The Jeremiad Over Journalism

As can be seen in Table 2, from a transmission perspective, van Elteren‘s framework suggests
analyzing the ―the public, private profit, and private non-profit‖ sectors of society, here identified as
the United States Information Agency (USIA) under the Department of State, educational
institutions, media institutions, private corporations selling technology, as well as the non-profit
institutions that facilitated exchange between Americans and Danes. Lastly, key individuals are
identified by van Elteren as driving Americanization to other countries. 14
For purposes of the current study, previously classified documents from the Department of State are
used to operationalize the American government‘s attempts to transmit American values and ideas
overseas and will be the primary sources used for the analysis of American transmission.
Van Elteren understands Transnationalization as ―contact zones,‖ meaning areas where ―local
meanings and practices interact with the intruding beliefs and practices.‖ For the current project this
is specifically operationalized in regards to the educational exchange carried out between the United
States and Denmark from the end of World War II and forward. A host of Danish journalists were
afforded the opportunity to study in the United States while a number of Americans were likewise
invited to share their knowledge with Danes through different exchange organizations with the
Fulbright program being the most prominent. An analysis of archival documents from the Fulbright
Commission and the Denmark-America Foundation will provide the basis for this section.
Appropriation in Van Elteren‘s framework means identifying the ―volume (‗size‘ and scale) of
ideas, goods, services and practices imported or adopted from the United States, and the extent of
their reach.‖ For the purposes of the current project the appropriation analysis is delimited to the
Danish Union of Journalists‘ publication Journalisten, which is received and contributed to by the
vast majority of Danish journalists and discusses a wide variety of topics from government policy,
over education to journalistic practices. 15
The content analysis entailing ―a systematic reading of a body of texts, images, and symbolic
matter,‖ is guided by communication professor Klaus Krippendorff‘s conceptual framework which
14 Ibid. Page 145. As will become apparent in the chapters to follow Danish journalists such as Herbert Pundik and
Anders Krab-Johansen, among others, are considered key individuals due to their role in international knowledge
exchange and subsequent implementation of new-found knowledge in Danish journalistic practice.
15 Ibid. Page 145-178.
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