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 Up
to 80 Million people throughout India gathered in front of their
television to watch Ramayan, a serial broadcasted by a station
from Delhi. This has been doubtlessly one of the biggest
television events in the history of this medium recognized
probably only by few scholars in the Western hemisphere.
Approaches in Western media studies have difficulties explaining
why in an alleged modern country so many people are attracted by a
traditional program presenting all the Gods of the ancient Hindu
pantheon.
De-Westernizing
Media Studies, edited by James Curran and Myung-Jin Park,
tries to bring a cultural phenomenon like Ramayan into the world
of Western media studies. The book establishes itself as
part of a counter-movement to the current landscape of research on
international communication and globalization in the Western
hemisphere. The editors argue that this scientific field is
dominated by Anglo-American scholars merely merging results of
research conducted on Western media and few other countries into
theories of global worth. The book aims at opening media
theories for experiences made in countries “outside the
Anglo-American orbit.”
In
the introduction Curran gives a profound overview of theories and
models so far proposed by Western scholars concerning
international communication and its impact on Third World
countries. He shows that the scientific debate has come to a
point where two contrasting attitudes towards globalization can be
found. The first is expressed by cultural theorists who
welcome globalization as a means for the reinforcement of
international dialogue. It enables minorities to gain
attention beyond national borders. An opposing point of view
stresses the threat that globalization poses to democracies and
international politics aiming at limiting the influence of
worldwide capitalism. Curran points out that these two
approaches agree in one assumption: that the nation-state is
fundamentally weakened under the influence of transnational
corporations. By questioning this assumption the book places
itself between these two understandings of globalization.
However, its basic presumption is that the nation-state is still
strong and that it remains the main power concerning the shaping
of national media systems.
Unfortunately,
the editors do not dwell on the above latter point and they do not
give a clear definition of their understanding of the term
‘nation.’ The reasons listed for the assumption
regarding the power of the nation-state are feasible. This
counts for the fact that most of today’s television-programs and
press contents are still produced by national companies.
Also, it is the nation-state who is responsible for monitoring and
shaping the national media system via its regulatory authority by
law-making and jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the third reason given
by Curran and Park raises a few doubts. They argue that the
nation is the main determinant of differences between societies in
terms of language, politics, economics and cultural affairs.
This could neglect recent developments that witnessed a decrease,
if not a collapse, of nation-based structures in non-Western parts
of the world like in South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and
especially in Africa with the tragic events in Northern Nigeria as
its most recent example.
Further,
the extent to which the nation-state is weakened by globalization
still requires clarification. Curran and Park do not
contribute much to this point, albeit they clearly point to the
fact that the notion of the re-emergence of the nation-state as a
primary agent came late during the preparation of the book.
It should always be clearly differentiated between the general
position of nations facing globalization and the analysis of their
ability to shape national media systems which, according to Curran
and Park, is still being given.
This
is somehow supported by the contributions on Egypt and the Middle
East. The authors point out that the Egyptian government
tries to gain control of the information flow within the Egyptian
society and to keep foreign influences decentralizing media
reception out of the country. According to the authors,
these attempts have rather small chances for success, as the
pressure of globalization even on media control is too strong to
be handled by a local government. Also, the author of a
contribution about the impact of television on gender roles and
democratization in the Middle East concludes by saying that the
consequences of implementing mass media as instruments of
modernity, still presenting sometimes traditional contents, can
only be answered in the future.
The
editors built the presentation of worldwide media systems on a 19
nation based analysis. The chapters are classified into a
grid pattern made up of two variables representing the status of
the political system between democratic and authoritarian, and the
economic system between neo-liberal and regulated. This
leads to five groups of nations: authoritarian neo-liberal
societies like Mexico or Taiwan; authoritarian regulated
countries; democratic neo-liberal nations such as the United
States and Japan; democratic regulated societies and a final group
of transitional and mixed societies which do not fit with the
rest.
Each
classification has its problems, but this one proposed by the
editors might remind some of the readers of the four theories of
the press condemned by Curran and Park. However, it is
questionable what this classification of narrow nation-based
analysis serves since no specific correlation between the chapters
of a category can be observed.
One
may also wonder if the book has a comparative character. Of
the four questions which were sent to the scholars for their
analysis of national media systems, three investigate national
shapes of media systems and only one of them addresses the effect
of media globalization and new media.
In
light of the above, it becomes difficult for readers to make a
comparison between nations in order to look for a substitute for
the theories with global worth criticized by the editors.
Nevertheless, national studies such as these are indispensable to
provide a well founded basis for further research on international
communication and media globalization, allowing an approach much
more valuable than those developed so far on these issues.
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