Agency Source Influence on Television Foreign Reporting: The Case of Mururoa and Tahit

Broadcasters globally are dependent on the commercial news agency wholesalers of television pictures. By following the chronological development of a story, this article demonstrates how framing determined in agency planning processes influences the stories told to audiences by broadcasters. It is hypothesised that news agency economic priorities drive international event coverage planning; that news-coverage "frames" influence the news delivered to agency clients and the stories told to audiences by broadcasters; and that wealthy broadcasters are more likely to localise their coverage of international events, while smaller broadcasters relay to their audiences strictly the stories told by agencies. The case of the Mururoa nuclear testing and Tahiti independence rioting ill 1995 are used to demonstrate that the reproduction of news frames manufactured by news agencies may be expected among broadcasters worldwide, diminishing the possibility of multiple interpretations of global events.