Page 276 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS
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                                                TheFutureofthe ThreeModels

                                We think it is likely, moreover, that the content of journalism education
                                stresses exactly the conception of the media’s role emphasized by WAN. 2
                                Splichal and Sparks (1994) seem to share this opinion, concluding their
                                research on journalism education in twenty-two countries by stressing
                                that, with some qualifications, journalism is moving from craft to pro-
                                fession thanks to the diffusion of common educational practices. Weaver
                                (1998), in another work based on surveys of journalists, also stresses the
                                importance of formal education in creating a global journalistic culture.
                                   The example of WAN – which was heavily influenced by American
                                newspaper publishers in its early years, but became very much an in-
                                ternational institution – also illustrates another significant force in the
                                development of a global media culture, one that by now has become
                                much broader than “Americanization,” namely the intensity of inter-
                                action among journalists worldwide. This takes place in many contexts.
                                WAN, which is based in Paris, organizes international gatherings of jour-
                                nalists and other media personnel, and many other organizations play
                                a similar role, including the European Journalism Training Association
                                establishedbymanyEuropeanschoolsandinstitutesofjournalism.Jour-
                                nalists also interact intensively in covering world events or international
                                institutions (Hallin and Mancini 1994). This kind of interaction does not
                                producehomogenizationautomatically;researchonjournalistscovering
                                EU institutions in Brussels has stressed the extent to which their report-
                                                                               3
                                ing remains dominated by national political agendas. Butitdoeslead
                                to diffusion of techniques, practices, and values, in the same way that
                                national journalistic cultures began to develop as journalists assembled
                                to cover emerging national political institutions. This interaction also
                                takes place in a more mediated way through the global flow of infor-
                                mation. Journalists are heavy consumers of global media, many of them
                                based in the United States and Britain, both because these represent large
                                powerfulmediaorganizationsandbecausetheyareinEnglish–theinter-
                                                      4
                                national Herald-Tribune, the Financial Times and other representatives


                                2  When we presented an early version of our research at the journalism school at the
                                  University of Dortmund, our host, Professor Gerd Kopper, stressed that the liberal
                                  conception of neutral professionalism was exactly what the students there were taught.
                                3  Much of this research is summarized in Schlesinger (1999). Schlesinger notes that
                                  Europeanized news coverage is produced mainly for a highly elite audience, while the
                                  media that address the mass public follow national political agendas.
                                4
                                  Rieffel (1984: 114) notes the influence of the Herald-Tribune on French journalists.
                                  An interesting recent example of U.S. influence is the fact the Le Monde has begun
                                  providing its readers a version of The New York Times as a supplement.

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