Divergence in foreign policy and convergence in media

Abstract

There has been extensive literature on the strong political, economic, and cultural ties between the US and Canada. Foreign policy is a delicate issue between the two nations, whereby a central raised question pertains to whether Canada should parallel American foreign policies or create its own. This, however, augments into a situation that highlights a division between government announcements and media portrayals, deeming it necessary to investigate how and to what extent American foreign policies affect Canadian media, directly or indirectly, through their impact on Canadian foreign policies. This paper sets out to identify and reflect on the interconnected relationship between American foreign policy, Canadian foreign policy, and the Canadian media. With application to three central conflicts in the greater Middle East – the war on Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – this paper utilizes textual archival analysis of several US and Canadian government websites, as well as quantitative and qualitative content analysis of two major Canadian English newspapers – The Globe and Mail and The National Post. The paper concludes that Canadian foreign policies have been divergent from American foreign policies towards conflicts in the Middle East, while the Canadian media have been convergent to American foreign policies, being influenced by the US announcements and initiatives as well as American sources of information including the media.