Globalization, Development and the Mass Media gives a comprehensive and critical account of the theoretical changes in communication studies from the early theories of development communication through to the contemporary critiques of globalization. It examines two main currents of thought. Firstly, the ways in which the media can be used to effect change and development. It traces the evolution of thinking from attempts to spread ′modernity′ by way of using the media through to alternative perspectives based on encouraging participation in development communication. Secondly, the elaboration of the theory of media imperialism, the criticisms that it provoked and its replacement as the dominant theory of international communication by globalization.

In this provocative book Terhi Rantanen challenges conventional ways of thinking about globalization and shows how it cannot be understood without studying the role of the media. Rantanen begins with an accessible overview of globalization and the pivotal role of the media.

This book overviews and reconsiders media organizations - the news agencies - which report and film the news for the press and broadcast media. Incorporating institutional, historical, political economic and cultural studies perspectives, the book: reviews agency provision of general news, video news and financial news; analyzes agency-state relations through periods of dramatic social upheaval; and critically examines the impact of deregulation and globalization on the news agency business. Contributors consider how leading players like Reuters and Associated Press help to define the nature of both the Global and the Local as well as focusing on the network of relations between international and national agencies. The book

The fully updated third edition of this lively and accessible book argues for the central role of media in understanding globalization. Indeed, Jack Lule convincingly shows that globalization could not have occurred without media. From earliest times, humans have used media to explore, settle, and globalize their world. In our day, media has made the world progressively “smaller” as nations and cultures come into increasing contact. Decades ago Marshall McLuhan prophesied that media technology would transform the world into a “global village.” Slowly, fitfully, his vision is being fulfilled. The global village, however, is not the blissful utopia that McLuhan predicted. Nor, in a more modern formulation, is the world flat, with playing fields leveled and opportunities for all. Instead, Lule argues, globalization and media are combining to create a divided world of gated communities and ghettos, borders and boundaries, suffering and surfeit, beauty and decay, surveillance and violence. By breaking down the economic, cultural, and political impact of media, and through a rich set of case studies from around the globe, the author describes a global village of Babel—invoking the biblical town punished for its vanity by seeing its citizens scattered, its language confounded, and its destiny shaped by strife.

The global village, however, is not the blissful utopia that McLuhan predicted.

This book provides a clear and authoritative introduction to the emerging Arab media industries in the context of globalization and its impacts, with a focus on publishing, press, broadcasting, cinema and new media. Through detailed discussions of the regulation and economics of these industries, the authors argue that the political, technological and cultural changes on the global media scene have resulted in the reorganization of the Arab media field. They provide striking examples of this through the particular effects on media policies, media technology and the content and genres developed for the new generation of media consumers. As part of the book's overview of the contemporary characteristics of Arab media, the authors outline the development of the role of modern Arab media from a tool of mobilizing the public to a tool of commercial and symbolic profit. Overall, the volume illustrates how the Arab region represents a unique case where the commercialization and liberalization of selected media industries has gone hand in hand with continuous state intervention and an increasing self censorship. Written for students without prior knowledge of the topic, Arab Media will be essential reading for all interested in the contemporary global media industries.

The ongoing interconnection of the world through modern mass media is generally considered to be one of the major developments underpinning globalization. This important book considers anew the globalization phenomenon in the media sphere. Rather than heralding globalization or warning of its dangers, as in many other books, Kai Hafez analyses the degree to which media globalization is really taking place. Do we have enough evidence to show that there is a linear and accelerated move towards transnationalization in the media? All too often the empirical data presented seems rather more anecdotal than representative. Many transborder media phenomena are overestimated and taken out of the context of locally and nationally oriented mainstream media processes all over the world. The inherent danger is that a central paradigm of the social sciences, rather than bearing scholarly substance, will turn out to be a myth and even a sometimes dangerously ideological tool. Based on a theoretical debate of media globalization, the work discusses most major fields of media development, including foreign reporting, satellite TV, film, internet, foreign broadcasting, media and migration, media policy and media economy. As an important new contribution to timely debates, The Myth of Media Globalization will be essential and provocative reading for students and scholars alike.