Chapter II : Theories of International Communication

A- Background

There are three paradigms in international communication:

- Modernization:

o under which there is the free flow theory and modernization theory

o found in capitalist, and wetstern societies

o according to Daniel Lerner, international communication is he key for modern society

- Marxist: under which we there is the dependency theory, hegemony, critical and public sphere theory

- Globalization: under which there is the information society, network society, and discourses of globalization theory

what is a theory?

It is an attempt to explain or represent a phenomenon of reality.

It helps to answer the how and why questions

It is socially constructed

How can we evaluate a theory?

It should be logically consistent

It should be testable

When you have a theory, you have your own standpoint

B- Free flow of information:

a. information should not be controlled by the state

C- Roger’s theory: diffusion of innovation (modernist)

a. Defined diffusion as a process where an innovation is communicated to a mass of people via a communication channel ; in other words, he describes the process of domestication

D- Dependency theory (Marxist):

a. It came in Latin America as a response to modernist theory where it was under dictatorship

b. It provides another paradigm alternative to free flow of information

c. Media globe player (exp: CNN) control over the developing countries

d. Countries in the north were controlling global communication because of trade but now they are importing information from south

E- Structural imperialism:

a. Johan Galtung: published an essay on 1971 on structural imperialism

b. To illustrate this theory we take the example of the French and Spanish colonization to the south. After the decolonization period, they went out from the door and came back from the window because they actually left their blueprint especially on the education system and laws. There are three types of imperialism: economic, political and military.

c. When the capitalist system emerged, the modern world included Holland, England, spain, and france. Because of the colonization, these nations exported their capitalist system to the south and the world adopted the capitalist system.

d. The world got divided into three parts: the core which is the U.S, the peripheries and the semiperipheries

e. The world moved from the feudal system to the capitalist system to the the Russian Soviet Union but then the capitalist system prevailed over the socialist one.

F- Hegemony:

a. This theory is associated with the Marxist Gramshy (Italian)

b. It suggests that the dominant social group in a society (bourgeoisie) has the capacity to intellectual and moral leadership

c. There are three important institutions that contribute to the social order: educational schools, religion and mass media

d. An example to illustrate this idea is the U.S who is leading the world by its intellectual and moral power such us democracy, for instance.

G- There are three dimentions of Global Communication

a. International media coverage (exp: CNN)

b. Comparing between media events

c. Communication for development

H- Critical theory

a. Three german jewish people read marx and borrowed the concept: commodification

b. Commodification: commercialization of culture. The best example of this is the fact that people are making money out of painting and traditional objects which is part of their culture and according to critical theorists this should not be done.

I- Public sphere

a. Jurgen habermas is a german philosopher from the Frankfurt school (critical theory school)

b. This concept was raised in france and England when people gathered to discuss political issues .

c. At this time it was argued that church should be independent from the state and started to be so.

d. La bourgeoisie had economic power but no political one.

e. The public sphere came out of the feudal system

J- Libertarian:

a. Found in democracies, but not all of them. It is found in U.S for instance

b. In this system, the media acts as a watchdog, to wach the behaviour of the government and convey it to the public sphere.

K- Authoritarian:

a. The media is in the hand of the government just like the case of china

b. The media can not criticize the government and there are many ways to prevent her from doing so (censorship, and political taboos)

L- The soviet model:

a. There is a total control over information

b. Mass communication is used for propaganda purposes for the party

c. Actually the authoritarian model is a softer model of the soviet one

M- Social responsibility

a. Media ownership is both in the hand of the public and private sector

b. Media should serve the public who are financing media through taxes

N- Developmental

a. Media serves not only the party but the public and the national development as well

O- Democratic participant:

a. All people should have equal access to the public sphere (where ideas compete)

b. Media is used for the participation in the political process

P- Revolutionary process:

a. Small media is used to trigger big political events