These days, the foreign press is hardly wanting for sharp criticism of the United States: Open up The Guardian, and you’ll likely find Tony Blair coming under fire for his relationship with George W. Bush. Turn on Al-Jazeera, and odds are you’ll see a rebuke of American policy in the Middle East. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to keep tabs on what it considers anti-American sentiment, and it’s turning to a consortium of colleges for help.
Researchers at institutions including Cornell University and the Universities of Pittsburgh and Utah are collaborating to develop “sentiment analysis” software that combs through overseas publications and gauges their opinions on American policy decisions. Since computers must be trained to interpret opinions and biases, the technology is a few years away from seeing the light of day.
Officials with the Homeland Security department—which is devoting $2.4-million to the research project—say the software could help identify potential threats to the nation, according to The New York Times.
But should federal officials—or, for that matter, campus researchers—spend their time trawling for negative press clippings? Some reporters and privacy advocates think not. Critics of the project say it has little to do with national security, and some skeptics fear that “sentiment analysis” will be used to stifle criticism from the foreign press, not just to gauge it.
The entire endeavor is “just creepy and Orwellian,” says Lucy Dalgish, a lawyer who is executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. —Brock Read
7 Responses to Keeping Tabs on the Foreign Press
beedhamm - February 24, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Nice find! Thanks for sharing.
bookwomanca - February 24, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Institutional subscription 25% more than an individual subscription. This is what makes libraries sad.
Socratease2 - February 24, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Hey this is just like one of those old “news advertisements,” you think you are reading a news story and turns out it is a sales pitch. Damn, I am going to start hawking stuff as well.
beedhamm - February 24, 2012 at 4:00 pm
You go to a blog about language, read a description of one of the tools a scholar of language uses, and label it a “sales pitch”? Really?
Socratease2 - February 24, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Well, if it barks like a dog then…well you know the rest. That is not just description, that is an endorsement with plenty of advertising copy language thrown in (are most scholarly journals promoted as “entertaining”?), certainly the rhetoric of the article is designed to influence your purchasing behavior and that is known as “marketing.” So will it be ok if that is all we see in these forums is people writing “essays” and “academic articles” with the goal to get people to suscribe to or purchase materials. This is the first time I have seen a CHE “article” try to sell me something. Anyway, I think you took my comments a bit/way too seriously but I am happy to engage in discourse for the sake of not returning to my work. How is this not a “sales pitch”? Is the author not encouraging you to purchase something? Did I say I was offended or that it is a misuse of CHE ediitorial space? No, I did not, though the forum will turn pretty boring if all we see is people saying, buy this journal if you are passionate about x, buy this if you like the study of y. Far too many journals as it is for that approach. But frankly, I don’t even care, enjoy your subscription.
beedhamm - February 25, 2012 at 4:36 am
“But frankly, I don’t even care”
Yeah, I had pretty much sussed that.
Against my better instincts, let me suggest that you please consider the following scenario: a friend, familiar with your passion for “Jersey Shore” merchandise, finds a batch of unique t-shirts at a rarely visited dollar store. She informs you of the deal and the quality of the product, even providing the address of the out-of-the-way store. Do you sneer at her “sales pitch” or hop in your Saturn with 21″ rims and head over before they sell out?
Socratease2 - February 27, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Fine, enjoy your offers to purchase academic resources, I was just making a joking throw away comment. I did not sneer at anything, I did not impune the worth of the journal, I simply made an observation and exercised my blog freedoms. Are you the journal author, why so touchy? Not trying to cut into your sales, promise. So, thanks for the entertaining analogy, I hate anything remotely associated with Jersey Shore and I hate the topic of car rims even more. Your interest in both is suspect. See, that was against your better judgment, wasn’t it?