The term “geographies of news” refers to the transnational flows of media coverage. As attention is a rare good, not all world regions and countries obtain an equal share of global news coverage. Geographies of news are thus embodied in a set of context factors for media attention – low or high – given to a certain world region or country. Of course, these factors vary significantly based on the national and regional contexts of a given country.
As a general rule, the degree of permanence of media coverage of a certain country or world region is highly dependent on proximities. Simply put, the “closer” the country, the more attention. Of course, these could be geographic proximities in the sense that events in a geographically nearer location commonly spark more interest than even the same types of events in far-flung places. However, it is evident that in a state with, let’s say, eight neighbouring countries, not each of them will get an equal share of attention within foreign reporting. This is where other proximities such as political proximity come into play. A foreign country believed to belong to the same political camp, or conversely perceived as a political adversary, or, more broadly, a country which is a crucial actor in international power settings, such as China or the U.S., will get more attention than states perceived as less influential. Political proximity may beat geographic proximity in many cases, as for example the U.S. receives much more attention from the media in several European countries compared to other states geographically closer by. Another factor is cultural proximity, meaning that the media report more frequently about countries to which its national audiences have strong cultural ties, be it through a shared language, history, religion, or other cultural links. Also, economic proximity is considered an important factor.
Media outlets usually establish news bureaus in locations which are believed to have a high proximity of any kind to the respective country. It is typically major international news agencies only that emphasize being broadly represented across the globe, even in locations that are remote in terms of news geographies. International news flows are thus highly dependent on media-external factors such as global power settings, the foreign affairs agendas of national governments, or historical relations. At the same time, international news flows recursively influence these settings, as transnational actors and national governments alike shape their strategies based on relevant foreign news agendas, and media users may internalize the proximities represented within international coverage. In a way, news media coverage “maps” the world. These impacts of global news flows have been at the heart of attempts to create a more “equal” foreign reporting no longer neglecting many parts of the world, such as the New World Information and Communication Order movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
Of course, proximity is only one of manifold factors which define which international events, people, or processes journalists deem newsworthy. Natural disasters, for example, frequently make the headlines even if they occur in countries usually underrepresented. Consequently, geographies of news models are well-suited to explain why certain states and regions constantly receive a high degree of attention, while others are in the news only now and then, and still others are almost never represented. Domestication of foreign news might be regarded as a means to create even closer proximity.
