POSC/COMM444 - Global Agenda
Assignment - Paper #4
Due: Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Other Views of the War Against Terrorism

Preamble:
In the "War Against Terrorism," the United States (both media and officials) find themselves juggling messages for American and foreign audiences, as well as information which both supports and challenges official and patriotic points of view. You've heard about this from guest speakers Peter Bergen and Marcelle Wahba, and, to a lesser extent, from Martin Kramer.

Read & Research:
Visit the following web site, which contains links to newspapers around the world.

Newspapers of the World on the Internet
http://www.actualidad.com/

Look for English-language newspapers, so you can read them. Or, you are welcome to read a site in any language you can understand.

The following suggestions (all found on the above web site) are English-language publications. They are in no special order. You are not limited to these. You may browse the site and find others of interest.

The Middle East:

Write:

  • Choose two news sites to discuss in your paper. Your two choices must be in different countries and in different regions.
  • Begin your report with the names of the web sites you chose (and their web addresses). Include a brief description of the site, including information such as where the site is published (be sure you check) and what, if any, political perspective you can discover from it. Do enough research to determine if this is a Muslim nation, or has substantial Muslim population. Indicate that in your summary. Don't waste a large part of your paper on these summaries.
  • On a map, locate the country represented by the web sites you choose, so you are aware of its geographic proximity to the "war on terrorism." Comment on whether geography plays a role in the site's journalistic perspective.
  • On the sites you chose, read articles about the "war on terrorism."
  • Write about the perspective taken in those articles, and compare that perspective to the one with which you are familiar in the United States. Can you discern a point of view? What is it? (Similar to the U.S? different?) What strikes you as notable about the perspective taken on the site? How is the concept of "terrorism" handled? How would Americans feel reading this site?

Note: The goal of this assignment is to encourage you to read some different cultural perspectives about the war on terrorism. Please do not choose a web site of a British publication, since its perspective will be too similar to that of the U.S. If you choose a European site, find one with a perspective different from the U.S.

About 5 pages.