Media and Foreign Policy: This 5-page paper compares the reporting in three newspapers of the nuclear weapons issue in North Korea in late January and early February of 2003. There is a bibliography.
In order to examine how the media covers news events from various points of view, it was decided to review news articles regarding the nuclear weapons in North Korea issue in late January and early February of 2003. Articles are drawn from the mainstream newspaper The Washington Times, and two United Kingdom newspapers that are more liberal and alternative, Telegraph and Independent News. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the differing perspectives to determine if advocacy groups were in effect and to determine any impact on foreign policy.
The activity in North Korea at that time was covered in many newspapers. The articles in the Independent are somewhat brief, just stating that the U.S. and North Korea were at a "stand-off" as spy satellites seem to suggest that the regime was making weapons (Usborne 1). There is a brief statement that the U.S. is trying to establish whether or not North Korea is firing up its atomic reactor believed to be capable of creating weapons-grade plutonium (Reeves 1). There is little analysis in these two articles, but there is the hint that exactly what is going on is not entirely known.
The Telegraph articles are somewhat lengthier, providing a bit more analysis, especially the article by Spencer from Beijing, who provides more background for the reasons for the conflict·North Korea's threat to develop nuclear weapons outside the agreement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation for aid promised but not received (Spencer 1). Spencer's article indicates that Washington was disappointed in its attempts to get UN Security Council support for the American position. Spencer's version of this news elaborates on Russia's position in the conflict, an angle not mentioned by an...