“WINDOW ON THE WIDER WORLD”

Abstract

Elite British news media such as the BBC, The Economist and the Guardian have experienced large increases in US audiences in the post-September 11 media environment. This article explores the nature and extent of this new “British invasion,” outlining key institutional, cultural and journalistic factors distinguishing mainstream US media from their UK counterparts. In particular, the British are seen as stepping into a void created by shrinking US international news coverage as well as providing a broader range of liberal political views that may contribute to expanding the US news agenda. The possible perils of the increased flow of their journalism into the United States for UK-based media are also considered.

Full text

‘‘WINDOW ON THE WIDER WORLD’’
The rise of British news in the United States
Melissa Wall and Douglas Bicket
Elite British news media such as the BBC, The Economist and the Guardian have experienced
large increases in US audiences in the post-September 11 media environment. This article explores
the nature and extent of this new ‘‘British invasion,’’ outlining key institutional, cultural and
journalistic factors distinguishing mainstream US media from their UK counterparts. In particular,
the British are seen as stepping into a void created by shrinking US international news coverage as
well as providing a broader range of liberal political views that may contribute to expanding the
US news agenda. The possible perils of the increased flow of their journalism into the United
States for UK-based media are also considered.
KEYWORDS Anglo-American; British; globalization; news flows; transborder
Introduction
In the post-September 11 news environment, millions of Americans have turned to
the British media to supplement their news consumption. The terrorist attacks in 2001,
then the invasion of Iraq in 2003, occasioned a multifold increase in that access. BBC radio
and television as well as publications such as the Guardian and the Independent have
substantially increased their US presence via the media channels of digital cable television,
public radio and television, and/or the World Wide Web (Allan, 2006). They quickly became
attractive alternatives for elements of the US political and cultural elite who were either
looking for a trusted supplement to traditional US news sources, or who believe that US
news content has become woefully distorted in favor of a pro-US bias (Boyd-Barrett, 2007;
Tunstall, 2008). On the Internet, the majority of this traffic went to UK news sites, which
have retained their popularity in the years following the Iraq War (Boyd-Barrett, 2007;
Thurman, 2007). While this shift has been fairly dramatic, the fact that US news consumers
are choosing to rely on the nation’s long-time ally is not surprising. After all, the grounds
had been laid in previous years*from the connections between US public broadcasting
and British news outfits to the import of British news personnel by US news outlets (Miller,
2000; Tunstall and Machin, 1999).
What is different about the British news media’s roles in the 21st century is that
in many cases they are marketing themselves to US audiences without an American
co-producer. Particularly post-September 11, many British news media have directly
targeted the US market, developing special editions or channels specifically for Americans.
The Times of London, for example, began a US edition while the BBC launched a 24-hour
US cable news network, created by their commercial arm, the BBC World division. The
Guardian Online launched a website devoted to US news and commentary. These
initiatives point to a level of confidence among elite UK news providers that a niche for
British-produced news not only exists within the US market but is ready to be exploited.
Journalism Practice, Vol. 2, No 2, 2008
ISSN 1751-2786 print/1751-2794 online/08/020163-16
–2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17512780801999345

