[5] Thus, the US has been found to be very prominent in news mentions around the world (18%), followed by China, Western European and Middle Eastern countries (about 3-5% each).
[1] The unequal representation of the world and the under-representation of developing countries have been already of a great concern at least since the 1950s, since they influence the way people perceive the world and the image of countries.
[6] This problem was later addressed in the MacBride report, and his set of recommendations for a New World Information and Communication Order.
[7] A 2014 study, examining 35 popular news website in ten different languages over a two-year study period, found that "the United States is by far the most prominent country in the news sites that we studied from around the world, except for the French and Arabic ones" and the "network structure of news links clearly exhibits [the U.S.'s] key position as the centerpiece of a global system.
"[4] A 2015 study published in the journal Journalism, examining "validity and limits of the news flow theory," found that "Over-represented regional centers in West Europe and Asia overshadow the under-represented regional peripheries in East Europe and the Middle East" and that the United States and Africa "serve as a global center and a periphery respectively.