The New York Times coverage of the US-related human rights

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine how US-related human rights issues are covered in the New York Times (NYT), and which factors influence the coverage. The study deals with two major domains of reporting of human rights issues occurring: within the US proper and in US actions internationally. Human rights narratives in the US are important factors explaining the selective nature of the newspaper’s reporting. The NYT reflects the official discourse of the US government in its coverage of human rights topics. It also plays the role of a “watchdog” and criticizes the US human rights situation in some areas. The study is based on the analysis of 155 NYT articles between the years 1998 and 2013.