It is important to note that simply targeting a new market*US audiences*does not
mean that the market wants or needs your product. To succeed, other factors need to be
in place. Perhaps the most important relevant factor in this regard is the loss of faith
among many Americans in their domestic news services (Project for Excellence in
Journalism, 2005). Some are clearly seeking out foreign reporting because of a sense that
American media are failing to provide news that adequately challenges authority (Bennett
et al., 2007). Other keys in the turn to British news media are the decline of US reporting of
foreign news, and a lack of commitment to serious news particularly within the broadcast
media (Carroll, 2007; Fenton, 2005).
These attempts to heighten the British news presence within the United States
reflect the increasingly complex nature of global communication flows. Much previous
research has centered on the lopsided dominance of US exports to the United Kingdom. In
the new global news environment, the United States is said by some observers to be in
political and cultural decline while at the same time opening*even if only slightly*to
contra-flows of media products from diasporas and other sub-publics (Tunstall, 2008;
Wallerstein, 2003). Certainly, technology has facilitated Americans’ ability to access news
from Britain (or anywhere else) along with the development of news aggregators and
other innovations that lead to demands for more content than domestic mainstream
media may be able to meet (Thurman, 2007). However, the fact that a segment of the US
market is ready even during a time of war to seek information from other countries is also
a social phenomenon. It reflects the rise of ‘‘micro-spheres,’’ or sub-publics which in this
case appear to consist of affluent, educated Americans (the so-called ‘‘creative class’’) who
are said to be more open to other cultures and a diverse range of experiences (Florida,
2002; Volkmer, 2002, 2005). In some ways, they are the mirror opposite of the
‘‘heartlanders’’ attracted to Fox News’ patriotic presentation of the news (Aday et al.,
2005; Ray and Anderson, 2001). This sub-public of cosmopolitans is not entirely without
political or social anchors, and thus cultural affinity leads them not just to any foreign
media outlet but to those media produced within the English-speaking Anglo-sphere,
most particularly news created by the British (Hallin and Mancini, 2004; Straubhaar, 1997).
This article lays out how these outlets are succeeding with US audiences. Further, it
considers how British reporting practices and culture differ from the United States,
examines how the British news media can potentially both enlarge the US news agenda
and serve as an outside watchdog, and considers the possible perils for UK-based media
with the increased flow of their journalism into the United States.
Theoretical Framework
The catchall term ‘‘globalization’’ has long been employed to explain transnational
media phenomena, yet that concept has increasingly come under fire as too totalizing and
so overused as to have lost much of its meaning (Sinclair et al., 1996). Instead, explana-
tions such as Castells’ (1996) network society and Appadurai’s typology of ‘‘scapes’’ (1996)
suggest a much more fluid set of global relationships. These new patterns are described in
various ways, such as asymmetrical interdependence, cultural proximity, and ‘‘glocaliza-
tion’’. They point to a quite different way of thinking about global media flows. In place of
the traditional emphasis on simplified dichotomies*core versus periphery, First World
versus Third World, media-rich versus media-poor, and so on*‘‘flows’’ or ‘‘scapes’’ create
multiple, complex spaces for dynamic social actions that are deterritorialized and may be
164 MELISSA WALL AND DOUGLAS BICKET

based on ethnicity, ideology, finance, or other similar categories (Appadurai, 1996). Even
though the situation described here involves two nation-states with close linguistic and
cultural links, the process nevertheless applies. The increase of British news consumption
within the United States reflects these trends*which can ultimately produce new kinds of
identities and new political formations (Volkmer, 2002, 2005).
We see connections between the idea of transborder communication flows and
regional or geo-linguistic spheres, and the rise of non-national public spheres that extend
beyond the state (Straubhaar, 2002; Volkmer, 2002, 2005). Sinclair et al. note that shifting
the focus of attention to the ‘‘regionalization of markets gives greater insight into what is
happening in the world than does the hollow rhetoric of globalization’’ (1996, p. 189).
Straubhaar also posits that we need to consider ‘‘regionalization’’ as a powerful force to
explain the cultural trade in television ‘‘into multi-country markets linked by geography,
language and culture’’ (2002, p. 184). Thus, the ease with which cultural goods flow
between some countries and not others can often be accounted for through explanations
such as cultural affinity, common history, and political and religious heritage. Examples of
cultural-linguistic spheres can easily be seen in the importance of Bollywood movies across
the subcontinent, parts of Africa and Southeast Asia; the rise of Arabic satellite news
stations such as Al Jazeera; and the flow of telenovelas across South America. More
recently, La Pastina and Straubhaar (2005) have refined these arguments to suggest that
other sorts of affinities can further play a role in creating transborder acceptance of
foreign-made cultural products. In particular, they suggest that concepts such as genre
proximity can play a significant role with certain types of programming such as news or
soap operas. These refinements may help explain why certain segments of a population
would find the media products of another country appealing, while other segments would
not. We find useful the notion of news as a genre that would transport well across borders,
particularly in light of the rise of online news which easily crosses borders. This is also
further supported in the case we consider here by the identification of a specific sort of
news: Anglo-American, which follows similar practices and routines that extend beyond
national borders (Chalaby, 1996; Hallin and Mancini, 2004; Tunstall and Machin, 1999).
British News and American Audiences
Taking into account these changing ideas about transborder communication flows,
we turn our attention to certain British news outlets that have been identified as attracting
growing American audiences. Chosen for consideration were the following elite news
entities: the BBC, The Economist,The Financial Times, the Guardian, the Independent and
The Times of London. We examined each news organization’s own explanations of its
American activities via annual reports, press releases and other public statements. We also
considered assessments by trade/media publications and websites
1
by well-known media
critics
2
and we reviewed business news coverage of their activities.
3
All of these news
outlets have seen increases in US audiences, and, in some cases, have actively sought such
audiences through marketing or even by producing an American version of their product.
A comparison of these outlets via how they appeal to American audiences appears in
Table 1.
Is there enough of a US audience to support all of these outlets with such similar
aims on a long-term basis? The answers seem to hinge on the market gaps they seek to fill,
and more general changes in transborder communication. Each outlet emphasizes its
RISE OF BRITISH NEWS IN THE UNITED STATES 165

