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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
A broad and accessible introduction to national and transnational media
Transnational Media: Concepts and Cases provides a clear and engaging overview of media communication from a global and a region-based perspective. Rather than focusing on just complex theories and industry-specific analyses, this unique book offers an inclusive, comparative approach to both journalism and entertainment media—introducing readers to the essential concepts, systems, transnational influences, and power dynamics that shape global media flow. Broad coverage of different media forms from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania offers country-based and transnational perspectives while highlighting examples of media trends in television, radio, film, journalism, social media, music, and others.
Promoting a balanced, multipolar exploration of transnational media, this innovative book discusses topics such as media concentration, the cultural, political, and economic impact of media, and the primary centers of new and traditional media activities. Chapters organized by geographic region offer instructive pedagogical features—including case studies and essays, and illustrations, maps and charts—that strengthen understanding of distinctive and emerging practices in the production, distribution, and consumption of media products.
- Explores a wide range of global media topics, infrastructures, cultures, and political-economic climates
- Written in an engaging, relatable, and easy to understand style
- Covers major aspects of journalism and various forms of entertainment media
- Organized by regions of the world to reflect a global perspective
- Includes newly-written case studies by international scholars from each region
Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative media analysis, international media and communication, and related areas of study, Transnational Media: Concepts and Cases is an indispensable resource for colleges and universities that are internationalizing their curriculum to meet the needs of an increasing globalized world.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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Table of Contents
