Page 194 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

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INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL
COMMUNICATION

Thus far we have been concerned with the role of communication
and mass media in the domestic political debates of a society. The
political process, however, also has an international dimension.
Nation-states have interests vis-à-vis each other, which frequently
bring them into economic, diplomatic, or military conflict. In pursuing
such conflicts governments use not only the conventional instruments
of power (economic pressure and military force) but public opinion,
both at home and abroad.
Before the era of mass communication, relations between states
were carried on largely behind closed doors, with appropriately heavy
reliance on secret diplomacy and subterfuge. Educated elites could
read about them in their newspapers, but the mass of the people
remained in relative ignorance of their governments’ activities in this
sphere. Secrecy and covert manoeuvrings are still extensively used,
of course, but international relations can no longer be conducted
without consideration being given to public opinion. As the mass
media have expanded, and the time lag between event and reportage
of it has inexorably shortened, so the foreign policies of states are
pursued in the full glare of publicity. Indeed, governments and other
political actors use the media to influence public opinion on foreign
policy in their favour. In international politics, as in domestic, image
has come to rival substance in the calculations of politicians and
their advisers. The principles of news and information management
described in previous chapters now apply equally to the sphere of
international relations. For all governments, domestic and global
public opinion has become a key factor in the formulation and
execution of foreign policy.
In this chapter we consider how governments, principally those
of Britain and the United States in the post-Second World War period,
have sought to manage journalistic discourse about their foreign

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