COURSE SYLLABUSUniversity of Zululand

Faculty of ArtsDepartment of Communication Science

ACOM 311: Communication Science 3

Instructor: Mr. Thabo Mokgosi Office: A2-44 (Academic Block)Phone: 035-902-6033 Office Hours: By appointment E-mail: mokgosi.thabo@gmail.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course will examine a broad range of issues and debates presently taking place in international communication. The initial part of the course will focus on historical background and theoretical frameworks which can provide us with contextual as well as analytical foundations to critically approach topics on international communication. The course will then explore various subjects reflecting cultural, socioeconomic, and political dynamics that have created the complex nature of human communication in a global dimension.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course mainly intends to help you to achieve three goals: To explore global aspects of human experience. To deepen your understanding of human communication by

appreciating critical, yet nuanced frameworks.

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To develop your own insights by ruminating “the way it might be” as opposed to “the way it is” in terms of both past and current international communication.

REQUIRED READINGS

Daya Kishan Thussu (2006). International Communication: Continuity and Change (2nd ). New York: Hodder Arnold.

ADDITIONAL READING

McQuail, D. (2010) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. (6th ed) SAGE Publication, London

ASSESSMENTTEST No: 1 : 15%TEST No: 2 : 15%QUIZZ : 10%ASSIGNMENT : 10%EXAM : 50

GROUND RULESATTENDANCE is compulsory. Any student not attending a class should provide a medical certificate or a written justification (signed by a parent or guardian). Should a student fail to do so, he / she will be considered truant. If a student’s attendance for a given subject is lower than 80%, he / she will AUTOMATICALLY FAIL.PUNCTUALITY is equally important. The lecturer is entitled to refuse entry into the lecturer theatre to any student coming late for lectures.

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QUIZZ will be given at any time without prior notification. The purpose is to examine your fulfilment of reading assignments and your grasp of class discussion. Missed quizzes cannot be made up. NB: THERE IS NO SHORT CUT TO SUCCESS

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COURSE OUTLINE...........................................................................................................................................This is an outline of the topics you will cover for this subject...........................................................................................................................................

1. The Historical Context of International Communication2. Theorizing International Communication3. Global Communication Infrastructure4. Global Media Commodities and Journalism5. Cultural Globalization and Identity6. Contraflow in Global Media7. International Communication in the Internet age

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................ONLINE MATERIAL

1. Madikiza, L. & Bornman, E. (2007): International communication: shifting paradigms, theories and foci of interest, Communicatio, 33:2, 11-44

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(http://courses.essex.ac.uk/gv/gv905/W2%20Readings/ madikiza_bornman_intl_comm_theories.pdf)

1. Political Communication Systems and Democratic Values,” (www.csub.edu/ ~mault/political %20communication%20sys.pdf)

2. The News Paradigm and the Ideology of Objectivity (http://journalism.utexas.Ed/sites/journalism.utexas.edu/files/attachments/reese/news-para digm-add.pdf)

3. Thomas, A. O., Global media, globalised cultures: Contingency or coincidence?, Asia Pacific Media Educator, 9, 2000, 6-26. Available at: (http://ro.uow.edu.au/apme/vol1/iss9/2)

QUESTION 11.1Why are the mass media ‘object and agent’ of the globalising

process?(4)1.2The brakes in the globalization process have been ‘cultural’

according to McQuail. Why is that? (6)

1.3Why are ‘one-off’ media more often subject to international ownership than ‘cash-flow’ media?

(6)1.4Has the expansion of old and the rise of new media helped to

reduce media dependency? (4)

(MARKS 20)

QUESTION 2

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2.1 After the Second World War there was a very ‘ethnocentric’ way of looking at international communication according to McQuail. What does he mean by that?

(5)2.2 What is the difference between the old international

propaganda and the new ‘media imperialism’? (8)

2.3 What is meant by cultural imperialism and what are the main arguments of the criticizers? And what are the alternative views on cultural imperialism?