TABLE 1
British news media’s appeals to US audiences
Outlet Ownership US Audience Intended US audience segments What they claim to offer
Economist
Economist Group* (Pearson holds
50% shares)
700,000 subscribers Upscale ‘‘global citizens’’ ‘‘Authoritative’’ international news
Financial Times
Pearson 150,000 subscribers International business decision
makers
Detailed international business
news
Guardian
Scott Trust$2.5 million website visitors monthly Liberals, especially university
denizens
International news from liberal
perspective
The Times
of
London
News Corp. 3 million website visitors monthly Northeast Americans with global
interests; British people resident in
the United States
International and business news
Independent
Independent News & Media PLC%1.3 US website visitors monthly Liberals Opinionated editorial content;
campaigns
BBC News
PSB 927,000 viewers via PBS; 5.6 million
US website visitors monthly
Educated, cosmopolitan news
consumers
‘‘News beyond your borders’’;
impartial, respected
*The
Economist
has a financial ownership model that appears to protect it somewhat from the whims of stockholders. The
Financial Times
owns half of the
Economist
(the B shares) while a group of private individuals which includes members of the magazine’s staff owns the other 50 percent (the A shares).
$Owned by the Scott Trust. Also part of the Guardian Media Group are five radio stations; the Trader Media Group which owns a classified magazine and website
focusing on cars; and almost 70 small publications in Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, and South Africa. These other entities, particularly the popular car-related
media, create the profits necessary to keep the
Guardian
afloat.
%Originally established by a group of journalists in the mid-1980s. It is currently owned by corporate chieftain Tony O’Reilly whose international media holdings via
Independent News and Media PLC span the Anglo-sphere including Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
166 MELISSA WALL AND DOUGLAS BICKET

international coverage and global view, and each aims for a more elite, educated audience
within the United States. This target audience encompasses the cultural creatives who
Florida (2002) characterizes as having more wide-ranging social ties than traditionalists*
although he also notes these ties are weak, thus making the strength of their long-term
commitment to British news unclear. What the rise of British news within the United States
does suggest is a reconfiguration of what constitutes foreign and domestic news as well as
the emergence of micro-spheres of news audiences that may in the future create new
political spaces and new forms of micro-public spheres (Volkmer, 2002, 2005).
International News
In terms of market openings, the actions of most US news media in recent years
have led to a vacuum in domestic mainstream coverage of international news. From
shuttering bureaus to the repurposing of reporters to cover vast swatches of the globe
rather than develop a regional expertise, US outlets’ collection of international news has
been in a consistent overall decline the last two decades (Carroll, 2007; Fenton, 2005; Hiatt,
2007). The occasional upticks*such as that immediately following September 11*prove
to be short-lived. Meanwhile, the US outlet most associated with international news, CNN,
has shifted much of its US network coverage toward an approach similar to its US
competitor Fox News. Even while its non-US services retain a commitment to international
news, its domestic US service increasingly relies on talk shows, ‘‘celebrity anchors and
other gimmicks,’’ with less time devoted to hard news in general, much less international
reportage (Fenton, 2005, p. 71). Thus it is no surprise that Americans would seek to
supplement or enhance their exposure to international news via alternative, non-US,
sources, particularly in light of a renewed concern with international affairs brought about
by the so-called Global War on Terror.
What such audiences can find with British outlets, in addition to a cultural familiarity
and the shared values of Anglo-American journalism, is breadth and depth in terms of
international news. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than with the British
Broadcasting Corporation. The BBC staffs 41 international bureaus to provide a range of
coverage unmatched by any US network (Christensen, 2004; Project for Excellence in
Journalism, 2005). Although the BBC operates as a commercial entity within the United
States, its non-profit ethos and long tradition of journalistic excellence has given it an aura
of credibility that US broadcasters increasingly seem to lack (Fenton, 2005; Project for
Excellence in Journalism, 2006).
Audience acceptance of the BBC follows a long-time pattern of US public
broadcasting seeking to enhance its programming (historically entertainment shows
and documentaries) with British-produced content, a phenomenon said to partly reflect an
attempt to establish social capital by a certain tier of American audiences (Miller, 2000).
This history, and the relatively broad availability of BBC programming, has given the
corporation a stronger base from which to expand. Thus, the BBC newscasts carried on US
Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations serve as a vehicle for attracting a wider US
audience for the outlet and perhaps for British news in general (Christensen, 2004). British
print media also are seen to offer an international perspective*or what Nichols (2004), in
writing about the Guardian, characterized as ‘‘a ‘window on the wider world’’’ (para. 3). The
Times of London, a News Corp-owned company, even began producing a US print version
on the theory that their sports, entertainment and business news have more of a global
RISE OF BRITISH NEWS IN THE UNITED STATES 167