Cover
Contributor Biographies
1 Introduction
1.1 Understanding Transnationalism and Related Trends
1.2 Population Trends
1.3 Economic Trends
1.4 Immigration Trends
1.5 Global Travel: Trends
1.6 Technology Trends
1.7 Transnational Media
References
Part I: Setting the Foundations: Key Concepts
2 Transnational Media: Key Concepts and Theories
2.1 Understanding Globalization
2.2 The First Phase of Globalization
2.3 The Second Phase of Globalization
2.4 The Third Phase of Globalization
2.5 Complexities of the Future
References
3 Introducing Media Systems
3.1 Elements of a Media System
3.2 The (Contested) Media Systems
3.3 The Original Four Normative Theories of the Press
3.4 Extensions on the First Four Normative Theories
3.5 New Media Models
References
Part II: Africa
4 Broadcasting in Ghana: Opportunities and Challenges of a Plural Media in an Evolving African Democracy
4.1 History of Radio and Television Broadcasting
4.2 Growth of Independent Private Broadcasting
4.3 Interplay of Politics and Media
4.4 Broadcasting Language
4.5 Legal and Regulatory Framework for Broadcasting
4.6 Media Freedom, Censorship, and Legal Issues
4.7 Emerging Trends
4.8 Conclusion
References
5 The State of Press Freedom in South Africa: Robust Despite the Intimidation
5.1 Intimidation Tactics and Unfolding Democracy to Come
5.2 The SA Constitution Supports the Free Flow of Information but then “The Secrecy Bill” Does the Opposite
5.3 The Secrecy Bill has Jail Terms for Journalists
5.4 Media Appeals Tribunal (MAT): From Robust to Doormats?
5.5 A MAT Would Also Be Anti‐Constitutional
5.6 Physically Attacking Journalists
5.7 Conclusions: A Robust Press in a Robust Democracy
References
6 Here is our Ushahidi: Participatory Communication Culture in Kenya
6.1 Testimonies, Witnesses' Accounts, and Ushahidi
References
7 Nollywood: A Cinema of Stories
References
Part III: The Americas and the Caribbean
8 What Do They Know of Telenovela Who Only Telenovela Know?: Melodrama, Passion, and Latin America's Modern Identity
8.1 Melodramatic Representation
8.2 Stock Characters or Stereotypical Representations
8.3 Imagined Realities
8.4 Mexican Telenovela Production
8.5 Conclusion: Transgressive Desire
References
9 Latin America: From Media Censorship to Media Ownership: New Forms of Communication Hegemony Across the Continent
9.1 Mexico, the Perfect Dictatorship? An Incestuous Relationship Between Politics and Media
9.2 Chaos and Control in Central America
9.3 An Overview of Some Media Systems in South America
9.4 Conclusions
References
10 Hollywood, the Global Media Market, and a Time of Transition for the American Media Empire
References
11 The “Sanctioned” Reggae “Revolution,” and Confrontations Between Cradles of Culture
11.1 Fundamentals on Cradles of Culture
11.2 Maat in the Music of Caribbean PADs
11.3 Northern Cradle and Dichotomization
11.4 Reggae Music Trajectory in 1970s
11.5 Review and Conclusion
References
Part IV: Asia
12 The Chinese Social Media Landscape
12.1 Tencent QQ
12.2 WeChat
12.3 A Focus on the WeChat Business
12.4 Other Social Media Platforms
12.5
Guanxi
and Social Media
12.6 Conclusion
References
13 Modern Manga
13.1 Modern Manga: Encountering the West and Early Twentieth Century Development
13.2 Post‐1945 Developments: Florescence
13.3 Darkness and Light: Manga and the Ambivalent Social Acceptance of
Otaku
(Nerd) Culture
13.4 International Dimensions
13.5 Manga in Japan Today: Fall and Rise?
References
14 Bollywood: Aspirations of a Globalizing India
14.1 A Brief History of Bollywood
14.2 Song and Dance in Bollywood Films
14.3 Bollywood, a Rising Power in Global Film Production
References
15 The Korean Wave: Why It Swept the World
15.1 Contributing Factors
15.2 What is the Korean Wave to Koreans?
15.3 Future Prospect
Further Reading
16 Al Jazeera and Global News: Stages of Operation
16.1 The Pan‐Arab Stage
16.2 The Global Stage
16.3 Post “Arab‐Spring” Stage
References
Part V: Europe
17 Public Service Media in Europe: Common Values, Different Political Contexts, and a Variety of Practices
17.1 Common Values: From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media
17.2 Different Political Contexts and a Variety of Practices: Evolution Toward a Libertarian or Competitive Authoritarianism Model
17.3 Conclusions: Unity in Diversity?
References
18 Sweden and Beyond: The Pirate Party and Non‐Media‐Centric Media Politics
18.1 The Birth of the Pirate Party
18.2 The Pirate Parties International
18.3 From Media Piracy to New Communication Politics
References
19 Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA
19.1 Bertelsmann's History
19.2 Bertelsmann's Media Operations
19.3 Conclusion
References
20 Broadcasting Against the Grain: The Contradictory Roles of RT in a Global Media Age
20.1 RT and Its Competitors in a Global Media Environment
20.2 RT, Soft Power and Public Diplomacy
20.3 RT As a Propaganda Channel and “Foreign Agent”
20.4 Beyond Propaganda: RT As a Brand and An Instrument of Branding
20.5 Concluding Remarks
References
Part VI: Oceania
21 Indigenous Media in Australia
21.1 Introduction: Talking Back to Mainstream Media
21.2 Indigenous Media Overview: Pages, Channels and Platforms
21.3 Conclusions: Looking to the Future
References
22 The Story of Wellywood: How Director Peter Jackson Conquered the World While Remaining in New Zealand
22.1 A Kiwi Boy
22.2 Important Meetings
22.3 No More Gore
22.4 Hollywood Movies
22.5 Diversification
22.6 Conclusions
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 9
Table 9.1 Media concentration in Latin America.
Chapter 19
Table 19.1 Bertelsmann's divisions: revenue 2015–2017 (€ millions).
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Population trends.
Figure 1.2
Gross Domestic Product
(
GDP
) per capita growth by region.
Figure 1.3 Immigration flow: international migrants by region of destination.
Figure 1.4 Internet user growth trend by region.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Leading transnational media corporations.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 World Press Freedom Index map.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 VOSS model.
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 A visual available on QQ.
Figure 12.2 The WeChat red envelope.
Figure 12.3 WeChat options.
Figure 12.4 Social media options in China.
Chapter 19
Figure 19.1 Bertelsmann (2017) revenue.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
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Transnational Media
Concepts and Cases
Edited by Suman Mishra and Rebecca Kern‐Stone
This edition first published 2019© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Names: Mishra, Suman, editor. | Kern‐Stone, Rebecca, editor.Title: Transnational media : concepts and cases / edited by Suman Mishra and Rebecca Kern‐Stone.Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley‐Blackwell, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |Identifiers: LCCN 2018061446 (print) | LCCN 2019008093 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119394563 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119394570 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119394594 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781119394600 (paperback)Subjects: LCSH: Mass media. | Journalism. | International broadcasting.Classification: LCC P90 (ebook) | LCC P90 .T686 2019 (print) | DDC 384–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018061446
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Contributor Biographies
Alejandro Ocampo ([email protected]) is a scholar from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (State of Mexico Campus). Currently he is the Chair of the Department of Creative Industries. His lines of research are education, ethics, and their relationship with technology. Furthermore, he was the editor of Razón y Palabra, the most important online journal specializing in communication in Latin America. He studied communication, education, and philosophy.
Saba Bebawi ([email protected]) is Associate Professor in Journalism at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She has published on the role of media in democracy‐building in conflict and post‐conflict regions. She is author of Media Power and Global Television News: The role of Al Jazeera English and Investigative Journalism in the Arab World: Issues and Challenges.
O. Hugo Benavides ([email protected]) is Chair and Professor of Anthropology at Fordham University. He has published three books: Making Ecuadorian Histories: Four Centuries of Defining the Past, (2004); The Politics of Sentiment: Remembering and Imagining Guayaquil (2006); and Drugs, Thugs and Divas: Latin American Telenovelas and Narco‐Dramas (2008), as well as over 50 articles.
Isaac Abeku Blankson ([email protected]) is the Vice President of Ghana Technology University College (GTUC). His research focuses on social media and electronic communication applications, crisis communication, media studies, and public relations in developing countries. He has authored several publications and is co‐editor of Negotiating Democracy: Media Transformations in Emerging Democracies published by SUNY press.
Glenda Daniels ([email protected]) is Associate Professor in Media Studies at Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa. She is also a writer and media freedom activist. She is the author of the book Fight for Democracy: The ANC and the media in South Africa (Wits Press, 2012) and has spent around 20 years as a print journalist. She serves on the council of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) as chair of the diversity and ethics committee. Daniels is also on the board of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Karen Donders ([email protected]) is a lecturer in Policy Analysis, Political Economy of Journalism, and European Media Markets at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She heads the MEDIA unit of research center imec‐SMIT, hosting 30 PhD and senior researchers. She specializes in public service media policies across Europe, the interplay between media economics and policies, and competition law and media.
Scott Fitzgerald ([email protected]) is a Senior Lecturer at Curtin University, Australia. His research interests cover cultural industry corporations, creative work, public services (especially education), and new public management. He has published several chapters in international collections on the media industries and the book Corporations and Cultural Industries (Rowman & Littlefield).