(12) (MARKS 25)

QUESTION 33.1 What is the difference between the dependency and the free-

flow paradigms? (10)

3.2 What is meant by the bias in international news, why is it there, and is the critique on this bias justified?

(10)3.3 Although nationally produced TV-content is the most popular

in almost every country, foreign (mostly American) material is the most visible. Why is that?

(5)3.4 Explain why MTV Europe is mentioned as an example of the

limitations of globalization. (5)

3.5 According to McQuail national identity is more questionable than cultural identity and the notion of European identity is

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even more suspect. Why is that? (5)

(MARKS 35)

REFERENCEMcQuail, D. (2010) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. (6th ed) SAGE Publication, London

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STUDY GUIDEACOM 311: COMMUNICATION SCIENCE 3

INTRODUCTION

In an age of satellite telephones, global CNN and the possibility of wireless Internet connection almost anywhere, it is hard to imagine that there exists a spot on earth that has not been touched by global communication (Stevenson 1992). However, global communication in the current world order is an amorphous and vast phenomenon with a tumultuous history, and manifold and far-reaching effects on macro, meso and micro levels (Mowlana 1996; Tehranian n.d.; Thussu 2000).

Thussu (2000: 1) defines international communication simply as communication that occurs across international borders. According to the Massachusetts Institute’s Center for International Studies (MIT center), words, acts or attitudes can be defined as international communication whenever they impinge – intentionally or unintentionally – upon the minds of private individuals, officials or groups from other countries (in Mowlana 1996: 9).

These definitions not only broaden the scope of international communication beyond the ambit of inter-statal and inter-governmental communication, but also deviate from a mere technological focus by acknowledging the human and social dimensions of global communication within a complex process of manifold interchanges by means of signs and symbols. International communication is depicted as an extremely broad field involving social conditions, attitudes and institutions that have an effect on

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the production and/or reception of various forms of communication among people. Thus, international communication as a field of study recognises not only the media and technologies through which impulses pass, but also the attitudes and social circumstances of the sources, the predisposition of receivers, as well as the effects and impact of the contents.

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CHAPTER ONETHE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the historical development of communication, starting from the clay tablets of Mesopotamia, paper from China, and printing press in Germany, to the 19th-century electric telegraph and the establishment of news agencies, and to the expansion of mass media, especially, radio and TV. Specifically, the roles of communication have been explicated in the making of colonial empires and the spreading of capitalism illustrated by the rise of Reuters in the parallel growth of the British Empire.

Thussu also discusses in detail the regular propaganda in international communication during the Cold War, which took place between the two camps of the US-led NATO countries and the Soviet-controlled Warsaw members, as they debated the ideological confrontation of organizing the society inspired by Marxism-Leninism or free market democracy.

This basic disagreement spilled over into other areas: the rhetoric of a free flow of information and the argument that the information system was used as a channel for western style modernization. Another debate that is elaborated in this chapter concerns the relationship between international communication and development.

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While the Southern countries considered the existing information system as creating a model of dependence which negatively affected the polity, economy, and society of the developing countries and demanded a New World Information and Communication Order, the West led by the USA resisted it by arguing that the proposed new order was in conflict with the fundamental Western values and the principle of the free flow of information.

QUESTION

Discuss the role of international communication in the cold war propaganda

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CHAPTER TWOAPPROACHES TO THEORIZING INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

This chapter carefully examines some of the most influential and competing theories that provide theoretical frameworks for approaching the subject of international communication, and he also critically assesses how these theories have been applied to understand the nature of international communication. For better understanding, he puts the theories into two categories: the political-economy approach and the cultural studies approach.

The political-economy approach is concerned with the underlying structure of economic and political power relations, and Thussu highlights the following theories: the free flow of information, modernization, dependency, structural imperialism, hegemony, and the public sphere.

