Discussion of Foreign Correspondents' impact on International Relations

Giovanna Dell'Orto, a journalism professor, a former reporter with the Associated Press in Italy and the United States and a new member of the National Press Club, plans to discuss her new book, American Journalism and International Relations: Foreign Correspondence from the Early Republic to the Digital Era.

The event, sponsored by the International Correspondents Committee, is open to the public, but reservations, including professional affiliation, should be made at [email protected].

Shedding new light on the debate regarding the importance of foreign news to America's international relations, Dell'Orto unearths the history of U.S. foreign correspondence to call for protecting its endangered future.

Her analysis of coverage of 20 international events from 1848 to 2008 shows that foreign correspondence has helped shape the way Americans -- citizens and policymakers alike -- have thought about their role in the world.

Dell'Orto concludes that foreign correspondence has only communicated foreign realities so that Americans cared about them when it explained the world before, during and after crises. When foreign correspondents missed the story or simplified it into a caricature, such as in the 1967 war in the Middle East, U.S. policy floundered, according to Dell'Orto.

Dell'Orto teaches international journalism history at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She is the author of three books on journalism history.