Lost Boys’ and the promised land

US newspaper coverage of Sudanese refugees

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7477231
AutoresMelinda B Robins (Emerson College, Boston, MA,, autor correspondente)
Ano2003
Volume4
Fascículo1
Páginas29-49
Data de publicação2003-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournalism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1464884903004001110
OpenAlexW2094387050
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18
Referências citadas10

This textual analysis of top US newspapers examines coverage of the Sudanese ‘Lost Boys’ as they were being resettled in the USA after enduring years of civil war and exile. I uncover some of the narrative elements employed in the text that perpetuate US myths such as ‘the rugged individualist’ and ‘the Promised Land’, even as a complex foreign news story is made palatable to local news consumers. I find that the refugees were presented as coming from a situation beyond understanding, vessels waiting to be filled by US material culture. As human-interest features, the stories provide a human face to far-away tragedy but also are unsuccessful at moving beyond surface explanations of complex international situations. This indicates that an authentic paradigm shift concerning international news coverage has not yet occurred

Aesthetics · Art · Face (sociological concept · Individualism · Literature · Media studies · Mythology · Narrative · Newspaper · Political science · Refugee · Social science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Tragedy (event · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · History · Law