Global Communication Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends Thomas L. McPhail

Global CommunicationTheories, Stakeholders, and TrendsThomas L. McPhailDevelopment Research Traditions and Global CommunicationPresented by: Muhammad Usman Saeed(13021716-018)IntroductionThe Chapter addressesHistoryMajor approaches or theoriesThe role of NGOsThe competition for resourcesThe CNN effectParadigm shift underwayParadigm of ModernizationEconomic FocusPolicy Matters with a social and cultural lensOld ParadigmNew ParadigmObjections to globalizationPost-Cold-War fear of US hegemonyAid and International policies to suit donor nation goals and not receiving nations needs and goalsEx: Area of Family Planning and Women roleBenefits goes to Western nations and third world see little improvementDevelopment CommunicationIn theory it should work with other growth factors to lead poorer nations to modernization or at least semi-peripheral zone.In practice, those peripheral nations that invest in media infrastructures realized too late that these systems were bringing more foreign not local content.ContIndeed some peripheral nations moved in the opposite direction with regard to their housing, environment, currency and literacy, and healthcare, particularly with the spread of AIDS.Development JournalismIt is a media theory that encourages an engineered press a press committed to government set priorities and objectives.Totalitarian and military regimes in a number of peripheral nations follow and enforce this media theory and approach.Core nations as sourcesMajor Western News Agencies such as the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Agence France Prease provide 90% news all over the world.Major Western newspaperInternational Radio Programming Voice of America, the BBC, Deutsche Welle.Global television news videos and reels supplied by CNN, Reuters, AP, Getty,BBC.ContTelevision programming and feature films over two third of available global video programs comes from the United States.Major Global Advertising Agencies are based in US, Europe, or Japan.Peripheral nations can be developed through economic assistance.Economic based GrowthEconomic based GrowthIt was assumed, More the GDP, More the development of Communication systems.LimitationsSoviet Union supported Communist oriented nations.United States supported capitalist and free democracy oriented nations.Corrupt regimes, Military official, untrained bureaucrats in peripheral nations wasted aid.

Two philosophies of journalismWestern Journalists favored a free pressLocal Development Communication journalists followed a development journalism approach.In practice advocacy journalism.Communication & DevelopmentThe stages of economic growth by US economist Rostowthe passing of traditional society by Denial Lerner.The diffusion of Innovations by Everett Rogers.Mass Media and National Development by Wilbur SchrammWalter Rostows stages of economic growthCriticism on ModernizationAnthony Giddens states that modernization will ultimately lead to Marshall McLuhans global village. One of the most profound effects will be that the language of the global village will be English.DevelopmentIn summary, development has been viewed as a type of social change in which new ideas are introduced into a social system in order to produce higher per capita incomes and levels of living through modern product methods and improved social organizations. But after decades, a growing chorus of critics began to make themselves heard.ContIn turn some analysts shifted to non-economic explanations of development, identifying variables such as mass media exposure, telecommunications, political and social changes, social mobility, population control, along with individual psychology and commitment as preconditions for positive development and eventual modernization.19The Research TraditionsFunctionalism1930s and 1940sCommercially orientedReflecting the marketing concerns of the consumer societyIn Lazarsfeld's words Administrative researchResearch isolated specific media purposes from overall social process.ContUS researchers interested to illuminate new forms of social control, persuasion or attitude change.Focus on quantitative, empirical, behavioral science methodsstudies were commissioned by broadcast, government agencies, foundations or large advertising agencies.ContInterested in such things as Votes, purchases, attitudes, or behavior change of individuals.They had no interest in social, ideological or cultural scheme.StructuralismSome critics such as Herbert and Dan Schillar, Dallas Smythe, Bob McChesney and Howard Frederick, probed more deeply into the question of who communicates with whom and for what purposes. They found that the real shaper of peripheral nations communication systems and the messages they produce is media from core nations.ContCommunication conglomeratesThey use the communication industry to perpetuate certain needs, tastes, values and attitudes so as to increase profitWhen a peripheral nation import a communication technology, it imports an alternative way of lifeCommunication systems define basic social arrangements of living.ProfessionalismTechnocratic baggage including technicians, engineers, producers, directors, behind the scene personnel, and writers, usually are on loan from the industrial nations or are trained and educated in core nations.They bring value system and attitudes associated with Western Professionalism.ContFor granted more Modern technology including communication hardware and software foster a neocolonial-like dependence on organizations from core nations.

Western Research FailingsBeltran criticizes diffusion of innovationCommunication by itself can generate developmentIncreased production and consumption of goods and services are essence of developmentTo increased productivity is technological innovationContDominant research tools of diffusion studies interview, sample survey, and content analysis are another obstacle to the exploration of social structure as a key factor in the communication process.Empiricism and quantitative approach also a hurdle to study macro level.New DeparturesMarxist Theories during the 1960s and 1970s.In early 1990s, Marxists quickly lost advocates.Schiller and Rogers pointed out the centrality of communication in the development process.World Bank development report 1998 marks a dramatic shift by including communication as central to future development.ContFinally, a new movement under the umbrella of participatory communication has emerged. ConclusionThe main point is that the communication research with an international focus is changing, complex, and in some cases controversial. Previous theories and approaches appear limited, which is why the application of world system theory as well as the theory of electronic colonialism to global communication trends is a welcome addition to the discipline.ContOld boundaries and distinctions between hardware and software are becoming meaningless with the digitalization and emergence of media conglomerates. Discussion