Distance and News Interest: Scarperia, Italy

MacLean, Malcolm; Pinna, Luca

doi:10.1177/107769905803500104

Cited by 25 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Members of the system perceive the rank or 'place' of their nation in this hierarchy. 3. A power hierarchy of nations may also be determined by measurement of how they rank on such variables as geographic size, population, economic development.…”

Section: Ciillitral Affinities and Economic Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theoretical Considerations in Predicting Volume and Direction of International Information Flow

Hester¹

1973

Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands)

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At any given moment an extremely complicated process of interaction is occurring between the national systems into which mankind has grouped itself. These nations or countries represent the type of system by which, according to Karl Deutsch, mankind is attempting to carry out the art of government.' The national systems are in a constant process of development or degeneration, as viewed over time. Some are building up, delineating their boundaries from the global environment more clearly, taking their place as nation-states in the world. Others work to preserve and conserve the national systems already achieved. And still others are disintejratin,a. becoming shadowv and permeable, not maintainirg a clear demarcation between themselves and the 'outside'.Yet if we could place ourselves figuratively above the earth and if we had the sensitivity to tell what is going on among mankind below, we would find generally that men have organized themselves into national systems with discernible identities. Some elements of a 'worldsystem' might be present, but the nation-state is still the main unit of governance at this stage of history.But while nations have their unique and separate being with their own processes of interaction and senses of community within their systems, they are no more completely isolated than are the individuals who dwell in a great city. A constant interplay of activity brings nations as well as individuals into contact with others. Events external to the system or to an organism may have the most important consequences for it, and all living systems have provisions for receiving information concerning external events from the 'outside'.The price a living system or organism may pay if it fails to utilize its powers of surveillance of its environment can be death or serious injury to it. Nations, just as biological organisms, must carry out this surveillance of the environment through an exchange of information if thev wish to continue existence in the face of outside hazard. Informational inputs resulting from such survevs of the environment give the controllers and directors of the systems knowledge upon which to base responses appropriate to the maintenance of their system. 1. Nationalism and Social Communication (Rev. Ed.: Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1966), p. 4. 240Information -knowledge, facts, intelligence -is the raw material which must be digested and interpreted and the appropriate responses correlated. Lasswell's functions of communication as a surveillance of the environment and then correlation of response by parts of a society apply to a consideration of the relationship between nations of the world.= His third function of communication, passing on the cultural heritage, would seem also to apply, but to a lesser degree.Information exchanged between national systems, then, may be processed to protect the existence of the systems, and to set policies for their governance. The forms such information may take are many. A few of them would include diplomatic messages as purveyors of ...

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Section: Ciillitral Affinities and Economic Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The national system or nation-state is the major structure within which men govern themselves at this point in time. 3. Systems or organisms must have knowledge of events in the external environment to maintain the existence of the system from outside dangers.…”

Section: Ciillitral Affinities and Economic Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical Considerations in Predicting Volume and Direction of International Information Flow

Hester¹

1973

Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands)

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“…Sociologists, economists, psychologists, as well as geographers, international relations, and communication scholars have all employed the concept in their respective research areas. For examples, McLean and Pinna (1958) found a strong correlation between physical propinquity and individual knowledge and interest; Zipf (1946Zipf ( , 1949 formulated the "principle of least effort" by combining geographic distance and population size to measure behavior and communication patterns between two units; Merritt (1964) and Gleditsch (1969) modified this principle for inter-nation research; and Deutsch (1960Deutsch ( , 1961, among others, studied the integration potential of societies through the use of distance as measured by the frequency and quality of transactions between them. Others have geometrically measured the relative and absolute distances between nation dyads to determine the behavior one country directs towards another (for example, Park, 1972;and Rummel, 1965).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The elite press, the global system, and foreign news attention

Semmel

1977

International Interactions

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“…Geographic distance as a predictor of international news coverage has been supported by several studies (e.g. Adams, 1986;Dupree, 1971;MacLean and Pinna, 1958). These researchers found a negative correlation between number of stories and geographic distance.…”

Section: Geographical/physical Distancementioning

confidence: 92%

Anointing a New Enemy

Stone¹,

Xiao²

2007

International Communication Gazette

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Do nations require an adversary? US media coverage of China, as reflected in national news magazines, was analyzed before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union to determine how media portrayed this global power change. China received significantly more coverage after the Soviet Union breakup, and the post-breakup themes and frames about China were significantly different and more negative. This study of coverage related to global power shifts suggests that adversarial political relationships are mirrored in a nation's domestic media and may be necessary for national unity.Keywords / breakup of the Soviet Union / China / China frame / cultural affinity / economic/trade factors / international news hole / media coverage / national interest / national news magazines / political relations / world system theory

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Distance and News Interest: Scarperia, Italy

Abstract: This is the first report on one phase of an extensive study of mass media intake and attitudes in a small Italian community. The authors are seeking to establish a means of predicting a person's reading or listening habits on the basis of his expressed interest in news about far places.

Cited by 25 publications

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Theoretical Considerations in Predicting Volume and Direction of International Information Flow

Theoretical Considerations in Predicting Volume and Direction of International Information Flow

The elite press, the global system, and foreign news attention

Anointing a New Enemy

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