Press images, national identity, and foreign policy: A case study of United States-Japan relations from 1955--1995

The primary objective of this research was to provide insight into the origins of press images of nations. Using relations between the United States and Japan from 1955 to 1995 as a case study, a qualitative and quantitative examination of U.S.-Japan images that were relayed by the New York Times and the Yomiuri were conducted. The main proposition of this research was that press images of nations are predominantly shaped by overarching national identities. It was assumed that images tend to remain constant across time in spite of structural changes between nations. A secondary proposition was that a correspondence should exist between press images of nations and the type of foreign policy decisions and actions that are initiated by the home government. A sub-proposition to this second one was that the press would tend to support its home government's foreign policy decisions and/or actions.; In terms of the results from this research, the findings were mixed. Although images from the examined United States news items tended to be constant across time, regardless of political economic structural changes, images from the Japanese news items did change over time, along with structural changes. It appeared that although national identities were playing a role in the image formations, structural conditions were also having an impact. With regard to the relationship between press images of nations and foreign policy decisions and actions, this research did find a high correspondence between the images conveyed by the news items and governmental policy decisions and actions. In terms of press support of policy decisions and actions of its home nation's government, overall, the findings were contrary to expectations. The tone conveyed by the examined news items tended to be neutral in tone. The research did reveal, however, that the extent of support or non-support conveyed by the news items appeared to be related to the degree to which the policy decisions and actions resonated with major national identity-related themes.