Who Owns the Media: Global Trends and Local Resistances

by Zaharom Nain (Editor), Associate Professor Pradip N Thomas (Editor)

Overview

The ownership of the media and issues related to the governance of global media institutions are of immense public significance. Not only are the cultural industries a major source of contemporary power - economic, political, social - they are also the primary definers of consciousness in most parts of the contemporary world. In the shadow of the recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission, USA, to dismantle restrictions on cross media ownership and similar initiatives in the UK and in other parts of the world, the issue of media ownership has been thrust on the world stage. Fewer owners and greater concentration of media often result in the downgrading of plurality, diversity and access to a variety of opinion, and contribute to the hamstringing of democratic discourse. The pro-war stance on Iraq, actively supported by mainstream media in the USA, is merely the latest example of the agenda-setting role of global media.

Media ownership patterns and permutations today are a direct consequence of the globalisation of neo-liberal economics. While there are some regional variations in the ownership 'mix', the trend from South Africa, to Argentina, India to East and Central Europe, clearly illustrated in the selection of writings in this volume, is towards privatisation, de-regulation, retreat from the state's public media responsibilities and the contraction of space for non-commercial, community-based media efforts.

This collection of critical writings on media ownership from different parts of the world written by leading scholars including Robert McChesney, Dan Schiller, Cees Hamelink, Sean O'Siochru, Zhao Yuezhi and others, offers a richly textured, contextual reading of the political economy of contemporary media ownership. Issues addressed include convergence, global media governance, IP, telecommunications regulation and deregulation, censorship, the role of the state, with a strong accent on the need for transparency, accountability and media diversity.

This book is an invaluable resource for media scholars, students and policy makers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781842774687
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/01/2004
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Pradip Thomas is Director of the Global Studies Programme, World Association for Christian Communication. He has written extensively on the political economy of communications in India and is the joint editor of the jourbanal, Media Development.

Zaharom Nain is Associate Professor at the School of Communication, Science University of Malaysia. He is co-editor of Communication and Development: The Freirean Connection (2000).
Pradip Thomas is Director of the Global Studies Programme, World Association for Christian Communication. He has written extensively on the political economy of communications in India and is the joint editor of the jourbanal, Media Development.

Zaharom Nain is Associate Professor at the School of Communication, Science University of Malaysia. He is co-editor of Communication and Development: The Freirean Connection (2000).

Table of Contents

Foreword
Peter Golding

Editors' Preface

PART 1: THEORY AND POLICIES
1. The Political Economy of International Communications
Robert McChesney
2. Global Institutions and the Democratisation of the Media
Senà Siochr
3. Intellectual Property Rights
Cees J Hamelink

PART 2: REGIONAL AND COUNTRY CASE STUDIES
4. Privatisation: The Cost of Media Democratisation in East and Central Europe?
Slavko Splichal
5. The Politics of the Media in the English Speaking Caribbean
Hopeton S Dunn
6. The Political Economy of Media in Southern Africa, 1990-2001
William Hueva, Keyan Tomaselli and Ruth Teer-Tomaselli
7. Media Ownership and Control in Africa in the Age of Globalisation
Francis Nyamnjoh
8. Media and Neoliberalism in Latin America
Ana Fiol
9. Communications and the Crisis: From Neo-Liberalism to Authoritarian Development?
Dan Schiller
10. The State, the Market, and Media Control in China
Zhao Yuezhi
11. Media Ownership and Communication Rights in India
Pradip N. Thomas
12. The Political Economy of Media Ownership in Nigeria
Mohammed Musa and Jibril Mohammed
13 Ownership, Control and the Malaysian Media
Zaharom Nain and Wang Lay Kim

PART 3: DEMOCRATIC COMMUNICATION FUTURES
14. The Whole World Is Watching: Online Surveillance of Social Movement Organisations
Sasha Constanza-Chock
15. Agendas for Research and Strategies for Intervention
Pradip N. Thomas

Contributors
Index