Foreign news reporting in the age of new technologies

This paper discusses systematically how foreign news reporting has changed or remained the same across cultures since the emergence of the Internet and also since the end of the debate over a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). The authors pose the question: has the emergence of the Internet and other new technologies (such as video display terminals (VDTs), pagination systems, computer graphics terminals, interactive multimedia systems and digital telecommunications) resulted in a significant change in international news content mix, in particular news involving developing and developed countries? The authors draw on research data to show how German and Australian newspapers report death in international news, as well as how five African newspapers report the world. The authors argue that, although the Internet may have resulted in an increase in the quantity of foreign news stories reported in newspapers across cultures, journalistic practices and cultures rather than the Internet hold greater influence over the way foreign news is reported in Germany, Australia, Nigeria and Ghana. In regard to the key issues raised during the NWICO debate, the authors point out that the Internet has resulted in greater volume of foreign news reported in major newspapers but the quality of foreign news remains significantly the same – “bad” news still dominates, whether the news occurs in developing or developed countries. The authors argue that the Internet and other new technologies may not change the quality of foreign news, as news decisions are made by senior (section) editors in the news production process