spin than US publications. The ‘‘discovery’’ by American audiences of Robert Fisk, a
correspondent for the Independent who has spent a lifetime developing an expertise in the
Middle East, revealed a contrast with many American staff writers who stay typically for
shorter periods, then move on (Cooper, 2002).
Business News
The interest in British business publications seems in part to simply reflect an
increase in audiences and outlets for that segment of the news. The conservative
magazine, The Economist, has steadily attracted a traditional (and paying) audience of
Americans and other Westernized elites. In their Annual Report, The Economist (2005)
noted: ‘‘We are well positioned to benefit from the long-term trends towards globalisation
and the expansion of the high-end audience: wealthy, influential people with intellectual
curiosity and an international outlook, with an increased appetite for information in the
English language’’ (para. l). In its 2006 Annual Report, the magazine noted it generated
more readers than Business Week,Forbes,Fortune,The New Yorker and US News & World
Report (The Economist, 2006).
The Economist fills an unusual space in the US magazine market because it is seen as
competing against both business publications such as Forbes but also against general-
interest magazines such as Newsweek and Time (Rosenthal, 2007). Indeed, The Economist
has long described itself as a newspaper, reflecting its unique character. The other noted
business-oriented publication with an American readership, the Financial Times, would
seem to overlap considerably with the well-established Wall Street Journal, yet an editor
for the Financial Times saw it as rather differently, as he said the Financial Times excelled at
covering sophisticated global business and the Wall Street Journal at covering ‘‘‘midsize
companies doing middling deals in the Midwest.’ ‘It’s a Lexus-Taurus thing’’’ (Business
Week, 2001, para. 4). The recent buyout of the Wall Street Journal by Murdoch’s News Corp,
with predictions that he will trivialize and politicize the Wall Street Journal’s content, may
spell a major opening for the Financial Times*or a fiercer, deep-pocketed competition for
business news audiences. The global growth of business journalism with new efforts such
as Fox Financial may mean the Financial Times will ultimately be squeezed by further
competition.
News with a Point of View
Another reason for US audiences turning to British news is that the United States
itself has become more partisan and more aware of its own political divides. Unlike most
American news outlets, British print entities tend to openly ally themselves with particular
political perspectives, reflective in part of what has been the more antagonistic and
partisan nature of British politics (Geary, 2006).
4
British cynicism*or at any rate careful
skepticism*gives the British news media considerably more leeway than most main-
stream US media in challenging the government of the day. Beyond that phenomenon,
the British news system is characterized by the fact that the United Kingdom has a national
press with more than a dozen titles going head-to-head in the country’s capital (Columbia
Journalism Review, 2004; Hansen, 2007). US print media, in contrast, tend to focused on
one-newspaper towns in which there traditionally has been little competition. In addition,
most US print outlets are considered to be local or regional and not national in scope. The
168 MELISSA WALL AND DOUGLAS BICKET