Martin Fredriksson ([email protected]) is Associate Professor at the Department for Culture and Society, Linköping University. He has, among other things, published extensively on issues concerning the theory and history of piracy, commons, property rights, and the history of copyright. He is currently finalizing a project on the commodification of commons.
Thom Gencarelli ([email protected]) (PhD, NYU) is Professor and Founding Chair of the Communication Department at Manhattan College. His research spans media ecology, media education/media literacy, popular media and culture, and popular music, and he is co‐Editor of the recent Baby Boomers and Popular Culture: An Inquiry into America's Most Powerful Generation.
Fernando Gutiérrez ([email protected]) is the Head of the Division of Humanities and Education at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (State of Mexico Campus). He earned a PhD in Design and Data Visualization from The Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM). He is the author of several titles about media.
Grant Hannis ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of Journalism at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. His research interests include media history and economics. He lives near to where Peter Jackson grew up and has closely followed the film‐maker's career, after attending the New Zealand premiere of Bad Taste in 1988.
Rebecca Kern‐Stone ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of Communication, Media, and Advertising at Manhattan College. Her research focuses on community and identity discourse and practice, critical/cultural studies, and digital culture. She has published in a number of journals including: Sexualities, Information, Communication, and Society, Telematics and Informatics, and First Monday.
Shin Dong Kim ([email protected]) is Professor of Media and Communication at Hallym University, South Korea. His research and teaching cover global communication, media and cultural industries, and Asian cinema. He has traveled and taught widely in Asia, Europe, and North America, and currently work on a multi‐year research project on the development of the Korean ICTs on a national funding.
Michael Lewis ([email protected]) is Professor of History, Emeritus, at Michigan State University. He has written widely on modern Japanese social, political, and cultural history and Japan's influence on its East Asian neighbors. His most recent study is “History Wars” and Reconciliation in Japan and Korea (Palgrave, 2017).
Suman Mishra ([email protected]) is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at the Department of Mass Communication, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Her research focuses on globalization, transnational media, consumer culture, and identities.
Onookome Okome ([email protected]) studied at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and is currently Professor of Anglophone African Literature and Cinema at the University of Alberta, Canada. His recent publications include Global Nollywood: An African Video Film Industry (with Matthias Krings, Indiana University Press, 2013), and Popular Culture in Africa: The Episteme of Everyday Life (with Stephanie Newell, Routledge, New York, 2014). “Islam et Cinema en Afrique de l'ouest” (Tresor de Islam en Afrique. Paris: Silvania Editoriale, 2017) is his most recent essay. He is a Humboldt Scholar and was a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar.
Humphrey A. Regis ([email protected]) is Professor in the School of Communication at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, USA. He studies mass communication and culture, reference group orientation, and location in global social space; and won the Saint Lucia Medal of Merit (Gold) for “long and meritorious service in Education and Journalism.”
Liudmila Voronova ([email protected]) is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Journalism, School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University (Sweden). Her research interests are comparative studies of journalism cultures, political communication research, and gender media studies. In her studies, she focuses particularly on the media in Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic Sea region.
D. Ndirangu Wachanga ([email protected]) is Professor of Media Studies and Information Science at the University of Wisconsin. His research interests include memory, communication technologies, global media, and information ethics. He is the authorized documentary biographer of Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Professor Micere Mugo. His documentary, Ali Mazrui: A Walking Triple Heritage, won the 2015 New York African Studies Book Award. He is widely published and has presented his work internationally and is also a commentator for British Broadcasting Corporation Television.
Lisa Waller ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of Communication in the School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University, Australia. She is the co‐author of two recent books: The Dynamics of News and Indigenous Policy in Australia (Intellect, 2017) and Local Journalism in a Digital World (Palgrave, 2017).
Xinyuan Wang ([email protected]) is a post‐doc researcher from the UCL Department of Anthropology and received her PhD and MSc degrees from the same department. Her current publications are How the World Changed Social Media (co‐author, 2016, UCL Press) and Social Media in Industrial China (2016, UCL Press).
Andreas Widholm ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of Journalism in the Department of Media Studies (IMS) at Stockholm University, Sweden. His research addresses the relationship between media, politics, and culture with a particular focus on journalism, digital political communication, and social media.
1Introduction
Rebecca Kern‐Stone and Suman Mishra
This edited book is designed to meet the introductory needs of undergraduate and graduate courses in international media, international mass communication, global media transnational media, comparative media analysis, and the like. More broadly, it aims to fulfill the needs of colleges and universities who are internationalizing their curriculum to meet the needs of an increasingly globalized world through introduction of international‐oriented courses. Books that exist on the subject tend to be highly theoretical and often focus on journalism or entertainment media or specific regions of the world. In this book we have provided a broader perspective on national and transnational media in an easy to read accessible form and covered different media forms from Africa, Asia (including the Middle East), the Americas, Europe, and Oceania.
In media studies, concepts such as global communication, transnational communication, international communication, trans‐border communication, world communication, inter‐cultural communication, and so on have been used to highlight the communication and flow of information across boundaries. Each of these terms has its own dimension and complexity (Kamalipour 2007). We use the term “transnational” to recognize media's role in communication and relevance both within a nation and also across the transnational arena.
Thus, this book provides a country‐based perspective along with a transnational perspective. It is important to note that it is impossible to cover every region of the world and every country within a region; nevertheless, the book covers media from a wide array of countries from around the globe and highlights its national and transnational dimensions.
