Description: Discourse of Reciprocity explains an important dynamic in press coverage of the US-Canada alliance and provides a model for using discourse analysis to study news coverage. The cases cover international policymaking in energy, agriculture, and national security since 1980.
Review Quotes:
"Dunsmore (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.) examines two elite presses--the New York Times and Canada's Globe and Mail--and their behavior in covering the alliance between the US and Canada in five cases: Canada's National Energy Program, Pierre Trudeau's peace initiative, US border policy after 9/11, the US ban on beef following the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada, and the Keystone Pipeline. Reviewing coverage of the two papers, Dunsmore puts forth concepts of news as providing positive symbolic presence, exhibiting forbearance, and embracing cooperation--behaviors that are consistent with the definition of reciprocity that is used in international relations and game theory. Looking at how the elite presses covered the issues, and at the liberal and conservative governments in Canada and Republican and Democratic administrations in the US, the author asserts that the coverage of these five cases tended to support the reciprocity of the alliance between the two nation-states. Rather than emphasizing conflict, the coverage minimized the differences between the two countries. Press coverage bestowed legitimacy on the leaders of the other nation, ignored or soft-pedaled serious policy differences, and emphasized cooperation. This aspect of the US-Canada relationship has, until now, been overlooked, so Dunsmore's study is welcome.
Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals." --Choice Reviews