intense competition in the United Kingdom produces an oftentimes feistier journalism,
with British journalists behaving less deferentially toward their politicians.
British journalists themselves claim that they do journalism differently, and, indeed,
sometimes even better (Columbia Journalism Review, 2004; Hansen, 2007). The notion that
British journalists have a different voice can be traced back to the World Wars, when the
British hoped to influence the United States to join their war effort (Calder, 2004). In fact,
research comparing US and British news coverage consistently shows differences*albeit
oftentimes subtle*in terms of how they cover international news. Whether providing
additional context and noting complexities, showing a greater degree of independence
from official sources or taking into greater account victims, British coverage of
international news, particularly in terms of conflicts, is different (Couldry and Downey,
2004; Dardis, 2006; Goss, 2004; Horvit, 2006; Macgregor, 1991; McLaughlin 2002; Winfield
et al., 2002). In part, a different version of events can originate simply from the indexing
function when British officials voice a slightly or sometimes more clear-cut policy
difference from the US (Bennett, 1990). So that while both systems operate from a shared
understanding of professional practices, their day-to-day reporting exhibits shades of
difference, which can appear more dramatic when made available for side-by-side
comparison by news audiences in different countries. The British news media thus provide
American news consumers with a worldview that is not radically different from that
offered by their US counterparts*but it is noticeably more complete, more nuanced, and
contextualized differently. It is, in fact, more than simply the news with a different accent.
It is different enough to matter without being too different.
British News as America’s Watchdog
The connections between British news and American audiences fall under three
broad categories. In some cases, British reporters or British outlets are pairing with US
counterparts to investigate important issues through co-production efforts; in others, their
reporting is being re-mediated through US alternative and progressive media; and,
increasingly, their work is directly reaching a US audience without a filter. All of these
distribution channels may have broader implications for the practice of journalism within
the United States.
Co-productions and Imports
British news outlets have a long history of working with or outright supplying high-
quality content to US broadcasters, especially the American public system but also cable
channels such as Discovery, The Learning Channel and The History Channel (Miller, 2000).
In general, American audiences either fail to notice the British origins of such productions
(such as with documentaries) or see them as comparable if not superior to US work. In fact,
this British journalism is often revelatory for American audiences and has been consistently
recognized for its excellence. This can be seen in the appearance of British news co-
productions among the top award winners in broadcast journalism. British production
companies have scored wins from prestigious US competitions such as the University of
Georgia’s George Foster Peabody Awards for distinguished television and radio broad-
casts. Consistently the British, especially the BBC, have been recognized for news reports
ranging from the Darfur genocide to Israel’s nuclear programs. Even in terms of sensitivity
RISE OF BRITISH NEWS IN THE UNITED STATES 169

to victims, the British news media have won accolades such as the 2006 Dart Award for
Excellence in Reporting on Victims of Violence winners for radio reporting, which
recognized BBC radio for a series on Sarajevo and another series by ‘‘The World,’’ a co-
produced show by US Public Radio International and the BBC, on the survivors of
Hiroshima.
Subsidies for the Alternative Media
Beyond these collaborative efforts, British media have also been increasingly used by
US progressive-oriented media as credible sources of alternative views on major political
issues. US failings were large enough to drive American audiences away from their own
mainstream media in terms of terrorism wars reporting (Boyd-Barrett, 2007; Tunstall, 2008).
Other research supports the contention that the US news media has repeatedly failed to
challenge their own government, or simply to supply a broader view, on issues of
international importance*in contrast to the situation across the Atlantic, where there is
less ‘‘cheerleading’’ amongst the British outlets, even at times of crisis (Lewis and Brookes,
2004, p. 298). Furthermore, British reporters have gained a reputation over the last few
years for investigating crucial stories that the US news media have tended to ignore or
downplay, so that British stories are either re-published or the British journalists
themselves are reporting for American outlets or discussing their work on US media or
directly with US audiences as lecturers. For example, The Independent’s West Coast
correspondent, Andrew Gumbel, also writes a column for an alternative weekly newspaper
in Los Angeles and has penned columns for the progressive blog, The Huffington Post; the
Independent’s Fisk is a contributor to various alternative media such as ZMagazine’s online
initiative, Znet, and The Nation. The Independent charges a special subscription rate of
approximately US$50 a year to receive just Fisk’s work which is widely disseminated
throughout US alternative media. The Independent reports that their US subscribers
number in the tens of thousands (although seemingly small, these numbers are
comparable with weekly US political magazines such as The New Republic, which has
about 60,000 subscribers) (Carr, 2005; Hanluain, 2004).
British reporters are regular commentators on Amy Goodman’s ‘‘Democracy Now’’
radio show. In recent years, they have come to be recurring players among the news
outlets acknowledged by the left-leaning Project Censored, based at Sonoma State
University, which selects the top 25 underreported stories in the United States each year.
Most often the articles that are chosen by Project Censored come from alternative media
such as The Nation or In These Times. Yet each year, alongside these US alternative
publications, one finds British mainstream media. For example, of Project Censored 2005’s
top 25 stories that were ignored by most mainstream outlets, five were from UK
publications, including reports of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger meeting with
Enron director Kenneth Lay just before the California re-call election (Observer); wealth
inequality (Guardian); voting scandals (Independent); the dwindling oil supply (Guardian),
and global warming (Independent).
What is significant about these three means of British news reaching American
audiences*co-productions, imports and subsidies for alternative media*is the cumula-
tive impact on US audiences and media outlets. In terms of the first route, co-productions,
the importance can be seen in that British journalists are serving as additional watchdogs
for Americans, venturing into countries and regions where American news agencies have
170 MELISSA WALL AND DOUGLAS BICKET

