Hamid Karzai vs. the New York Times

This chapter acquaints the reader with the impact of the U.S. and Western news media in Afghanistan by telling the story of how President Hamid Karzai banished New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg in August 2014, during the final weeks of his presidency. The chapter uses this story to illustrate the perceived hegemony that U.S. news has in international affairs by foreign actors. A country’s news media create and maintain a nation, employing common symbols and language and constructing narratives that resonate with the country’s citizens. Journalists intend to be observers of international politics, but unintentionally they are its participants. The chapter explains how news and nationalism intersect with international politics and introduces the reader to the groundbreaking yet nascent community of Afghan journalists who saw American and other Western journalists as their professional guides.