The Rule of Proximity - Essay Example

Some of these features or news values (Kim, 2001) may be intrinsic to the event or they may be extrinsic. Intrinsic values may be prominence or importance, degree of human interest evoked, degree of conflict or controversy involved and degree of the unusual implicated (Kim, 2001). Extrinsic values may be timeliness and proximity of the event to the location at which the media will be operational (Kim, 2001). It is notable, though, that the intrinsic values can also be correlated to the media location since it is observable that values like prominence or importance, capability to evoke human interest, degree of conflict or controversy and degree of the unusual all depend to some extent upon how the population at the media location usually relate to the population at the event location.

This is so because researchers have also observed that events at a particular location, when it is judged for newsworthiness at a location in another country, are usually influenced much by the social, political, economic and geographic perspectives the media country holds of the event country (Kim, 2001). Thus, the newsworthiness of an event in any country, when judged in relation to media in the United States, will depend much upon the political relevance the U.S.A. places upon the event country (Kim, 2001).

It will also depend much upon the degree of threat or benefit that event has for the U.S.A. and the World at large (Kim, 2001). These latter observations have great relevance to this paper since it is already manifested from these that the rule of proximity as well as other news values has much in common with values that influence diplomatic relationships between and among countries. Globalisation:There is one factor in the present world scene that does to a great extent override relationships among geographically and culturally proximal nations.

While the paper finds that geographical and cultural proximity has been considered as an indicator of levels of diplomatic activities it also realises that it must also consider aspects of globalisation, the modern worldwide phenomenon that is expected to provide collective effort towards globally invasive problems like disarmament, arms regulations, combating international terrorism, cross-border crime and the drug trade and usage, protection of human rights, prevention of climate change and desertification, promotion of sustainable development, conflict prevention and development assistance and cooperation, peacemaking and keeping and foreign trade (Sucharipa, Undated).

In this context it is very likely that national proximity is not the only overriding factor for strengthening diplomatic ties among nations. Nor is it likely that conflict among nations in geographic proximity will remain contained within that region without effort from the global community towards it speedy amelioration. Thus, in this sense, it is observed that geographic and cultural proximity is not considered as important an indicator of political will as it was a few years earlier. Instead, it is again observed that national foreign policy is not contained to outside the country by the gatekeeper functional and kept apart from its domestic one.

This is because other departments of the nation, such as the environmental one, may need direct contact with international agencies without having to seek permission of the foreign policy makers (Sucharipa, Undat