The cultural studies approach is mainly concerned with the creation of meanings in media texts within various cultural contexts. The second category examines critical theory and cultural studies

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perspectives on international communication, theories of: the information society, discourses of globalization. The key theories discussed in this chapter offer essential paradigms and contexts for thorough comprehension of the following chapters.

QUESTIONCompare and contrast the cultural imperialism thesis and the discourse of globalization in theorizing international communications.Comment on dependency theory as a theoretical construct for the cultural imperialism thesis.

CHAPTER 3CREATING A GLOBAL COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

This chapter examines the real nature of global communication infrastructure and the basic characteristics of transnational corporations (TNCs). As a result of the relevant agreements and regulations of the World Trade Organization and the International Telecommunication Union and within the macroeconomic contexts of globalization, transnational media and telecommunications corporations have successfully led quite a number of Southern nation-states to deregulating, privatizing, and commercializing their communications industries and thus undergoing a paradigmatic shift from state to private control and from a state-centric view of communication to one governed by the rules of free-market capitalism.

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This process has created the favorable conditions for the TNCs to penetrate the emerging markets in the developing countries and gain benefits from the enormous potential of the service sectors. The TNCs are the biggest beneficiaries of the process of liberalization, deregulation, and privatization because it is characteristic of them to co-ordinate and control the stages of production within and between nations, to take advantage of geographical differences in the distribution of products, and to switch resources and operations in a global scale.

QUESTION

Comment on the character and feature of the global media system.

CHAPTER FOURTHE GLOBAL MEDIA MARKET PLACE

This chapter focuses on the global media market. For the ultimate purpose of business profits through exploiting economies of scope and scale, a few large TNCs have gradually seized control of global media via a huge wave of mergers and acquisitions.

Surveying the global growth of the communication industries in daily newspapers, weekly magazines, radio, TV, and the Internet, Thussu highlights the main theme of this chapter as the process of convergence of some major media and communication companies:

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Time Inc. merging with Warner Communication, Disney purchasing American Broadcasting Corporation, and AOL [America Online] merging with Time Warner.

While contextualizing the discussion of the chapter with case studies of Disney's Entertainment and Sports Network (ESPN) and Cable News Network (CNN), the author also shows his concern about the concentration of the global media into the hands of a few large TNCs, which might undermine media plurality and democratic discourse.

QUESTION

Discuss the phenomenon of Anglo-American media domination and highlight its role in the globalization of news.

CHAPTER FIVETHE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL IN MEDIA CULTURES

Thussu mainly answers two questions in Chapter 5, The first question concerns the effect of the one-way flows of international communication, especially the exports of U.S. movies and TV programs, on national and regional media cultures. The second question is about the debate whether such international communication and media are leading to the homogenization of

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cultures or whether they are bringing about a more complex pattern of global/national/ local interactions. As for the effect, Thussu points out that although some contraflow from non-Western countries has been observed, international communication is generally a one-way traffic mainly from the major Western countries to the rest of the world.

The non-Western world regards such global flow of the consumerist messages as a new form of cultural imperialism or Americanization and there have been concerns and even oppositions in the European Union, the Islamic world, and some Asian countries. With regard to the debate, while others predict that the existing international communication leads to the homogenization of cultures, Thussu argues that the homogenization has been counterbalanced by a hybrid form of global/national/local interaction, which can be demonstrated via the case study of Zee TV, the biggest Indian private multimedia network.

QUESTIONSHow far can globalization be viewed as an extension or deepening of the cultural imperialism of the west? Concentrate on the cultural aspects of the process.Discuss the major factors responsible for the globalization of media trade.Which of these descriptions of cultural globalization do you prefer and why?a) The extension of US culture across the globe.b) The hybridization of cultures on a worldwide scale.c) A new dialectic of the local and global.

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CHAPTER SIX"CONTRAFLOW IN GLOBAL MEDIA"

This chapter focuses on the contraflow in international communication between countries in the South and from the South

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to the North as a result the Western media influence and the advancement of information and technology industries. With a careful analysis of the complex process of international communication flow, Thussu notices that the flow is not purely a one-way traffic.

