A 2022 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title As a timely portrait of international perceptions and media coverage of the United States, this comprehensive collection reveals the global effects of the tumultuous environments and controversial views promoted during the Donald J. Trump presidency. More than thirty accomplished and prominent media, communication, and journalism scholars represent twenty countries with methodically researched assessments of their respective country’s major national newspapers, social media, or comprehensive public opinion surveys. Together, these analyses offer a unique cross-cultural approach that helps students and scholars understand the image of the USA and President Trump through the eyes of politicians, media personalities, and ordinary people across the globe.

In this provocative book Terhi Rantanen challenges conventional ways of thinking about globalization and shows how it cannot be understood without studying the role of the media. Rantanen begins with an accessible overview of globalization and the pivotal role of the media.

A provocative critique of how manipulation of media gives rise to disinformation, intolerance, and divisiveness, and what can be done to change direction. "Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon emphasize what we can do today to restore the power of facts, truth, and fair, inclusive journalism as tools for people to keep political and corporate power subordinate to the engaged citizenry and the common good."—Ralph Nader The role of news media in a free society is to investigate, inform, and provide a crucial check on political power. But does it? It's no secret that the goal of corporate-owned media is to increase the profits of the few, not to empower the many. As a result, people are increasingly immersed in an information system structured to reinforce their social biases and market to their buying preferences. Journalism’s essential role has been drastically compromised, and Donald Trump’s repeated claims of "fake news" and framing of the media as “an enemy of the people” have made a bad scenario worse. Written in the spirit of resistance and hope, United States of Distraction offers a clear, concise appraisal of our current situation, and presents readers with action items for how to improve it. Praise for United States of Distraction: "A war of distraction is underway, media is the weapon, and our minds are the battlefield. Higdon and Huff have written a brilliant book of how we’ve gotten to this point, and how to educate ourselves to fight back and win."—Henry A. Giroux, author of American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism "A timely and urgent demand re-asserting the central importance of civic pursuits—not commercialism—in U.S. media and society."—Ralph Nader "Higdon and Huff have produced the best short introduction to the nature of Trump-era journalism and how the 'Post-Truth' media world is inimical to a democratic society that I have seen. The book is provocative and an entertaining read. Best of all, the analysis in United States of Distraction leads to concrete and do-able recommendations for how we can rectify this deplorable situation."—Robert W. McChesney, author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times "The U.S. wouldn't be able to hide its empire in plain sight were it not for the subservient 'free' press. United States of Distraction shows, in chilling detail, America's major media dysfunction—how the gutting of the fourth estate paved the road for fascism and what tools are critical to salvage our democracy."—Abby Martin, The Empire Files "Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff provides us with a fearless and dangerous text that refuses the post-truth proliferation of fake news, disinformation, and media that serve the interests of the few. This is a vital wake-up call for how the public can protect itself against manipulation and authoritarianism through education and public interest media.”—George Yancy, author of Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America and Professor of Philosophy at Emory University "United States of Distraction challenges our hegemon-media’s ideological mind control and the occupation of human thought. … Huff and Higdon correctly call for mass critical resistance through truth telling by free minds. Power to the people!"—Peter Phillips, author of Giants: The Global Power Elite

Much of what the world knows about the United States of America is constructed and spread through global media. One can hardly find a country where news events involving the U.S.A. do not attract media attention, controversy, or at least invoke some level of critical thought. Popular Representations of America in Non-American Media provides emerging research exploring how non-American media covers and represents the U.S.A. through a critical review that demonstrates how foreign media representations of the country have varied according to periods in history, political leadership, and current ideological and socio-cultural affinities. The publication also conversely examines Americans’ perceptions of foreign media representations of their country. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as neocolonialism, political science, and popular culture, this book is ideally designed for students, scholars, media specialists, policymakers, international relation experts, politicians, and other professionals seeking current research on different perspectives on non-American media’s representation of the U.S.A. and Americans.

This book investigates ways in which global media coverage of conflicts affects the worldviews of the social and cultural values of nationals from the war regions. It identifies the cultural patterns in remote communities that have been ‘diluted’ by IT and the extent to which the changes impacted the values of the indigenes. It also describes the role that IT especially social media and broadcast media play in the understanding of war among residents in highly wired and remote communities, respectively.

In this thought-provoking volume, experts explore the disturbing ramifications of portrayal of the Middle East by the U.S. media; analyze the stereotypes and misconceptions that Americans have of Arabs, Iranians, and other Middle Easterners; and discuss the far-reaching political and cultural impact of the United States on the Middle East. Focusing on the U.S. media (books, magazines, newspapers, motion pictures, television) coverage and portrayal of Arabs, Palestinians, the Intifada, Middle Eastern women, Iran, Islam, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf War, the book also examines the impact of motion picture classics on young children and the perceptions of American students relative to the Middle East. College students, educators, media professionals, policy makers, researchers, writers, and all those concerned about political communication, cross-cultural education, media effects, and international communication will find startling information about a critical topic on which very little has been written.