Consensus at Home, Opposition Abroad: Officials, Foreign Sources, and US News Coverage of Drone Warfare

Charles M. Rowling; Penelope Sheets; William Pettit; Jason Gilmore

doi:10.1177/1077699017742092

Consensus at Home, Opposition Abroad: Officials, Foreign Sources, and US News Coverage of Drone Warfare

Charles M. Rowling, Penelope Sheets, William Pettit, Jason Gilmore

Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examines the process and conditions under which U.S. news coverage aligns with—or challenges—the communications of government officials, focusing on the issue of U.S. drone warfare. White House, military, congressional, and press communications during President Obama’s first 5 years in office are analyzed to assess how the policy has been framed among officials and covered within the press. Evidence indicates that news coverage was significantly more critical of the policy than what was expressed among officials. In particular, despite near consensus at home, journalists exercised considerable discretion, consistently locating and amplifying oppositional voices from abroad in news coverage.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	886-908
Number of pages	23
Journal	Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
Volume	95
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699017742092
State	Published - Dec 1 2018

Keywords

drone warfare
foreign sourcing
framing
indexing
news norms
press independence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Communication

Access to Document

10.1177/1077699017742092

Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Consensus at Home, Opposition Abroad: Officials, Foreign Sources, and US News Coverage of Drone Warfare'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

@article{41cff9a3b68043b5a201f99e2fc50650,

title = "Consensus at Home, Opposition Abroad: Officials, Foreign Sources, and US News Coverage of Drone Warfare",

abstract = "This study examines the process and conditions under which U.S. news coverage aligns with—or challenges—the communications of government officials, focusing on the issue of U.S. drone warfare. White House, military, congressional, and press communications during President Obama{\textquoteright}s first 5 years in office are analyzed to assess how the policy has been framed among officials and covered within the press. Evidence indicates that news coverage was significantly more critical of the policy than what was expressed among officials. In particular, despite near consensus at home, journalists exercised considerable discretion, consistently locating and amplifying oppositional voices from abroad in news coverage.",

keywords = "drone warfare, foreign sourcing, framing, indexing, news norms, press independence",

author = "Rowling, {Charles M.} and Penelope Sheets and William Pettit and Jason Gilmore",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 AEJMC.",

year = "2018",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/1077699017742092",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "95",

pages = "886--908",

journal = "Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly",

issn = "1077-6990",

publisher = "Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Consensus at Home, Opposition Abroad

T2 - Officials, Foreign Sources, and US News Coverage of Drone Warfare

AU - Rowling, Charles M.

AU - Sheets, Penelope

AU - Pettit, William

AU - Gilmore, Jason

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - This study examines the process and conditions under which U.S. news coverage aligns with—or challenges—the communications of government officials, focusing on the issue of U.S. drone warfare. White House, military, congressional, and press communications during President Obama’s first 5 years in office are analyzed to assess how the policy has been framed among officials and covered within the press. Evidence indicates that news coverage was significantly more critical of the policy than what was expressed among officials. In particular, despite near consensus at home, journalists exercised considerable discretion, consistently locating and amplifying oppositional voices from abroad in news coverage.

AB - This study examines the process and conditions under which U.S. news coverage aligns with—or challenges—the communications of government officials, focusing on the issue of U.S. drone warfare. White House, military, congressional, and press communications during President Obama’s first 5 years in office are analyzed to assess how the policy has been framed among officials and covered within the press. Evidence indicates that news coverage was significantly more critical of the policy than what was expressed among officials. In particular, despite near consensus at home, journalists exercised considerable discretion, consistently locating and amplifying oppositional voices from abroad in news coverage.

KW - drone warfare

KW - foreign sourcing

KW - framing

KW - indexing

KW - news norms

KW - press independence

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043311592&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85043311592&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/1077699017742092

DO - 10.1177/1077699017742092

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85043311592

VL - 95

SP - 886

EP - 908

JO - Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

JF - Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

SN - 1077-6990

IS - 4

ER -

Consensus at Home, Opposition Abroad: Officials, Foreign Sources, and US News Coverage of Drone Warfare

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this