| The purpose of this research is to evaluate the media-government relations through a comparative analysis of the United States, North Korea, and South Korea's news media coverage of foreign policy between 2000 and 2001 during which the three nations were actively involved in diplomatic talks, but failed. This study observes how reporting of foreign policy supports or challenges a government by analyzing themes, news sources, opinion direction, and media representation, and explores what determines the role of the news media in relation to government.;Content analysis is conducted to measure media attention, valence, news source, and media representation. Media attention is measured by grouping the thematic frequency into 48 bi-weekly intervals. Valence (opinion direction) is assigned to all voices appeared in a news story in accordance with its consistency with a nation's foreign policy. A nation's foreign policy is conceptualized on the basis of a President's frame of reference in order to distinguish a government's perspective from other contending forces' perspectives.;The research is conducted based on two key concerns and questions. First, there is a concern that the media reporting of foreign policy is constrained by a government. If so, how can the policy be contested by different forces? Second, if each nation's journalism practice represents a unique mode of media and political system, how can the role of media in relation to government be compared?;This study found that first, the role the news media shifts in the range from a site of struggle to a site of ideological reproduction, depending on the existence of political challenge and the construction of critical media discourse. Second, when a nation's foreign policy addresses national interests, it gains the support of its public. However, it has no guarantee to be equally supported by other nations if there is a conflict between two nations' interests. Constituting hegemony within a national boundary is not tantamount to constituting the same hegemony in the international community. The disparity between two nations' interests can cause damage to the leadership when it becomes a critical media discourse. |