cut back on coverage. While their work might prompt follow-up US coverage, and perhaps
even political attention, these reports have tended to complement American news
agendas and frames, rather than challenge them. More notable are the trends toward
introducing new frames and new storylines to American audiences via American media or
directly from the British themselves, either through news stories they are making available
within the United States or through the Internet access of their news by Americans
seeking alternative perspectives. At times this puts the British in the position of expanding
the US news agenda, of getting stories out that might otherwise never be reported in the
United States. This gives the British media mainstream a sort of alternativeness when their
reporting appears within the United States, in that the same news story told in a different
country and thus in a different context may take on a different meaning*in effect, a
variation of Boyd-Barrett’s (2007) ‘‘reframing process’’.
Thus, observers have identified numerous instances where British reporters broke US
stories*such as the conversation President Bush is supposed to have had with UK Prime
Minister Tony Blair about plans to bomb Qatar satellite television channel Al Jazeera. In
some cases, the British coverage seems merely to reflect curious omissions. For example,
when former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor publicly noted that without
an independent judiciary*something she feared was happening within the United
States*the country could become a dictatorship. US mainstream media failed to report it,
and it was left to the Guardian and US bloggers to comment (Shafer, 2006). In other cases,
there seems to be much more at stake. Among the more notable examples was coverage
(or lack thereof) of the whole range of voting irregularities that cast a shadow over the
2000 US presidential election, in which Vice President Al Gore, the top vote getter, was
denied the presidency and, instead, then Texas Gov. George W. Bush was declared the
country’s leader. These irregularities went far beyond the widely covered issues of
‘‘hanging chads’’ and voting machine deficiencies in South Florida. American journalist
Greg Palast had to turn to the British media to get out the story of the concerted effort to
deny African Americans the right to vote and other acts of apparent fraud that contributed
to the positive outcome for Bush (Palast, 2004). Palast notes that the British outlets were
willing to invest time and resources in tracing how Americans were systematically
disenfranchised while US news media were not. Looking at other work by Palast also
reveals how British news is being refracted through US outlets. When he reported on BBC’s
Newsnight in March 2005 that US oil executives had met with Bush administration officials
to discuss invading Iraq before September 11, 2001, the story was redistributed by
alternative online news site Common Dreams as well as summarized and linked to by
Alternet,Mother Jones’ online site, and leading liberal bloggers such as Juan Cole. In this
way a story critical of the Bush administration and ignored by US mainstream media
eventually achieved fairly widespread distribution within the United States.
Perhaps most explosive was the story of the Downing Street Memos, the internal UK
government documents which laid out how the United States and United Kingdom
planned the Iraqi invasion well in advance of what their government’s public statements
indicated. First published in The Times of London, the story was picked up in the United
States by alternative online media and bloggers, which meant Americans online were
reading and discussing the story, even though mainstream US media were working to
ignore or discredit it (Bicket and Wall, 2007). The story did end up on the editorial pages of
US newspapers, suggesting a contained yet still potentially potent agenda-setting
function by the British media for their US counterparts (Schiffer, 2006).
RISE OF BRITISH NEWS IN THE UNITED STATES 171

