A case study of the televised international newsflow of Raidió Teilifís Éireann and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: A comparative content analysis

Abstract

The objective of this comparative newsflow study was to analyse the televised international news broadcast in the national public service of Canada and the Republic of Ireland over a thirty-day term. In doing so, a quantitative content analysis comparing the output of two national public service providers (PSB), Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is offered. In identifying the national origin of the international news, those reports utilizing the foreign correspondents of the PSBs were quantified. Finally, the ratio of international to domestic reportage and the volume of international news reports by quantity and duration are also compared. This study reviews the literature of cultural, corporate and state sovereignty as it looks to the regulatory structures of the broadcasters. Gatekeeping dynamics and the critical media ecology of a re-feudalizing public sphere are addressed as are the roles of framing and domestication. An exploration of cultural imperialism and the newsflow studies of globalization and deregulation are also undertaken. The commercialization of international news values, compassion fatigue and declining demand are similarly explored. Satellite broadcasting and the influence of the news agencies is considered as is the literature pertaining to crisis-news driven parachute journalism and the role of the foreign correspondent. The study revealed that the real sovereignty of both the CBC and RTÉ is demonstrably limited in terms of their ability to control the production chain from the source of the news through to the audiences. It’s argued that larger outputs of international news increase the value accrued to civic knowledge and therein the value of the service offered. In terms of the offered ‘value for public money’ it’s concluded that audiences of the CBC routinely receive greater value than do those of RTÉ