Playing the Game of Drones

In the years following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States ramped up its usage of drones and drone strikes around the world. Spanning three United States presidents, drone strikes became a regular feature in the U.S. military arsenal. While American newspaper media and citizens have been very pro-drone, global citizens view drones in a far more negative light. This study examines U.S. military drone strikes and English-speaking allies' newspapers in...
More Description

In the years following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States ramped up its usage of drones and drone strikes around the world. Spanning three United States presidents, drone strikes became a regular feature in the U.S. military arsenal. While American newspaper media and citizens have been very pro-drone, global citizens view drones in a far more negative light. This study examines U.S. military drone strikes and English-speaking allies' newspapers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and evaluates if coverage remains positive or negative depending on the newspaper's conservative or liberal leanings from 2008-2019. The book explores how political leanings in U.S. English-speaking allies' newspapers do have some influence if the articles are positive or negative towards U.S. drone strikes and finds that it's not a one size fits all situation. Interestingly, this study also found that as the years of war continued, the number of drone strike articles found in the U.S. and her English-speaking allies' newspapers decreased, perhaps reflecting a donor fatigue situation.