War Journalism as a GenreFebruary 8, 2008

Please answer one of the following questions on your 4” x 6” index card (Name at top!)

1. What is indexing and how does it affect what the press covers?

2. Why does Bennett mean when he refers to the press as “semi-independent?”

3. According to Boyd-Barrett, what are the key elements of the genre of war journalism?

Website : www.csus.edu/indiv/b/burnettn

LOCUS site: www.library.csus.edu

University Reader site: www.universityreader.com

What did Andersen mean to highlight when she quotes Daniel Schorr regarding the Abu Ghraib controversy as saying, “This is not a crisis of prisoner abuse. It is a crisis of pictures and the effect that pictures can have.”

The meanings made of war are distinct from the war itself

Has war been transformed in militainment?

If understanding is the second casualty of war, what is the first?

Why are some wars covered by the press and others are not?

What are the differences between the proximate and the deep-level causes of war?

So what exactly is a metanarrative?

Core principle: “…the mainstream news generally stays within the sphere of official consensus and conflict displayed by public statements of the key government officials who manage the policy areas and decision-making processes that make the news.”

Definition of indexing: “The implicit weighting of these key story elements according to the positioning of power blocs at key decision points along news beats is so regularized that it has been called indexing.”

“…story lines of the news tend to track closely with journalists’ perceptions of power in government institutions.”

“…press story lines closely followed the degree of public debate in government power circles…” (referring to Mermin)

Basic axiom: Indexing: News generally reflects the story lines of those with the:◦ Greatest perceived power to affect the situation

or issue◦ Greatest institutional capacity to engage

government news “flywheels”◦ Best communication operations

What are topoi? Pro-war arguments spring from three

master arguments:

◦ Ethnocentrism

◦ Territoriality

◦ Optimism

What is the thrust of their study?

Let’s listen to why it might be important:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/WARCARD/

As a journalist or interested govt. major, what would you want to ask about the study ?