THE NEW YORK TIMES, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION (PRESS; UNITED STATES)

It is generally argued that in American society the press plays an important role in foreign policy process. This study focuses on the performance of "the most elite" newspaper, the New York Times, and compares the "paper's foreign policy" with the official U.S. policy in regard to Iran. Three specific time periods have been studied in this dissertation: (1) 1968-1978, a decade prior to the Iranian revolution; (2) 1978-1979, era of the revolution; and (3) 1979-1981, the hostage "crisis". The New York Times editorials and the Department of State Bulletin were selected as two sources for a systematic qualitative and quantitative analysis to test a number of hypotheses developed in this study. The results of the study revealed that the New York Times and the U.S. Government had a very similar, and "positive" attitude toward Iran for a decade prior to the revolution. There were no significant differences between the two sources between 1968-1978. The Iranian revolution marked a significant shift in the New York Times' approach towards that country: first, by criticizing the royal regime and then by initiating a critical approach in its analysis of past U.S. policies toward Iran. For the first time, there was a significantly meaningful difference between the New York Times editorials and the U.S. policy reflected in the Department of State Bulletin. The hostage crisis, however, created a situation as a result of which both sources once again took similar approach towards Iran and Iranian affairs. This time, the New York Times and the Department of State Bulletin portrayed Iran in a very "unfavorable" light. In conclusion, this study suggests that the lack of critical analysis on the part of the New York Times, could be considered a contributing factor in the failure of American policies toward Iran. Although the study did not investigate a causal relationship between the New York Times editorials and the outcome of the U.S. foreign policy, it was demonstrated that changes observed in the editorials position followed by changes in U.S. official foreign policies.