Rupert Yorke - College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Yorke, RupertLearning Log Assignment 4 - Survey of the treatment of British newsin the media of the student’s host countryWhilst forever conscious of over-generalizing and offering a rudimentary conclusion to a relativelycomprehensive question, I can safely report that the coverage of British news in American media,nationwide, is virtually non-existent. Such a statement could easily be prone to excessive hyperbole,but British affairs and developments are seldom covered by the self-obsessed, insular leviathan thatis the US media. Such an approach was actually not much of a surprise when I arrived out here – Ihad previously gathered that American reporting tends to be characterized by an incredible degreeof self-centeredness and constant harking back to how America is directly affected. The newswebsites online such as the ‘objective’ CNN site would possibly provide the best (if veryrudimentary) British news stories, but these will be strictly limited to monumental political oreconomic developments such as the election of a new Prime Minister or government scandal 8 . Theywould certainly examine isolated events and rarely address on-going social issues. The impressiverange of daily newspapers will similarly neglect to report exclusively British news, instead opting toclump us together with the rest of Europe and remind Americans of the general distrust andantipathy for European affairs. American TV is notoriously poor, comprising either American sports 9 ,inane chat shows, or lengthy news programmes – the latter of which only approaches anythingBritish when the Royal family seem to be attracting headline news. Americans seem obsessed withour monarchy and its individuals – when the announcement of Prince William’s engagement to KateMiddleton emerged, our quaint island was at last granted a few precious and saturated minutes ofnational televised coverage.In terms of my experience of American media, I try and purchase a daily broadsheet every other daycombined with listening to NPR (National Public Radio) online every morning, providing I wake up intime. USA Today and The Washington Post are supposedly pretty impartial, objective newspaperswhich report on mostly national and federal issues, along with no more than one or two doublepages of international news. The recent political unrest in the Middle East was reported in quitesome detail, yet in a recurring theme in American journalism, the nuances of the developments arealways linked back to the varying connotations for the US – speculation as to how much aid theObama administration should be preparing or whether or not every US citizen is safe and out of theregion. NPR is extremely informative of US news, but will only delve into international issues ifAmerica is directly involved. This is testament to the still very much active element of isolationism inAmerican culture – news about their own culture comes before anything else.In a further reflection on American media in general, it cannot be disputed that the standard of theirreporting and worldwide coverage (when it involves them) is first-class. Despite the chronicinsularity and quasi-jingoistic tone, both local and national newspapers are of an extremely highquality in terms of reporting and opinions. The more liberal New York Times seems to garner mostrespect and following amongst young students at William & Mary, but students in general seem torefrain from purchasing a daily paper, relying on Internet-based sources instead. However, the8 I have read next to nothing concerning how the David Cameron-led coalition government is settling in togoverning the UK.9 British, and indeed European sports, are seldom ever reported in the states.