Chapters are arranged so that important foundation material is presented at the beginning of the book with regional and country discussions in the remaining chapters. The following two chapters introduce and discuss key transnational media concepts and theories and media systems. The first introduces concepts like globalization and the historical development of transnational media and communication theories in the area, also referred to in general as theories of international communication. It highlights the major strengths and weaknesses of these theories and changes over time. Last, it addresses the many complexities of today's world to provoke thought and discussion for future theories in this area. The chapter on media systems introduces how media is directly integrated with political, economic, and cultural conditions. These discussions are meant to be introductory and are presented not as highly theoretical models, but as background information to understand how media function around the world.
The book is then divided by regions of the world, namely: Africa, the Americas, Asia (including the Middle East), Europe, and Oceania. These regions have been defined based on the UN's Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications, revised October 2013 (UN Stats). In each regional section of the book, we have first provided some basic information about selected countries from the region, including a brief description of their media, and then provided more in‐depth country‐specific media cases as well as transnational influences of media from that country.
We have invited international scholars to write essays or case studies on specific countries as we wanted to include more international voices in this book. The essays and case studies offer country‐specific examples of media trends in television, radio, films, journalism, social media, and music, among others. As a whole, this book explores and answer the following questions:
How can media be understood on a global scale within and between nations?
How do changing global conditions – including economic, political, and cultural – impact media and how are they impacted by media in transnational information flow?
What are some of the primary centers of transnational media activities, both new and old?
1.1 Understanding Transnationalism and Related Trends
Transnationalism engages in political, cultural, social, and economic initiatives that extend beyond the borders of nation‐states. A nation‐state is a geographic locale that has defined borders where people share similar identities. These identities may be cultural in that they involve religion, food, traditions, clothing, history, or other factors that bring groups of people together. The identities may also be nationalistic or have nationalism, in that the people of the nation see themselves as part of a geographic place where they live, work, raise families, and engage with government affairs. As a result, there evolves a sense of allegiance with place. While not necessarily politically motivated, people of a nation‐state feel a belonging to the place they call home. Nation‐states, however, usually have fluid borders. Citizens, in most cases, are able to come and go from their home country and travel. Their view of the world expands beyond their local geography and culture, resulting in new curiosities about global understandings. Under transnationalism, global movement and interactions are what create a more integrated global society.
For transnationalism to occur a few additional factors need to exist. First, there needs to be “regular and sustained social contacts over time across national borders” (Portes et al. 1999, p. 219). In other words, regular trips across borders – whether business or pleasure – that involve activity and transaction, facilitate the concept of transnationalism. The trend of transnationalism is not new. While the term might be, transnationalism has existed since people have crossed borders to engage in political, cultural, social, or economic transactions. It can be tied to the history of globalization, which will be discussed in Chapter 2. Essentially, it could be argued that transnationalism is a long‐established trend that only recently was given a name. Second, as Portes et al. (1999) note, transnationalism began with the individual. It is at the local level that individuals sought opportunities across borders, whether for political motivations – as a need to escape government policies or regimes, or economic motivations – as a way to obtain goods or connections for business, for example. Displays of nationalism in sport, music, art, and traditional dress are all presented by the individual. Transnationalism does not only exist at the level of the individual: it begins with the individual but works to embolden larger institutions. These institutions may be government, corporation, education, religion, or of course mass media. Mass media can function on both the local and public level, which would be considered more nationalistic, or on the transnational level. Both are important to how people gain information about the world around them.
Examples of transnationalism can be seen at a macro level through global statistics; for example, in population changes, economic changes, immigration flows, global travel, and technology. All these changes are intrinsically linked with growth, production and consumption of media, global flow of information, patterns of media adoptions, cultural influences and changes, and so on. For example, many leading media companies from America and Europe today, for example Bertelsmann, are investing in the media markets of developing countries like India, China, Brazil, and Nigeria because of their size, and this provides a growth opportunity for these companies as well as growth of international media reach in these countries. Further understanding of the international reach and investment of a large European conglomerate in growing markets is discussed in Chapter 19. Similarly, economic changes in China have helped Chinese businesses immensely; these businesses are now investing in the established media markets of America and Europe and are helping to boost them. Chinese investment in the American movie‐theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment, and India‐based Reliance Entertainment's investment in Hollywood director Spielberg's DreamWorks studio, are just a few examples of global changes and the impact they have had on media business. US‐based Hollywood's, Australia‐based Wellywood's, India‐based Bollywood's, and Nigeria‐based Nollywood's contributions and connections to global media and markets are further discussed in Chapters 7, 10, 14, and 22, respectively. Other examples include the enormous transnational growth of several Latin American media companies, which has expanded the reach of telenovelas around the globe. For more on Latin American media conglomerates as well as the global impact of telenovelas, see Chapters 8 and 9. Transnational media has impacted news and journalism as much as entertainment. A number of news channels, such as BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and Russia Today (RT), are broadcast via satellite around the world, are available online, and have offices and reporters based in major cities around the world. This adds to differing perspectives on global events. The news systems and global reach of Al Jazeera and RT are discussed in Chapters 16 and 20 respectively.
1.2 Population Trends
Population changes can tell us a lot about clusters of growth, media opportunities, employment and capital, infrastructure needs, and other necessities. The population of the world currently is over 7.6 billion (UN DESA 2017). The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2017), expects the population to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. That is an increase of 14% by 2030, 12% by 2050, and 13% by 2100. The largest countries in terms of population size are China and India, representing 19% (1.4 billion inhabitants) and 18% (1.3 billion inhabitants) of the world's population (UN DESA 2017). However, India is set to overtake China's population within five years. Of the 10 largest countries in the world by population, see Figure 1.1, Nigeria and India are growing most rapidly.
