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From: jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (John Quarterman)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: international news coverage in newspapers
Message-ID: <1382@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Mar-85 12:10:59 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.1382
Posted: Mon Mar 25 12:10:59 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Mar-85 01:10:30 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 86

An issue that keeps popping up in this newsgroup is how the U.S. media
view India, or the world at large outside the U.S.  Here is some information
on newspapers that addresses the more general question.  Also note where
the one Indian newspaper included is on the list.

>From World Press Review, March 1985, Vol. 32, no. 3, page 4:


	The Editor's Corner

	     Which newspapers print the most international news, and
	do U.S. papers pay more or less attention to is than others?
	A recent study by the Nihon Shinbun Kyokai (Japan  Newspaper
	Publishers  &  Editors  Assn.) of Tokyo, in cooperation with
	the East-West Center of Honolulu, provides some  interesting
	- and troubling - partial answers.

	     The study, summarized in the NSK News Bulletin  [Dec.],
	encompasses   twenty-nine  newspapers  in  fourteen  nations
	during the week of Oct. 24-30, 1982.  In that week, the News
	Bulletin   notes,   ``there  were  no  big  developments  in
	international politics.   The  main  news  included  the  UN
	Disarmament Week, economic friction, and depreciation of the
	yen.  In the U.S., it was just before the midterm elections,
	campaigns  were on for a referendum on a nuclear fereze, and
	the National Conference of Bishops drafted a letter  calling
	for the total abolition of nuclear arms.''

	     Based on that week's coverage,  the  independent  South
	China Morning Post of Hong Kong ranks first in precentage of
	total news space allocated to  international  reports:  60.8
	per  cent.  Its closest challengers are the liberal Le Monde
	of Paris (48.5 per  cent)  and  the  conservative  Times  of
	London (40.1 per cent).

	     The New York Times  is  the  highest  ranking  American
	newspaper  -  in  22d  place, with 14.1 per cent of its news
	space ``international.''  That  figure,  the  News  Bulletin
	notes,  ``is  almost  the  same  as  that  of  such Japanese
	regional newspapers as Nishi-Nippon Shimbun (in Kyushu)  and
	Kochi Shimbun (in Shikoku).'' Two other American dailies are
	at the bottom: the Los Angeles Times (28th, with 9 per  cent
	of  its  news  space  ``international'')  and  the St. Louis
	Post-Dispatch (29th; 7.5 percent).  The rankings:

	     1.   South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)   60.8 %
	     2.   Le Monde (France)                      48.5
	     3.   Times (Britain)                        40.1
	     4.   Nation Review (Thailand)               39.2
	     5.   Nan Yang (Malaysia)                    39.2
	     6.   Sin Chew Jit Poh (Singapore)           37.0
	     7.   Straits Times (Singapore)              35.2
	     8.   Australian (Australia)                 34.4
	     9.   Age (Australia)                        29.8
	    10.   Times of India (India)                 29.6
	    11.   Asahi Shimbun (Japan)                  28.7
	    12.   Renmin Ribao (China)                   27.5
	    13.   Sing Tao Jih Pao (Hong Kong)           26.6
	    14.   Kompas (Indonesia)                     25.1
	    15.   Pusan Ilbo (South Korea)               24.5
	    16.   Donga Ilbo (South Korea)               21.6
	    17.   Harapan (Indonesia)                    21.1
	    18.   Utisan Melayu (Malaysia)               20.3
	    19.   Daily Mirror (Britain)                 19.1
	    20.   Le Provencal (France)                  18.0
	    21.   Bulletin Today (Phillipines)           14.6
	    22.   New York Times (U.S.)                  14.1
	    23.   Nishi-Nippon Shimbun (Japan)           14.0
	    24.   Kochi Shimbun (Japan)                  13.9
	    25.   Daily Express (Phillipines)            13.8
	    26.   Wen Hui Bao (China)                    13.6
	    27.   Thai Rath (Thailand)                   11.6
	    28.   Los Angeles Times (U.S.)               9.0
	    29.   St. Louis Post-Dispatch (U.S.)         7.5

	     The list, it  should  be  emphasized,  is  not  of  the
	world's  preeminent newspapers in international coverage; it
	is only a ranking of the papers selected.  Also, as the News
	Bulletin  points out, ``it should be noted that the absolute
	total  space  in  American  newspapers  is   very   large.''
	Nonetheless,  the study provides little comfort for citizens
	who believe  that  international  coverage  has  too  low  a
	priority in the U.S.
-- 

John Quarterman, jsq@ut-sally.ARPA, {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq