Global Communication Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends

Discusses the players, theories, and trends that affect how the world communicates and gets their information

This book is a definitive text on multinational communication and media conglomerates, exploring how global media influences both audiences and policy makers around the world. Comprehensively updated to reflect the many fast moving developments associated with this dynamic field, this new edition investigates who and where certain cultural products are coming from and why, and addresses issues and concerns about their impact all over the world. 

Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, 5th Edition has been thoroughly updated with new content, trends, and conclusions, all based on the latest data. The book examines broadcasting, mass media, and news services ranging from MSNBC, MTV, and CNN to television sitcoms and Hollywood export markets. It investigates the roles of the major players, such as News Corp, Sony, the BBC, Disney, Bertelsmann, Viacom, and Time Warner, and probes the role of advertising and the Internet and their ability to transcend national boundaries and beliefs. New chapters look at the growing importance and significance of other major regions such as the media in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.

• Outlines the major institutions, individuals, corporations, technologies, and issues that are altering the international information, telecommunication, and broadcasting order

• Focuses on a broad range of issues, including social media and new services like Netflix, as well as Arab and Asian media

• Includes major updates on discussion of the Internet to incorporate global events over the last few years (such as Russian use thereof, Facebook, Google)

• Looks at how streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, and more have emerged as dominant players in world entertainment

• Offers an updated instructor’s website with an instructor’s manual, test banks, and student activities

Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, 5th Edition is intended as an upper-level, undergraduate text for students in courses on International/Global Communication, Global Media/Journalism, and Media Systems in Journalism, Communications, or Media Studies Departments.

Thomas L. McPhail, PhD, is a writer and an international media critic, and has served for over a decade on the Canadian National Commission for UNESCO. He is the author of Development Communication (Wiley Blackwell, 2009).

Notes on Contributors vi

Preface vii

Acknowledgments x

About the Companion Website xi

1 Global Communication: Background 1

2 Development Research Traditions and Global Communication 31

3 The Message: Role of International Organizations 47

4 The Medium: Global Technologies and Organizations 67

5 Web‐Based and Digital Media 81

6 US Multimedia Conglomerates 102

7 Media Stakeholders Outside the United States 130

8 European Media 155

9 The Global Music Industry 170

10 CNN: International Role, Impact, and Global Competitors 185

11 The Role of Global News Agencies and Sources 209

12 Arab Media and the Al Jazeera Effect 223
Lawrence Pintak

13 Toward Globalization: The Approaches and Accomplishments of the Four Media Giants in Asia 235
Junhao Hong

14 The Role of Global Advertising 260

15 Summary and Conclusions 273

Select Bibliography 290

Index 298

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