This textual analysis of top US newspapers examines coverage of the Sudanese ‘Lost Boys’ as they were being resettled in the USA after enduring years of civil war and exile. I uncover some of the narrative elements employed in the text that perpetuate US myths such as ‘the rugged individualist’ and ‘the Promised Land’, even as a complex foreign news story is made palatable to local news consumers. I find that the refugees were presented as coming from a situation beyond understanding, vessels waiting to be filled by US material culture. As human-interest features, the stories provide a human face to far-away tragedy but also are unsuccessful at moving beyond surface explanations of complex international situations. This indicates that an authentic paradigm shift concerning international news coverage has not yet occurred.
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