美国外交政策中的媒体角色

The Role of Media in American Foreign Policy

民主的良好运转离不开民众对信息的掌握,而新闻媒体则是民众获得当前所发生的重要事情以及政府行为的重要途径。由于内政与外交决策的不同,新闻媒体在信息沟通过程中分别扮演相异的角色。美国国内问题与外交问题的决策是两种不同的机制,国内公共政策的制定必须考虑到各个行为体的利益,媒体在某些问题上可以坚持与政府不同的立场,而外交政策的关注点是国家安全与国家利益,政府和公众容易达成共识,不同立场的媒体也容易达成共识。美国媒体在报道国际新闻时注重轰动效应,比较简单化与片面化,且与美国的主流价值观以及根深蒂固的文化传统相符,媒体对国际新闻报道的特性就是与国家的对外政策保持一致。美国媒体对国际新闻的报道倾向于展现一个两极分明的世界,对国外所发生的灾难、矛盾冲突和流血战争的关注,其实是对国内政权的一种肯定和宣传,人们对来自骚乱的国外世界的恐惧更加坚定了人们对承诺稳定和秩序的国内政权的支持和期望。美国外交政策中,政府主导而非控制信息沟通过程,总统在外交决策中拥有绝对权力,政府是媒体的主要消息来源,媒体追求新闻报道的客观性。媒体是非决定性的重要的决策参与者、公众舆论作用有限但是必不可少的支持者。

Since American Constitution made by the Founders, the importance of media has been highlighted by politicians, scholars, media person and citizens. Informed public is essential asset to efficient operation of democratic system, in which mass media is the public＇ s major access to information about the significant affairs happened recently and conducts made by government. Although many scholars consider that diplomacy is the extension of internal affairs, obvious distinctions exist between public polices and foreign policies. Because of these distinctions, the role of media playing in foreign policies is different from in internal affairs. The purpose of this research is to explore the role of media playing in the process of foreign policy decision-making. We firstly enumerate three models that are applied frequently in the research of media politics, including the model of liberal pluralism, the model of media centric, and the model of government-controlled; and then discuss the difference between internal affairs and foreign policy, and how the difference reflects in foreign news ; finally analyze the role of media in A- mericart foreign policy decision-making and its influence.