The Jeremiad Over Journalism

In the second part of her article, Rostgaard discusses the concept of Americanization in connection
with Cold War research. Rostgaard thinks of the United States of a symbol and a cultural sign more
than an actual physical entity and notes that ―the image that is created of the USA, both by a
conscious effort by the United States, but also in the receiving nation, does not necessarily have
anything to do with the actual United States.‖
In the end Rostgaard uses the German historian Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht to further question the
understanding of Americanization as a one-way influence. Culture specifically must be understood
as more multifaceted and a negotiation between the sender and receiver, where the receiver
―domesticates‖ American culture and changes it into one‘s own; an implicit support for the cultural
encounter-theory. 122 As support for this interpretation, Rostgaard points to the fact that the
Americans themselves adjusted their conscious attempts at influencing other countries overseas to
fit into specific national receptions.
Rostgaards article is a very useful overview of the main debates within the latest literature of Public
Diplomacy and Americanization, but due to its focus on culture, the structural elements of
Americanzation are left out and ―America‖ is therefore seen purely as a symbol rather than an
actual nation with real economic and political consequences. Additionally, based on secondary
literature, Rostgaards precisely defines Public Diplomacy in her discussion but she never attains the
same precision in her use of ―Americanization.‖ 123
Petersen and Sørensen, 2006
In 2006 Klaus Petersen and Nils Arne Sørensen published one of the first attempts at an overall
Americanization study since Peter Knoop Christensen‘s Amerikanisering Af Det Danske Kulturliv i
Perioden 1945-58. [Americanization of the Danish Cultural Life in the Period 1945-58].
In ―Ameri-Danes and Pro-American Anti-Americans,‖ a brief introduction to the political and
economic considerations which brought Denmark under the American sphere of influence is
followed by a description of the American overt, semi-overt and covert information programs.
Petersen and Sørensen show that officials working out ot the American Embassy in Copenhagen
122 Ibid. Page 112. ―An acquisition and readjustment occurs, one does not just absorb passively.‖
123 Ibid. Page 117-118.
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