Mass Media and American Foreign Policy

Book excerpt: Has the relationship between the media and international relations undergone a fundamental change since Bernard Cohen wrote the 1962 classic, The Press and Foreign Policy? Using data from three years of empirical research at the highest level of the U.S. foreign policy community, the author argues that it has changed, and that totally new theory in both communication and policymaking are needed to understand how nations interact in today's era of global media. Using survey data, in-depth interviews with former President Jimmy Carter and other senior policy officials, and case studies, the author offers a new model of media-influenced foreign policy based on his theory of interdependant mutual exploitation to explain the role of mass media in the foreign policy process.