The Diplomacy of U.S News Narratives

The War in Afghanistan is the longest continuous combat engagement in U.S. history. Since the U.S. invaded the country in 2001, people around the world learned about the war through the eyes of the news media. A new book by CPD Advisory Board Member Katherine Brown, Your Country, Our War: The Press and Diplomacy in Afghanistan, is the first to examine the impact of U.S. news media narratives on U.S.-Afghan relations.

Rather than mere observers, Brown positions journalists as international actors who play an unofficial diplomatic role. Their reporting is consumed by officials around the world and influences their reactions to global events.

"The U.S. news media largely amplifies American power," states publisher Oxford University Press. "Instead of stimulating greater understanding, the U.S. elite, mainstream press can often widen mistrust as they promote an American worldview and, with the exception of some outliers, reduce the world into a tight security frame in which the U.S. is the hegemon."

More information about the book is available here.