The article examines the orientation of the European press during the recent crisis in the Persian Gulf by analysing coverage of the event, attitudes towards the contending parties and the presentation of Saddam Hussein. The study focuses specifically on the months preceding the intervention of the coalition led by the United States. The evidence indicates that, in all the dailies examined, the coverage of the crisis went through different and basically predictable stages, `surprise', `interest', `routine', `waiting' and the `flood', i.e. like those of a media event. The differences observed among the dailies were significant with respect to three issues. The first is whether the attitude towards military intervention led by the United States was favourable or unfavourable. Secondly, some dailies were more militaristic while others were more pro-Arab. Finally, contrary to expectations, not all the dailies defined as `conservative' were the most interventionist and militaristic, whereas several considered `progressive' were.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adams, W.C.
(1982) `Covering the World in Ten Minutes: Networks, News and International Affairs', in W.D. Adams (ed.), Television Coverage of International Affairs. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
2.
Altheide, D.L.
and R.P. Snow (1983) `Methodological Problems of Dealing with Disarmament in the Press', in Current Research on Peace and Violence, 1: 29-51.
3.
Altheide, D.L.
and R.P. Snow (1991) Media Worlds in the Postjournalism Era. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
4.
Bennett, W.L.
, L.A. Gresset and W. Haltom (1985) `Repairing the News: A Case Study of the News Paradigm', Journal of Communication, 35(2): 50-68.
5.
Carey, A.
(1980) `Word Power in Politics: “Terror”, “Aggression” and “Refugees” in the Semantics of Violence and Repression', Et cetera, 37(1): 53-64.
6.
Cohen, B.
(1963) The Press and the Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
7.
Cohen, Y.
(1986) Media Diplomacy. London: Frank Cass.
8.
Cook, E.
(1920) The Press in war-time. London: Macmillan.
9.
Davison, P.W.
(1975) `Diplomatic Reporting: Rules of Game', Journal of Communication, Autumn: 138-146.
10.
Dorman, W. A.
and M. Farhang (1987) The U.S. Press and Iran. Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
11.
Galtung, J.
and M. Ruge Holmes (1965) `The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crisis in Four Foreign Newspapers', Journal of Peace Research, 1.
12.
Greimas, A.J.
(1970) De sens. Paris: Seuil.
13.
Greimas, A.J.
(1983) De sens II. Paris: Seuil.
14.
Hallin, D.
(1989) The Uncensored War. The Media and Vietnam. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
15.
Harris, R.
(1983) Gotcha! The Media, the Government and the Falklands Crisis. London: Faber and Faber.
16.
Hummler, B.
(1982) Methoden der journalistischen Wissensvermittlung, untersucht am Beispel der Thematik Nato-Doppelbeschluss und Friedenbewegung in der Presse. Stuttgart: Hohenheim.
17.
Katz, E.
and D. Dayan (1985) `Media Events: On the Experience of not Being There', Religion, 15: 305-314.
18.
Knightley, P.
(1978) Il Dio della guerra (The First Casualty). Milano: Garzanti.
19.
Krohn, F.B.
(1987) `Military Metaphors: Semantic Pollution of the Market Place', Et cetera, 44.
20.
Larson, J.F.
(1982) `International Affairs Coverage on US Evening Networks News, 1972-79', pp. 15-41 in W.C. Adams (ed.), Television Coverage of International Affairs. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
21.
Larson, J.F.
(1984) Television's Window on the World: International Affairs Coverage on the U.S. Networks. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
22.
Larson, J.F.
(1988) Global Television and Foreign Policy. New York: Foreign Policy Association.
23.
Lasswell, H.D.
and N. Leites (1965) Languages of Politics. Studies in Quantitative Semantics. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
24.
Lent, J.A.
(1977) `Foreign News in American Media', Journal of Communication, 27 (1): 46-51.
25.
Luhmann, N.
(1971) Politische Planung. Bari: Dedalo.
26.
Lutz, P.M.
(1986) `The Topic “War and Peace” in the Mass Media of the Federal Republic of Germany', in T. Varis (ed.), Peace and Communication. San Jose, Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad para la Paz.
27.
Manoff, R.K.
and M. Schudson (eds) (1987) Reading the News. New York: Pantheon Books.
28.
Morrison, D.E.
and H. Tumber (1988) Journalists at War. The Dynamics of News Reporting during the Falklands Conflict. London: Sage.
29.
Rapoport, A.
(1980) `Verbal Maps and Global Politics', Et cetera, 37(4): 297-313.
30.
Rubin, D.M.
(1977) International News and the American Media. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
31.
Rubin, D.M.
and A.M. Cunningham (eds) (1983) War, Peace and the News Media. New York: New York University Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
32.
Savarese, R.
(1985) La verita' dei giornali, 2nd edn.Naples: Guida.
33.
Savarese, R.
(1991a) `Pagine armate', Galassia dell'-informazione, June-August: 47-61.
34.
Savarese, R.
(1991b) `Grafica quotidiana', in M. Bonfantini (ed.), Le Semiotiche particolari. Naples: Esi.
35.
Schlesinger, P.
(1989) `Dalla produzione alla propaganda. Campi d'indage e modelli interpretativi in cinque recenti studi', Problemi dell'informazione, 14(4): 567-594.
36.
Schudson, M.
(1978) Discovering the News. A Social History of American Newspapers. New York: Basic Books.
37.
Schutz, A.
(1975) Reflections of the Problem of Relevance. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
38.
Seymur, N.W., Jr
(1988) `Prosecutor on Press “Cronism”, Washington Journalism Review, 10 (5): 46-47.
39.
Smith, P.F.
(1971) The Swedish Press and Vietnam War Refusers. A Content Analysis of Three Major Swedish Newspapers. Stockholm.
40.
Stone, G.
(1987) Examining Newspapers. London: Sage.
41.
Tannenbaum, P.H.
(1955) `The Indexing Process in Communication', Public Opinion Quarterly, XIX.
42.
Tuchman, G.
(1977) `The Exceptions Proves the Rule: The Study of Routine News Practices', in P. Hirsh, P.V. Miller and F.G. Klein (eds), Strategies for Communication Research. London: Sage.
43.
Veron, E.
(1980) Construire l'evenement. Les media et l'accident de Three Mile Island. Paris: Editions de Minuit.
