Page 193 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere
P. 193

182 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

            item  on a historical subject  matter, which may  suggest  that class
            difference is a familiar aspect of experience that is mobilized to account
            for unfamiliar topics. Class difference is referred to, for example, as an
            explanation for a turn of events in El Salvador, where, among others,
            President Duarte’s daughter who had been taken hostage by the guerilla
            resistance was exchanged for imprisoned guerillas. One interviewee had
            the following explanation for why this particular exchange came about:
            ‘when it’s people high up, things can always be arranged.’ Thus, in the
            Danish  sample,  class may be one level in the  conceptualization of
            politics and society. It is interesting, if not entirely unexpected, that this
            conceptualization is not as prevalent in the American sample.
              Class as a powerful other was alluded  to in the American case
            through the mention of wealthy people having more say in government:

              You can’t fight city hall. You can’t get at those, uh, the big money
              people. You  cannot  get at those big money people. This is
              something we all talk about—all these big issues, but, uh, when it
              comes right down to it, there’s just a few that have a, a lotta say.
            While the references to class are outweighed by the powerful others of
            government and God in the American sample, it would be most relevant
            for   further  comparative   research  to   examine    the
            specific conceptualizations of economic and political power structures
            in different national contexts.


                                    Economics
            In the American sample, economics was one of two themes that did not
            appear as separate conceptualizations  in the  Danish interviews; the
            other American theme addressed human impact in various respects.
              Many interviewees in the American sample used an economic theme
            to  discuss one or more of the  issues. The  economic theme was
            expressed in terms of costs, profits and in connection to the US or world
            economy. The American respondents often remarked on the economic
            utility of an issue: was it worth the money, would our money be better
            spent elsewhere? For example, one respondent noted the link between
            the cost of SDI and the current health of the US economy:

              Well, I think as a dollar and cents issue, it’s sort of important.
              Because, if we don’t  spend the money on it,  we  have the
   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198