Figure 1.1 Population trends.
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision. New York: United Nations.
1.3 Economic Trends
Overall, the world economy is projected to double by 2050 (PWC 2017). By 2050, China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil are projected to be the world's top five economies (PWC 2017). Vietnam, the Philippines, and Nigeria are expected to make the biggest leap upward in the ranking (PWC 2017). On average, the emerging markets (E7: China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, and Turkey) are expected to grow twice as fast as the advanced economies (G7: US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Italy) (PWC 2017).
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) – a measure of economic output, growth, and development – for many countries is changing under overall transnational growth (World Bank 2018). That means a larger labor market, global connectivity, growing opportunities, and greater purchasing power for many. Higher GDP allows for an increase in infrastructure spending which then can be used to bring in media opportunities, such as local radio, internet, and newspaper, as well as education opportunities. It can also boost current media in developing as well as established economies. Overall, the GDP of most countries has been growing. Developing countries have been growing faster than developed regions (World Bank 2018) (see Figure 1.2).
Figure 1.2Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita growth by region.
Source: UN/DESA, based on United Nations Statistics Division National Accounts Main Aggregates Database, United Nations Population Division World Population Prospects and UN/DESA forecasts.
While the economies of countries have been growing, poverty levels on a global basis have been dropping (UN DESA 2015; World Bank 2018). The global poverty line is set at US$1.90 PPP (purchasing power parity) a day, and since 1990 poverty has dropped by over 20%. However, as the United Nations notes, those in low‐income countries – a GNI (gross national income) per capita below US$1025 or less, such as many in sub‐Saharan Africa and southern areas of Asia – are more likely to be caught in the poverty coverage gaps. Poverty in high income countries – a GNI per capita of $12 476 or more – is often overlooked in poverty measurements as wealthier countries are not considered to have any extreme poverty (World Bank 2017). Yet, wealthier nations with extreme poverty gaps have similar problems to poorer nations when it comes to media access. Poverty level and inequity affect people's access to goods and services including access to technology and the communication infrastructure. This also means citizens have less opportunity to create their own stories, whether socio‐political or cultural, or engage with transnational voices.
1.4 Immigration Trends
Higher labor productivity may be to some extent a by‐product of immigration flows. Transnationalism partially involves the movement of peoples across borders. As previously stated, this may be for travel, but under sociological definitions it also means sustained contact, often for business. This means people cross borders seeking work, or other forms of sustained political, economic, cultural, or social interaction. According to the United Nations, in 2017 approximately 257 million immigrants lived outside their country of birth. Asians, Central Europeans, and East Africans have made up the largest segments of immigrants by destination. In addition, as of 2017, Asia, Western Europe, and North America have hosted the greatest number of immigrants. Refugees account for less than 10% of the immigrant population worldwide, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD2017).
Immigration growth under transnationalism can be a positive occurrence. As the OECD (2017) note, when monitored, immigration can do a great deal to spur economic growth in a country. This is because the incoming workers, for example, fill necessary jobs, build businesses, and invest in the local economy. However, there are not always incentives to stay, especially if political, legal, or social entrapments make it difficult for the immigrant to stay in their host country.
Immigration and changes in population diversity also spur changes in media. As people cross borders and establish themselves in new places, they bring with them new languages, cultures, and traditions. In some cases, popular culture and media gain a global foothold, such as in the case studies from Asia, Chapters 13 and 15, where immigration and marketing efforts influenced worldwide interest. Or as in the case study from the Caribbean in Chapter 11, where media is created by immigrants who were brought there, along with indigenous peoples. Sometimes, governments see a need to expand media offerings to immigrants and indigenous groups in native languages. Chapters 17 and 21 explore this type of media expansion on two different continents (Figure 1.3).
Figure 1.3 Immigration flow: international migrants by region of destination.
Source:United Nations' International Migration Report 2017.
1.5 Global Travel: Trends
Besides immigration as a major component of transnationalism, global travel is important as it promotes economic growth, cultural curiosity, and increased cultural knowledge. Over the last several decades, global travel has become easier and faster. This is due to changes in mass transportation – airplanes, trains, ships – that can carry more people longer distances at greater speeds. To give some idea of how much this has impacted tourist arrivals globally, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 1950 world tourism arrivals were 25 million, by 2000 they were up to 674 million, and were 1235 million in 2016. The UNWTO (2017) also notes that tourism accounts for “10% of the global GDP and one in 10 jobs worldwide” (p. 3). Research has also shown that South Asia and Southeast Asia have seen the greatest growth in 2017: between 6.5 and 7%. South Asia is expected to be the frontrunner in the coming decade, with the rest of Asia close behind. These regions are followed by Saharan and sub‐Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, all of which are expected to grow between 3.5 and 5% over the next decade. North America, Europe, and Oceania are expected to see the smallest increases, which is a significant reversal from years past.