As Americans have started to take more note of the British coverage of overlooked
or underreported stories, criticisms of the British media’s aggressive reporting have been
raised by mainstream US media outlets ranging from Columbia Journalism Review to public
radio to the Boston Globe (Cullen, 2004; Kennedy, 2002; On the Media, 2001). Mainstream
US media outlets play up stereotypes of British hack reporters, apparently in a bid to
establish boundary maintenance in terms of protecting their own credibility and authority
and, ultimately, market share (Carr, 2005; Inskeep, 2005). Meanwhile, as has been shown
elsewhere (Wall and Bicket, 2008), conservative Americans via blogs, right-wing news
outlets and think tanks have launched a sustained attack against British news media,
especially the BBC.
Backlash: British Campaigns Come to America
For a more specific exploration of the perils the British news media may face with a
broader, less cosmopolitan audience becoming aware of their presence, we consider a
case study of when the Guardian brought a British tradition to the 2004 US presidential
elections between President Bush and US Senator John Kerry: the newspaper launched a
‘‘campaign.’’ Within the realm of the typical British press campaign, media outlets select
causes and take a strongly expressed stand, making their support loud and clear. For
example, the Independent came out against sweatshops while the Guardian campaigned
for Third World debt reduction. Although the pattern seems to be especially associated
with the quality publications, the tabloids campaign too. Murdoch’s News of the World
launched a campaign against pedophiles, while his sister daily paper The Sun focused on
domestic violence. While the idea of a news outlet campaign may remind US journalism
observers of the American civic or public journalism movement, these initiatives are in fact
rather different. The British campaigns are much more aggressive. They promote their side
of issues, often working with existing advocacy campaigns. Most US civic journalism efforts
appear rather meek in comparison.
Noting the global interest in the US presidential race between President George
Bush and Senator John Kerry and the implications of America’s selection of a leader for the
rest of the world, the Guardian launched a letter-writing initiative dubbed ‘‘Operation Clark
County,’’ three weeks before the November vote, calling on its readers around the world
to contact voters in a single US county in the key swing state of Ohio. Invoking the
Declaration of Independence, the Guardian promised to provide the name and address of
a registered voter in Clark County to any reader who emailed them. At least 14,000 readers
contacted the Guardian. Within days, the paper’s website was targeted by hackers, and
individual reporters for the paper were bombarded with e-mails, some in the hundreds, as
conservative US bloggers and media personalities such as Rush Limbaugh responded to
the campaign by encouraging outraged Americans to try to sabotage the Guardian’s effort
(Burrell, 2004).
The campaign attracted US media attention from print, television and radio outlets
across the United States.
5
Major newspapers such as the New York Times, the Washington
Post and USA Today weighed in, as did CNN and NPR. The audience response, at least as
framed by the US media, was negative. Coverage focused on the most vitriolic responses.
USA Today recorded these US citizen responses: ‘‘‘Real Americans aren’t interested in your
pansy-ass, tea-sipping opinions,’’’ ‘‘‘We don’t need weenie-spined Limeys meddling in our
presidential election’’’ and ‘‘‘If you want to save the world, begin with your own worthless
172 MELISSA WALL AND DOUGLAS BICKET

