Foreign News Matters combines systematic content analyses with insightful interpretation, places this research into theoretical, historical and political contexts, and uses an elegant organizing structure that compares news coverage within and across nation-states, regions, and the globe. The result is a significant contribution to our understanding of the constructed nature of 'news,' the diverse practices of contemporary journalism, and the implications of both for cross-national understanding of the Darfur crises specifically, and foreign 'others' more generally.
- Michael X. Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania,
Foreign News Matters reveals a great deal about who decides what is news, the different ways national media define a story, and what this means for the publics that consume the news. Mody's starting point is that news about human abuse is a desirable end in itself, and an investment against future genocides. The analysis of how various media measured up to that standard in covering the crisis in Darfur is fascinating and, in some cases, alarming. The result is a must-read for anyone interested in international journalism.
- Catherine McKercher, Carleton University,
Mody combines political economy, international relations, and content analysis in this unique interpretation of foreign news as geopolitically situated knowledge. Her focus on the Global South and the North and on print and online news offers new understandings of global news flows. Her analysis of the potentials and pitfalls of foreign news as international education is illuminating.
- W Lance Bennett, University of Washington,