1.6 Technology Trends
Technology has always impacted human lives in significant ways. Communication and the digital technologies of today have significantly increased the pace at which we send and receive information. Satellites, internet, wireless technologies, and social media are all aiding greater global interactions, global flow of local news and information, and entertainment media around the world. Google, Facebook, and Twitter have become major players in global news and information dissemination. Their worldwide use and popularity make them very powerful transnational players. For example, Facebook and Twitter have played a role in various protests around the world such as Egypt's “Arab Spring,” Iran's “Green Revolution,” and the United States’ “Black lives matter.” Their power crosses national boundaries and influences local populations, but also makes them targets for censorship and control in autocratic countries. China, for example, has developed its own social media ecosystem and search engines, and controls websites that its citizens can access (see Chapter 12). Cell phones, wearable technologies, voice driven assistants, and artificial intelligence (AI) are bringing significant changes to the world of media and local lives. The Reuters Institute’s 2018 report notes, “China and India become a key focus for digital growth with innovations around payment, online identity, and artificial intelligence” (Reuters 2018, p. 6). Today, more than four billion people, that is more than half of the world’s population, are online, a number that is only likely to grow. In July 2018, there were 4.1 billion active internet users, 3.8 billion unique mobile internet users, 3.3 billion active social media users, and 3.1 billion active mobile social media users (Statista 2018), so the world is even more digitally connected today than ever before.
According to The World Bank (2016), Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan have the highest rates of internet usage as a percentage of the population, followed by the United States, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and the Russian Federation, among others. The countries with the lowest usage include many countries in Africa – namely the Central African Republic, Niger, and Chad – as well as in central Asia, such as Iraq, and south Asia, such as Indonesia (Poushter 2016; World Bank 2016). However, as Poushter (2016) notes, significant increases in internet use have occurred in developing economies, in particular Brazil, Malaysia, and China. Regionally, internet users have grown more significantly in Asia and Africa than any other part of the world between 2009 and 2017 (see Figure 1.4).
Figure 1.4 Internet user growth trend by region.
Data Source: Statista (2018).
The Economist (2016) notes that while many in Africa do not have fixed broadband access, they do use internet on their mobile phones, which has allowed for increased trade, need for information, and opportunities to connect when other media outlets are unavailable or hindered due to government intervention. However, even within a continent where internet and other media growth has increased, infrastructure impedes growth on many levels and hides poverty in non‐urban centers (Economist2016) where many cannot afford basic communication technologies. The use of internet and mobile technologies in different contexts and in different types of economies is further discussed in Chapters 6, 12, and 18.
1.7 Transnational Media
Media are channels through which communication takes place. Transnational media is media consumed and constructed globally as well as by those who engage in transnational initiatives. National media is media of a nation‐state. It is created locally, although it may be part of a larger network of media entities. In some cases, it may be community media or hyper‐local media, created and funded by individuals or by the government. In other cases, national mass media may be more corporatized and funded through advertising. Transnational mass media crosses nation‐state borders. This may happen because of the proximity of two countries, where radio and television signals reach farther than the countries' borders. It can also happen because media is imported and exported. This varies widely globally, as not all countries or regions import and export media equally.
Marshall McLuhan first described an early version of transnational mass media in his seminal book, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man and the Understanding of Media. Here he discusses the idea of a Global Village, one that is made possible because of electric and electronic communication. He saw a future where mass media would shrink the distance between people globally and would increase cross‐cultural understanding. His ideas about a Global Village have since been criticized by some as being romanticized because they do not account for global power imbalances regarding information access, infrastructure, and geopolitics, and because a Global Village would increase the homogeneity of individual cultures. So, it could be argued that transnational mass media is both positive and negative. Positive because information can be shared across long distances and could increase cross‐cultural understandings. Negative because globally political and economic situations are not equal and this leaves some without opportunity to engage with global media formats and content.
The United Nations is working hard to promote information and communication technologies (ICTs) as they believe that this will help foster global development. As a part of their 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, one goal includes developing infrastructure, particularly in emerging economies. One point in Goal 9 specifically states, “Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020” (United Nations 2017, Sustainable Development Goal 9). This is because around 2.6 billion people in the world do not have consistent access to electricity, and nearly 1.5 billion do not have dependable phone access (United Nations 2017, Sustainable Development Goal 9). These are important initiatives to increase global access to communication, particularly electronic communication. These, paired with initiatives on literacy, poverty, and skills training – among others – can help to shift the power imbalances of information societies globally.
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Part ISetting the Foundations: Key Concepts
2Transnational Media: Key Concepts and Theories
Suman Mishra
Media are one of the ways through which information and global culture flow around the world. Over the years, several theories and concepts have been developed to understand, explain, and predict how media operate in the transnational arena. These include globalization and various associated macro‐level theories of international communication. These theories go beyond the national and connect the local to the global.
Theories and concepts are developed in a particular social, political, technological, and economic context, and hence they address the needs and concerns of the times in which they are developed. As the context and conditions change, new theories and ways of understanding the world are developed or needed. In the transnational arena, most early theories raised concerns regarding speed, reach, and control of communication by the developed nations of the Global North (e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom, France) and its economic, political, and cultural impact on the less‐developed nations of the Global South (many Latin American, African, and Asian countries). Newer theories in this area, however, tend to focus on the complexities of global–local interactions, and the role communities and national audiences play in adoption of foreign content that is circulated through transnational media corporations.
2.1 Understanding Globalization
Globalization is not a new phenomenon; migration of people, goods, and ideas has taken place throughout human history. However, use of the term “globalization” began around the 1930s, and became a buzzword in the 1980s, when journalists, academics, and others started frequently to use the term to describe the integration of international markets (James and Steger 2014).
Even though the term globalization has been popularly used, scholars have differed in their conceptualization of its fundamental meaning. Consequently, today there are more than 100 definitions of globalization (Al‐Rodhan and Stoudmann 2006). Most definitions underscore the dynamic and complex nature of globalization, and the many interconnections and interdependencies it creates across social, political, and economic boundaries. Al‐Rodhan and Stoudmann (2006, p. 2) provide a good baseline definition in assessing globalization as “a process that encompasses the causes, course, and consequences of transnational and transcultural integration of human and non‐human activities.”
