Media Policy and Globalization

Media Policy and Globalization combines careful scholarship with a clear, accessible style that creatively integrates some of the best elements of critical theory. The book marks an important step in the development of media policy scholarship because it skilfully integrates political economic and cultural studies perspectives. It does an especially good job of placing research on state and gender theory into the centre of policy analysis. -- Vincent Mosco, Queen's University, author of The Digital Sublime Premised on the fact that there are different globalizations going on today, this comprehensive study successfully integrates structural and symbolic analyses of communications and media policy in the conflicted spaces of the nation-state, trans-nation, and sub-nation. Chakravartty & Sarikakis's remarkably systematic approach to media policy, technology, content, and civil society formation, fills in crucial details left behind by grand theory, including progressive postcolonial theory of global communication. In doing so, the book re-energizes the hackneyed field of international media studies and transforms it. -- John Nguyet Erni, City University of Hong Kong The ideas and explanation in this book are a very welcome antidote to the dominant discourse of the virtues of the market, new technologies and competition. The proponents of technological determinism have for the past 10 years asserted that greater audiovisual delivery capacity will automatically deliver diversity and pluralism and have sought to roll back virtually all audiovisual regulation. The authors describe well the valid political, social, economic and particularly cultural questions which demand an answer if the public interest is to be served in communications policy and the regulation which should flow from it. The authors rightly underline that the screen, large or small, is central to our democratic, creative, cultural and social life and that policy makers should give greater space to the views of civil society and parliamentarians interested in advancing the public interest. Rare is the attention paid to the realities of the digital divide as played out across the globe which provides important information for campaigners for greater technological redistribution and cultural diversity worldwide. -- Carole Tongue, Visiting Professor, University of the Arts, London, Former MEP spokesperson on public service broadcasting In addition to its well-structured analyses, the book is written in an easy, accessible manner and offers rich empirical material and useful case studies for teaching purposes. -- Cees J. Hamelink, Amsterdam/Brisbane Publizistik This book presents many rich clues for us to look further at on-going policy debates. Those clues point us toward inclusion of a variety of national, non-national, international, regional, and civil players as well as their organic connections. For any researcher, graduate student, or upper-division undergraduate student interested in global media debate today, this book provides not only the most up-to-date references, but also a fresh way to look at multiple-level analytical levels of analysis. -- Atsushi Tajima, SUNY Global Media Journal Media Policy and Globalization serves up an ambitious, readable, and concise synthesis of how the messy world-system of communication policy is described and pondered in the communications and media studies discipline. Global Media and Communication Media Policy and Globalization combines careful scholarship with a clear, accessible style that creatively integrates some of the best elements of critical theory. The book marks an important step in the development of media policy scholarship because it skilfully integrates political economic and cultural studies perspectives. It does an especially good job of placing research on state and gender theory into the centre of policy analysis. Premised on the fact that there are different globalizations going on today, this comprehensive study successfully integrates structural and symbolic analyses of communications and media policy in the conflicted spaces of the nation-state, trans-nation, and sub-nation. Chakravartty & Sarikakis's remarkably systematic approach to media policy, technology, content, and civil society formation, fills in crucial details left behind by grand theory, including progressive postcolonial theory of global communication. In doing so, the book re-energizes the hackneyed field of international media studies and transforms it. The ideas and explanation in this book are a very welcome antidote to the dominant discourse of the virtues of the market, new technologies and competition. The proponents of technological determinism have for the past 10 years asserted that greater audiovisual delivery capacity will automatically deliver diversity and pluralism and have sought to roll back virtually all audiovisual regulation. The authors describe well the valid political, social, economic and particularly cultural questions which demand an answer if the public interest is to be served in communications policy and the regulation which should flow from it. The authors rightly underline that the screen, large or small, is central to our democratic, creative, cultural and social life and that policy makers should give greater space to the views of civil society and parliamentarians interested in advancing the public interest. Rare is the attention paid to the realities of the digital divide as played out across the globe which provides important information for campaigners for greater technological redistribution and cultural diversity worldwide. In addition to its well-structured analyses, the book is written in an easy, accessible manner and offers rich empirical material and useful case studies for teaching purposes. This book presents many rich clues for us to look further at on-going policy debates. Those clues point us toward inclusion of a variety of national, non-national, international, regional, and civil players as well as their organic connections. For any researcher, graduate student, or upper-division undergraduate student interested in global media debate today, this book provides not only the most up-to-date references, but also a fresh way to look at multiple-level analytical levels of analysis. Media Policy and Globalization serves up an ambitious, readable, and concise synthesis of how the messy world-system of communication policy is described and pondered in the communications and media studies discipline.