A comparative newspaper analysis: The New York Times, The Times, The London Gazette and The Spectator

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

7 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/28/2009

Category :

Political science

Sub category :

Social sciences

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Summary :

Introduction
The German East African campaign
Outstripping by New York Times
Supplement to the London Gazette
The common themes in the reports
The news coverage of German East African campaigns
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

The First World War, devastating in its severity and loss of life, is often confined in our historical thinking to the battlefields of Europe. This devastation, however, reached every ocean and continent and involved action from peoples far removed from the crises in Europe. One arena of conflict usually ignored or deemed insignificant is the African colonies. Battles for European colonies erupted all over the continent and were themselves extremely varied. This study will focus on activity in German East Africa and Allied attempts to conquer this rich colony. Though thousands of miles away from the Somme and Passchendaele, campaigns in German East Africa were significant to the overall conflict in their use of supplies, holding of important territory and of course the great loss of life not only among Europeans fighting for their colonies, but also African civilians in a war over their homelands. The East African campaign brought new complexities to the war that was not present in Europe. Native involvement and the continuous lust of colonialism changed the war in Africa as well as the way Allied civilians understood it. Through examination of four mainstream newspapers, The times in london, The london gazette, The spectator, and The new york times, insight can be gained into these complexities. Significance can be found not only in what news of the East African campaign was reported in these papers, but also in their silences, which in some cases were very great. Reading into newspaper coverage of East African campaigns we can see patterns in Allied portrayal of their losses, German gains, and the German character itself. This news also can be used as a lens to view Allied understanding of colonialism, slavery and Africa itself.