Globalization today has its supporters and critics, but few deny its effect on countries and cultures. It is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that has been categorized into economic globalization, political globalization, and cultural globalization. These three areas are often discussed separately, but in fact they are interlinked. For example, globalization of finance not only integrates world economies through spread of global capital, it also directly and indirectly affects the social and political spheres by influencing wages, income distribution, and employment, all of which have significant political implications for a nation. Similarly, cultural exchanges among nations – for example, through films, television programs, music, and so on – affect and are affected by the global flow of capital.
Globalization has been occurring for centuries, but three distinct phases of modern globalization are discussed below to provide historical context and background to its development and its relationship to theories of international communication. In each phase of globalization, media and communication technologies have played a significant role in connecting the world and facilitating inter‐cultural exchanges, and hence their role and impacts have been theorized by scholars. The first phase of modern globalization occurred between 1870 and 1913, the second from 1945 to 1991, and the third from 1992 up to today (Verde 2017).
2.2 The First Phase of Globalization
The first phase of modern globalization began in the 1870s with the expansion of transportation (e.g. railways) and communication technologies (e.g. telephone, phonograph, wireless telegraph). All of these innovations helped to bring the world closer. They also helped to expand international trade among the colonies of Great Britain and other imperial powers and helped shift wealth and resources from the Global South to the Global North. Schmidt and Hersh (2000, p. 3) refer to this period as “the age of discovery and conquest characterized as the epoch of mercantilism and primitive accumulation.” Colonization also helped to spread the cultural, economic, and the political ideologies1 of the colonial powers to the colonized regions.
In 1914, World War I caused a slowdown in globalization as nations became involved in war. This global slowdown lasted for nearly 25 years until the end of World War II. This was also a period when many of the world's advanced countries experienced the Great Depression (1929–1932) and looked inwards to address their domestic problems.
2.3 The Second Phase of Globalization
Following World War II, the second phase of globalization began. Global cooperation and trade flourished as nations came together after the war in nation‐rebuilding efforts and also in aid of the development of “third world” countries, many of whom had fought for independence from colonial rule and had become sovereign nation‐states. Global financial organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were set up for reconstruction and to facilitate the developmental needs of nations. However, this was also the period of the Cold War when tensions between the two world superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies, were at a highpoint. US and British concerns over the spread of communism and Soviet dominance in the political and economic arena of Eastern European countries and their political influence in Western European democracies led to closer political, economic, and strategic links between their allies, and also led to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a unified military command to contain the Soviet Union. NATO was made up of the United States and its European allies, many of whom had benefited from the US aid provided to them under the Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery ProgramERP). The United States then and now continues to hold tremendous power in NATO.
This period, the second phase of globalization, saw an accelerated growth in international communication because of advances in communication technologies including television, computers, and satellites. Major international communications organizations, such as the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT) and the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT), were also established at this time to facilitate communication among nations. Entertainment media, particularly in the Western nations, flourished, and Western nations began to expand and provide their media content to other countries through import–export. Since many developing countries of the Global South did not have the advanced technologies or the resources to produce a lot of media content for their domestic consumption, they ended up importing American and European content.
International communication research took off after World War II, as debates around the role of the government in controlling the media, free flow of information across national boundaries, international relations and building coalitions, counteracting propaganda, and free speech and free press grew globally. At this time, nations of the Global South also became concerned over the imbalance in the flow of information from the Global North to the Global South. They began to ask for a more just and more efficient two‐way flow of information between developed and developing countries to reduce the imbalance in international relations. This led to a decade‐long debate through the 1970s and early 1980s on some of the major issues in international communication under the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) facilitated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO (1980) produced a report after this debate called the “Many Voices. One World” (also known as the MacBride report) outlining the many problems in international communication, such as the flow of information and market dominance, and also providing recommendations to democratize international communication systems, strengthening independence and self‐reliance in domestic communication policies.
In this context, several theories developed; prominent among them were the free flow of information theory (FFI), world system theory, modernization theory, dependency theory, structural imperialism, media imperialism, and cultural imperialism, which are described in the following paragraphs.
2.3.1 Free Flow of Information Theory
The FFI (Lerner 1958) came out of Western traditions, and was rooted in the ideas of the First Amendment and US antipathy to government control of media, censorship, and the use of media for propaganda by its communist opponents. This was also the time when free market discourse and market capitalism2 was pitched against state socialism3 in the new world order after World War II. Free flow of information across national borders was considered important for promoting democracy and for selling products (including media products) across borders. The push for the free flow of information was controversial, and critics contend that it helped information and entertainment products that championed an American/Western way of life and its values of capitalism and individualism spread throughout the world, further serving the economic and political interests of the United States and contributing to its greater dominance.
2.3.2 Modernization Theory
Modernization theory came out of Lerner's (1958) The Passing of Modernity and Schramm's (1964) Mass Media and National Development: The Role of Information in the Developing Countries and is complementary to the doctrine of FFI. It was developed to understand the influence of American media, such as Voice of America radio broadcasting – which was once used for counteracting Nazi propaganda – in transforming traditional societies of the Middle East into modern societies though dissemination of Western ideas and values. According to this theory, media are a “mobility multiplier,” i.e. exposure to Western media content can help postcolonial countries transition from “traditional” societies to “modern” ones by gaining experience of far off and more advanced places. This can further encourage people in these societies to question old ways of being, challenge hierarchies within their societies, and aspire to a modern way of life through participation in the economic and political realm; in essence, move toward a more modern, capitalistic, and democratic life.
