Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1927. / "Reprint from Social currents in Japan. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1927." Bibliography: p. 363-371.

The aim of this study is to find out, against the news genre norms, how representations of particular regions are produced in the structure of newspaper reporting in the foreign news sub-genre. The study focuses on news reports concerning Africa, or African countries, in one Tokyo-based newspaper: The Japan Times/Online. The study is theoretically informed by Cultural Studies – a field of study concerned with the study of ideology and power in discourse – and investigates how Africa and African countries are represented as “other” than developed countries. This is a textual study that focuses on the production moment using Critical Discourse Analysis methods. Critical discourse analysis is interested in the study of ideological forms that have become naturalised over time, so that ideology has become common sense. The first part of the study analyses headlines and reveals evidence of ideological positions adopted by The Japan Times/Online in the representation of, firstly, home or Japanese actors, which is very different to the representation of African actors. The second part of the analysis examines the structures of the texts and the language used therein. The evidence from this analysis shows how Africa is represented as a Third World entity through various crises, including a health epidemic, perceptions of political instability and economic instability, an inadequate business image, as well as market and managerial skills, and wars and conflict. The study concludes with a discussion of the representation of Africa and African countries as a part of the Third World entity. This representation reflects and naturalises social inequality between developed countries and those of the Third World, of which Africa is a part. The representation of Africa as a Third World entity also naturalises the social, health, economic and political conditions said to be characteristic of African countries. It is this process of representation that reveals the power relations between Japan as a First World country and Africa as part of the Third World.

This study uses a mixed-method approach to analyse the coverage of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan’s two major English-language newspapers – The Japan Times and The Daily Yomiuri. Quantitative coding is combined with critical discourse analysis to determine whether the coverage was, overall, predominantly alarming, reassuring, or relatively balanced and neutral. This is done to ascertain whether the newspapers were sensationalising the crisis, echoing the official government and industry communication thereof, or reporting in a critical, responsible manner as the fourth estate. To answer the research question, key aspects of the coverage like foci, framing, sources, narratives, actors and agency, and criticisms are closely examined. It is revealed that the coverage was neither predominantly alarming nor reassuring, but was problematic in other ways. The implications of the complex findings, both for the Japanese media industry and international disaster reporting, are discussed. The study is situated in a broad literature framework that draws on agenda setting theory, research about the roles and responsibilities of the media, the field of risk communication and the reporting of radiation events in history. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)