It is observable that regional trans-border TV networks like the pan-Arab Channel Middle East Broadcasting Center and China's Phoenix TV channel have been squeezing from the periphery into the metropolitan centers of global media and communication industries. Besides the regional media, the presence of the international players from the global South such as the Latin American telenovelas and the Indian feature movies has been increasingly witnessed in many parts of the world including the Northern countries. However, due to the small output and limited audience size, the contraflow of cultural products from the Southern countries will not shake the position of Western media dominance in the foreseeable future.

QUESTIONS

The cultural penetration that has occurred in recent decades embraces all the socializing institutions of the affected host area. And though this, too, occurs mostly for economic reasons, the impact inevitably is felt throughout the realm of individual and social consciousness in the penetrated provinces.

Discuss the above statement as a response to the move to separate the economic from the cultural in the analysis of the process of cultural imperialism.

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A more nuanced understanding of the complex process of international cultural flow will show that the traffic is not just one way-from North to South, even though it is overly weighted in the favour of the former. Evidence shows that new transborder television networks are appearing, some from the periphery to the metropolitan centers of global media and communication industries.Discuss this statement in the light of emerging developments in global media counter flow.

CHAPTER SEVENINTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERNET AGE

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The last chapter wraps up the discussion of the positive and negative impact of information and technological innovation on international communication. Positively, advancement in the technologies of fiber optics, satellites, and the Internet has enabled instant flow of information across the globe. The electronic telegraph used to be the catalyst for the expansion of the new media of radio and TV and the establishment of news agencies. Satellites have provided high-speed and affordable access for consumers all over the world to receive information and entertainment.

Internet connectivity across the globe has not only boosted e-commerce but also brought web presence to media organizations in both Northern and Southern countries. Negatively, however, it is the small number of countries and TNCs, which dominate the global information flow and international trade, that have been gaining the most benefits. Despite its unprecedented expansion, the Internet and the dominant language used on the Internet have actually created the global digital divide, excluding the majority of the world's population from the global information revolution.

It is true that technologies such as satellites have greatly cut down the cost of access to information and entertainment, but they have effectively put everybody and everybody's business under constant surveillance. Although there has been booming trade on the Internet, there has been rampant online infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Thus, there has been concern over governments' filtering of online flow of information and the enactment of a series of international treaties and agencies such as the Berne Convention and the World Intellectual Property

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Organization, which have come into existence to ensure proper IPR protection.

QUESTIONDo you see the Internet as a more truly egalitarian and global media?Despite accounting for a very small proportion of global advertising, the growing commercialization of the internet and its increasing use among consumers are likely to make it a sought-after medium. Comment on the above statement.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Boyd-Barrett, O. 1977. Media imperialism: towards an international framework for the analysis of media systems. In Mass communication and society. J. Curran, M. Gurevitch and J. Woollacott (eds), 116–135. London: Edward Arnold.

2. Castells, M. 1996. The information age: economy, society and culture, volume 1: The rise of the network society. Oxford: Blackwell.

3. Castells, M. 1997. The information age: economy, society and culture, volume 2: The power of identity. Oxford: Blackwell.

4. Castells, M. 1998. The information age: economy, society and culture, volume 3: End of millennium. Oxford: Blackwell.

5. Frederick, H.H. 1993. Global communication & international relations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

6. Mowlana, H and L.J. Wilson. 1990. The passing of modernity: communication and the transformation of society. New York: Longman.

7. Mowlana, H. 1996. Global communication in transition: the end of diversity? Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

8. Mowlana, H. 1997. Global information and world communication: new frontiers in international relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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9. Tehranian, M. 1999. Global communications and world politics: domination, development and discourse. Boulder: Lynne Riener.

10. Thussu, D.K. 2000. International communication: continuity and change. London: Arnold.

11. Webster, F. 1995. Theories of the information society. London: Routledge.

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