Internationalizing Media Studies and the ‘Rise of the Rest’

Presentation at the ECREA conference Istanbul

October 2012

Dr Daya ThussuProfessor of International

Communication Co-Director of India Media CentreUniversity of Westminster, London

D.K.Thussu@westminster.ac.uk

Global Media?

Hollywood-imported or inspired programming (in original, dubbed or localized versions):

In music (MTV) Factual entertainment (Discovery, National Geographic, History Channel)

Sports (ESPN) News (CNN) Children’s programming (Disney, Cartoon Network)

On-line media: Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

American entertainment?

The US-UK news duopoly

The world’s top 5 media corporations

Global Fortune 500 ranking 2009 revenue, billion $

57 36

76 30 82 28

170 13

177 13

BRICS and Beyond

Study of post-Cold War media in former Eastern bloc:‘to extrapolate theoretically from such relatively unrepresentative nations as Britain and the United States, is both conceptually impoverishing and a peculiarly restricted version of even Eurocentricism’ (Downing, 1996).

‘De-westernizing’, part of ‘a growing reaction against the self-absorption and parochialism of much Western media theory’ (Curran and Park, 2000).

Imperatives for internationalizing media studies by broadening its remit, warranted by unprecedented growth of media in non-Western world (Thussu, 2009)

Imperatives for internationalization

Globalization of the media means that research demands it

Globalization of higher education means that students demand it

Globalizing the canon?

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Chanakya (Kautilya) 3rd century BC

A tale of two cities

CairoEstablished 970 AD

BolognaEstablished 1088 AD

Media: a global history? Printing was invented in China not in Europe

First printing press in the Ottoman Empire was established in 1511, and in Mexico, in 1535

Strong tradition of anti-colonial journalism in Asia, Africa and the Arab world

Sun Yat Sen worked for Chung-kuo Jih-pao (Chinese Daily Newspaper), founded in 1899.

India’s greatest journalist

‘Chindia’ impact

China is poised to have more impact on the world over the next 20 years than any other country. If current trends persist, by 2025 China will have the world’s second largest economy and will be a leading military power…

India probably will continue to enjoy relatively rapid economic growth and will strive for a multi-polar world in which New Delhi is one of the poles.

-Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World,

US Government, 2008

Race to top: China vs. US

Valuation of GDP based on PPP in $billion

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

China 10.11 11.31 12.46 13.7415.16 16.80 18.67

US 14.52 15.06 15.49 15.9916.62 17.39 18.25

Source: IMF

The top five: Out of Fortune 500

US 133Japan 68China 61France 35Germany 34

‘Chindia’ and global communication

China and India’s combined economic and cultural impact, aided by global diasporas: globalization with an Asian accent

Media and communication growing in both countries – more than 800 communication programmes in Chinese universities. Mushrooming of media research institutes in India

Both source of a number of postgraduate and research students studying media and communication

Chinese TV to watch

A Million Media Now!

Media and communication in ‘Chindia’

India: More than 120 round-the-clock TV news channels; world’s largest producer of feature films and one of its most linguistically diverse media landscapes

China biggest mobile phone market, highest blogger population; largest exporter of IT products

World Association of Newspapers reported that in 2010, India, with 110 million copies sold daily, is the world’s largest newspaper market, followed by China with 109 million copies

Top ten Internet users, in millions

Media for a ‘post-American’ world?

The limits of ‘neo-liberal’ corporate globalization – ‘Anglobalization’

Media contra-flows Cultural consequences of the ‘Chindia’ challenge: the ‘peaceful rise’ of China and India’s ‘demographic dividend’

Civilizations – from clash to conversation?