corner of it’’’ (Despeignes, 2004, para. 102). Most of the US coverage failed to mention
that President Bush was unpopular around the world, or to explain the extent to which the
world saw itself as subject to US global actions. After the election, the Republican party
proclaimed that the Guardian helped Kerry lose the state, although critics documented
voter disenfranchisement and other suspect practices that may have helped Bush win.
The letter-writing campaign demonstrates a clear example of the British news
culture coming into conflict with more general US news audiences (as well as US news
media and bloggers). Most audience members who appeared within news accounts were
angry, suggesting that the British news outlets and their practices may be less well
received once their profile is raised. The reception from mainstream US news was mixed,
and in some cases hostile, likely reflecting boundary maintenance by news outlets who
perceive British reporting as a threat to their authority and credibility. Of course,
conservative media such as Fox News reacted especially negatively. Conservative bloggers
also reacted harshly, suggesting that they will attempt to erect barriers to non-US news
sources that fail to reflect their views. So that while Robert Fisk may be popular on college
campuses and the Guardian a must-read among many urbanites, some Americans do not
appear to be a welcome audience for a foreign news outlet, even if it is British.
Conclusion
Clearly, British news has become increasingly visible to US audiences, moving
beyond its historical role as a supporting partner to offer its news directly to American
audiences. The rise of the British media within the United States is partly a result of unmet
market needs. The US news media’s shirking of international coverage has provided an
opening for British news organizations. This shrinkage has tended to be more severe with
broadcast news because so many fewer stories can be aired than printed, but the decline
also extends to print outlets. The US media’s lack of aggressive reporting during the
terrorism wars contributes further to an opening for these outlets (Bennett et al., 2007). As
the US political system has become more polarized and reporting more tightly bound to
elite politicians and their narrow range of positions, American viewers have begun to look
beyond the country’s borders for other versions or simply any version of world events.
The rise in British news is having an impact in bringing additional watchdogs to the
United States and in widening the agendas set by the news media. British reporting now
being reflected back to the United States serves as an additional check on the US
government and corporate activities. It may be sporadically influencing US news agendas.
While this influence is still subtle and still relatively contained, it may become more
tangible as Americans use alternative news to re-distribute British news and the direct
versions become more available. In this way, the political connections reinforced during
the height of the terrorism war may ultimately have one of their greatest effects in
contributing to cross-Atlantic news agenda interactions. More British reporting may
broaden the range of debate and points of view within America. US audiences may begin
to ask sharper questions of their own country’s news outlets when they overlook or
underplay stories*both foreign and domestic*that are now accessible via other news
media, particularly the British media.
There are important implications in this expansion. Guardian World Dispatch Web
editor Emily Bell, commenting on the huge jumps in website visitors, asked: ‘‘Where does it
take our journalism? Could it or should it change us? (Hanulain, 2003, para. 42). Beyond
RISE OF BRITISH NEWS IN THE UNITED STATES 173

America’s coasts, with their more liberal audiences, British practices such as the Ohio
campaign may bring unwanted criticisms, unanticipated attacks, and the threat of a
backlash from ‘‘red’’ America. This observation holds an important lesson for other British
media which seek an international presence and view the US market as a major gateway to
that stature. If British news media’s falling domestic circulation numbers are replaced with
an increase in global audiences, this will inevitably change their individual futures. Already
some outlets fear being overwhelmed by American audiences for which British advertisers
have no interest (Thurman, 2007). Focusing on the audience perspective, other critics warn
that Americans face an increasing division between the media rich with access to a broad
range of international sources and the media poor who will have to be content with
tabloid reporting about movie stars and other less than serious issues (Chinni, 2006).
Increased availability*and importantly acceptance of British media*to a narrow
cosmopolitan segment may leave that slice of the population with different world views
and different opinions about US public policies, further exacerbating political divides
within the United States that may become increasingly difficult to bridge. Indeed, what is
at issue is not simply circulation numbers or website hits, but perhaps, the very nature of
the democracies of the United Kingdom and the United States.
NOTES
1. American Journalism Review, BBC editors weblog, British Journalism Review, Columbia
Journalism Review, Media Life, Journalism.org, On the Media, Online Journalism Review,
Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2005, 2006, 2007.
2. Michael Wolffe (New York Magazine), Eric Alterman (The Nation) Marc Cooper (LA Weekly),
Howard Kurtz (Washington Post), Jack Shafer (Slate), and David Shaw (Los Angeles Times).
3. ‘‘Major newspapers’’ and ‘‘Magazines’’ retrieved via Lexis-Nexis as well as websites for
Business Week,Brand Republic,Fortune, and Forbes.
4. This is clearly epitomized by the weekly clash of parliamentary politics known as
‘‘Question Time.’’ Millions of Americans have enjoyed a taste of this from watching the
British system on C-Span (Reid, 2004).
5. Media responses were assessed by analyzing all stories about the campaign that
appeared in a Proquest newspapers search and a Lexis-Nexis database search of major
newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts and regional papers. Additionally, three
alternative and online sources were also included (Alternet,Slate,National Review) for a
total of 54 news stories or commentaries that appeared between October 13, 2004, the
day the campaign was launched, to November 16, 2004, two weeks after the election.
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