Critics of the modernization theory (see Fangjun 2009; Martínez‐Vela 2001; Strelitz 2005; Thussu 2006) have pointed to its many weaknesses. These include: its top‐down and one‐direction approach to international communication, not accounting for the historical past or the transnational structures that constrained local and national development of many countries; the assumption that all countries follow similar paths of development; and the assumption that media are a neutral force in the development as they are tied to the interests of specific nations. The theory also tends to ignore the fact that modern and traditional ways of living are not mutually exclusive. Modernity and tradition can coexist; for example, in the Islamic traditions that continue to define Muslim regions and in many cases have become even stronger despite modern communication technologies and exposure to the Western world through media.
Even though modernization theory has been found to have many weaknesses, echoes of it have resurfaced in recent years. There is a recurrence of a belief that information exchanges through internet communication technologies (ICTs) can help advance and solve problems of the developing countries (Castells 1998; Thussu 2006).
2.3.3 Dependency Theory
In the 1960s and 1970s, several theories originating primarily from Latin America challenged Western approaches to understanding social, economic, and political developments. These theories highlighted the causes of imbalances in power in the world. Dependency theory, world system theory, and structural imperialism theory, were some of most prominent that highlighted underlying structural problems in development. These theories, though different, also have significant overlap with each other.
Scholars from Latin America (Raul Prebisch and Fernando Henrique Cardoso), the United States (Paul Baran and Baran and Frank Frank), Africa (Samir Amin), and Europe (Dieter Senghass and Ulrich Menzel) (Nulens 2003) are known for their work related to dependency theory. Dependency theory focuses on the causes it deems unjust that helped create an asymmetrical relationship between first‐world developed nations of the world, referred to as the centre nations, and third‐world developing nations, referred to as the periphery nations by dependency theorists. Dependency theorists place great emphasis on external causes, particularly economic causes, for poor conditions in the periphery nations.
Dependency theorists explain that there are tremendous interactions between the centre (developed nations) on the political and economic front, and between the centre and the periphery (underdeveloped nations), but there are significantly fewer interactions among the periphery nations. This results in a strong and united centre and a weak periphery. Centre nations maintain their dominance in the world through transnational corporations (TNCs), international commodity markets, communication, and other means. TNCs, mostly based in the Global North, exercise control with support of their respective governments over setting the terms for global trade – dominating markets, resources, production, and labor, resulting in conditions that increase the dominance of centre nations and maintain the dependence of the periphery nations on the centre nations. Dependency theorists also argue that because periphery nations rely on investment and media technologies from the centre, they are dependent on sponsors and advertisers from centre nations who want to sell them Western goods and a consumer lifestyle to increase their profits; and hence media end up focusing on promoting goods instead of promoting community values. They also introduced the terms “media imperialism” and “cultural imperialism” to explain this, which were later elaborated upon by other scholars.
Dependency theory, like modernization theory, highlights a one‐way flow of communication, but it also focuses on who is sending and controlling that flow. It highlights the imbalance in the flow of information at the international level but ignores the impact of media ownership and communication at the nation and local levels. In addition, it does not consider the role of a free media system or the role of the national elites in changing the conditions in periphery nations. It does not focus on internal domestic causes for inequality in the periphery nations, as domestic politics and contestation of power, corruption, poor policies, and other such factors affect the pace of growth and development in the periphery nations.
Dependency theorists provide solutions to mitigate the causes of inequality in the periphery nations by forming trading blocs consisting of periphery nations. These groupings can thereby gain better leverage from the core nations. They can also convince national elites in the periphery nations to use wealth for national developmental purposes.
2.3.4 World System Theory
Immanuel Wallerstein developed the world system theory as a reaction to the criticism of modernization theory. Wallerstein laid its foundation through his work: The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis (1974) and The Modern World System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World‐Economy in the Sixteenth Century (1976). He conceptualized that modern nation‐states existed within a larger economic, political, and legal framework, and thus individual societies and nations could not be understood in isolation and without reference to the world system. Wallerstein theorized that under capitalism a larger division of labor takes place nationally, regionally, and internationally among nation‐states of the world. In the world system, there are core nations (e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom, and France), nations with political, economic, and military might, semi‐periphery (e.g. India, Brazil, China, and South Africa) and periphery nations (most African countries). The core nations promote accumulation of wealth by providing technology, capital knowledge, finished goods, and services to other zones; while the semi‐periphery and periphery nations engage with the core through the supply of cheap low‐skill labor and raw materials. These roles are mutually beneficial for the nations‐states and are dynamic, so the roles of nations can change over time. World system theory acknowledges the exploitative nature of capitalism and the dominance of the core nations, but also notes the dynamic nature of the relationships between various nations of the world.
Wallerstein's initial focus in development of this theory was on economic globalization under global capitalism and economic interactions, but over time world system theory has been stretched beyond its original conception to include political, cultural, informational, and technological forms of interaction. It has been used as a framework for research ranging from international flow of information and international news to global governance. The world system theory falls into the dependency school of thought; therefore, many of the criticisms of dependency theory also apply to world system theory, including hierarchy in flow of information, separation of countries into only three categories – core, semi‐periphery, and periphery – when lot of other variation in countries are possible, and the need for more fluid movements of countries in and out of the capitalist structure.
2.3.5 Cultural Imperialism, Media Imperialism, and Structural Imperialism
Schiller and Tunstall through their works Communication and Cultural Domination (Schiller 1976) and The Media are American: Anglo‐American Media in the World (Tunstall 1977
