International Communication Gazette

In the UN system, conflicts and contradictions seldom concern the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as such, but rather the means of achieving them. These differences of opinion about priorities, and about how much and to whom development aid or assistance should be directed, could be explained by analysing the ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions underpinning the general perspectives in the communication for development (C4D) field. Theoretical changes in the perspective on development communication (modernization, dependency, multiplicity) have also reached the level of policy-makers. As a result, different methodologies and terminologies have evolved, which often make it difficult for agencies, even though they share a common commitment to the overall goals of development communication, to identify common ground, arrive at a full understanding of each other's objectives, or to cooperate effectively in operational projects. Consequently, it is difficult for development organizations in general and UN agencies in particular to reach a common approach and strategy.

/ This study investigates the prevalence of news frames in SARS news coverage from the Xinhua News Agency and the Associated Press (AP), as well as whether the frames were predicted by news environment and the SARS timeline. Factor analysis supported four frame dimensions: attribution of responsibility, human interest, economic consequences and severity. Frame prevalence was considered in terms of, first, the story as the unit of analysis and, second, word count as the unit of analysis. For both types of measurement, attribution of responsibility and severity frames were more common in AP. For economic consequences, story frame prevalence was higher in AP, while word frame prevalence was higher in Xinhua. For both types of measurement, economic consequences decreased over time, while attribution of responsibility and severity increased. Attribution of responsibility and human interest frames increased more over time in AP, while the severity frame increased more over time in Xinhua.

/ For many years, international radio broadcasting has been used by nations around the world as a foreign policy tool. As the world political system changed following the end of the Cold War, so the importance of international radio broadcasting to some nations has changed. Although there has been some scholarly work devoted to international radio broadcasting, such work has focused mainly on the station and has neglected the system in which the station operates. This article uses systems theory and organizational communication principles to develop a framework for analyzing how and why nations are using international radio broadcasting.

/ This study content analyzed international news published on two of the most visited websites in the US, cnn.com and www.nytimes.com. The influences of trade, existence of news agencies, national traits and cultural and geographic proximity on these two news websites were examined. The international news from the online version was analyzed and compared with the print and broadcast versions. The study found that trade volume and existence of news agencies are two leading predictors of international news coverage in both online and traditional media. Yet, the influence of news agencies on the websites seems greater than on the traditional media. Also, press freedom was found irrelevant to international coverage in the US media.

/ This article examines the impact of national influences and national interests upon foreign news coverage. To this end, it examines the newspaper reporting on the 12 November 1991 `Dili Massacre', a case study neglected by academic research and press coverage analysis. This work introduces the distinction between intra-media and extra-media influences while looking at nuanced dimensions regarding the source of national influences on the basis of differences between the press and government agendas as well as the level of critique within the coverage. In considering all these variables, this study proposes an elaborated analysis and assessment of foreign news that runs counter to previous findings in the literature, notably Lee and Yang's study on national interest in foreign news.