On the Structure of Foreign News

Abstract

A set of hypotheses on the structure of foreign news, which had been presented by Johan Galtung and Mari Holmboe Ruge, is tested empirically by comparing New York Times' coverage of Sino-Indian relations in 1962 with the 'actual' relations of the two countries as reflected in their official correspondence, published by the Indian government in a series of White Papers. Four of the six hypotheses tested are confirmed. It is found that international relations, according to the newspaper, is comprised as predicted of a series of simple, discrete. and dramatic events, whose nature is such as to tend to confirm our expectations of what will happen. On the other hand, predictions that the newspaper would over-select events which are rare or unexpected, and overemphasize events which are more negative in their consequences, were not confirmed.

Since the New York Times is generally considered one of the world's most complete and factual newspapers, these findings probably apply with even greater force to most other news papers in the world. Therefore, in reporting international news, newspapers should place more emphasis on background material, on complex and ambiguous events, and on dissonant events.

Although Galtung and Ruge had only hypothesized, rather than demonstrated, the existence of the twelve factors influencing news selection discussed in their paper, this study seems to confirm that most, it not all, of the factors do exist and do exert a distorting effect on the news selection process.