discursive analysis will allow us to
examine how the “national” and “international” are constructed by the broadcasts, what metaphors
are employed, and how events, nations, and individuals are characterized.
Our initial research allowed us to develop a protocol for data collection. The analysis will be
conducted in two stages: individual broadcast analysis followed by a comparative analysis. Video
content will be examined according to quantitative measures such as the number and length of news
segments and qualitative discursive analysis, which will observe how news segments are framed,
what rhetorical devices are used, and how conceptions of the ‘national’ or ‘international’ are
developed. Details of the comparative analysis are in progress.
We hope to present our findings at the 2004 Cultural Studies Association (US) Annual
Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.
Acknowledgements: This research project is made possible by a grant from the Petro Canada
Young Innovator’ s Research Award.
Research Note
McMaster Journal of Communication ISSN 1710-257X Vol.1 pg2