Covering Conflicts: International News Flows and the Coverage of Iraq War II by the Mainstream New Zealand Newspapers

This book analyses coverage of the invasion phase of Iraq War II by the three largest New Zealand daily newspapers, exploring their reliance on global news agencies such as Reuters, AFP and AP and on elite British and US newspapers. The war coverage in the New Zealand newspapers was examined through the contexts of globalisation, news flows, source-media relations, news management and propaganda as these are the issues that have shaped the war journalism discourse in New Zealand. A content analysis of the three largest daily newspapers - The New Zealand Herald, The Dominion Post and The Press - reveals that the war coverage in New Zealand was framed by international news agencies, US and UK newspapers. What emerges from this study is that the level of involvement in a war is no longer the most important factor in determining the direction of news media coverage. News values, globalisation, economic interdependence, news flows and propaganda are all highly significant factors affecting coverage. This book should be useful to media and journalism students, media professionals and those interested in international news flows and war coverage.