Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, 8th edition

Westminster view

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JK

L M N O P R S T U V

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was severely curtailed by news management on

the part of the military authorities and by ideo-

logical pressures requiring the activities of the

‘home team’ to be presented in the best light (See

embedded reporters; news management

in times of war).

Westerstähl and Johansson use their model

to illustrate how coverage might run counter

to traditional news values. Th ey cite the case of

the West’s interest in Poland during strikes and

protests mounted by the Polish trade union Soli-

darity in the 1980s. Th e events were dramatic,

yet Poland was neither near nor ‘important’. Th e

key to this special attention was, in the view

of the authors, ideology. Solidarity’s actions

threatened the chief ideological rival to capital-

ism – communism.

If performed in the West, Solidarity’s actions

would have incurred critical media attention:

strikes are bad for business. However, such strike

action taking place in an Iron Curtain country,

and in the context of the Cold War, led to

Solidarity’s trade unionists being cast as heroes

fighting for freedom against Soviet socialist

totalitarianism.

‘In our view,’ write Westerstähl and Johansson,

‘ideologies are the main source of deviation in

news reporting from a standard based on more

or less objectifi ed news values.’ See discourse

of power. See also topic guide under

communication models.

Westminster view Opinion that the media

in the UK take their cue from and align their

perspectives to the standpoint of the activities

news: news values and ideologies’ by Jorgen

Westerstähl and Folke Johansson, published in

the European Journal of Communication, March

1994. Just as the environment or context is the
      centre and axis from which communicative
      action springs in the andersch, staats and
      bostrom’s model of communication, 1969,
      ideology is the central ‘generator’ of news
      coverage according to Westerstähl and Johans-
      son.
      The prevailing ideology of national interest
      works through four primary criteria for news
      selection: proximity, importance, drama and
      access. The first refers to perceived closeness
      to ‘us’ varyingly in terms of geography, culture,
      politics, the economy and language. While the
      US is distant geographically from the UK, it is
      nevertheless important – an elite nation. Th e
      Netherlands, in contrast, while being geographi-
      cally close, is less ‘important’. Events occurring in
      the US are therefore more likely to be reported
      than events in Th e Netherlands, unless those
      events have a direct relevance to the UK.
      We recognize the news values as identifi ed
      by Galtung and Ruge here – ethnocentrism and
      elitism in particular. The notion of drama is
      obvious enough but access is a welcome crite-
      rion: where reporting is possible, where report-
      ers have access, there is greater likelihood that
      foreign events will be covered. Th e nature of that
      access is also critical. Th ere was massive cover-
      age of the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003, but access
      to the kind of information reporters wanted if
      a full picture of events was to be transmitted

Westerstähl and Johansson’s model of news factors in foreign news, 1994