Negotiating Democracy

Media Transformations in Emerging Democracies

Edited by Isaac A. Blankson & Patrick Murphy

Subjects: Communication, Mass Media, Political Economy, Political Communication
Series: SUNY series in Global Media Studies
Paperback : 9780791472347, 297 pages, June 2008
Hardcover : 9780791472330, 297 pages, October 2007

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Table of contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Media and Democracy in the Age of Globalization
Patrick D.Murphy
PART I. REGIONAL TRENDS IN MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY
1. Media Independence and Pluralism in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges of Democratization and Liberalization
Isaac A. Blankson
2. Vestiges of Authoritarianism: Monopoly Broadcasting in Central America
Rick Rockwell
3. Emerging Media Transformations in the New Europe: Past and Future Challenges
Noemi Marin and Laura Lengel
PART II. STATE CONTROL, LIBERALIZATION, AND DEMOCRATIC REFORM
4. An Awakening in Cambodia: From Failed State to a Media-Rich Society
Drew O. McDaniel
5. First Democracy in Chinese History: Media’s Role in the Democratization of Taiwan
Kuldip R. Rampal
6. Nigeria: Equivocating while Opening the Broadcast Liberalization Gates
Chuka Onwumechili
7. Media, the State, and the Prodemocracy Movement in Iran
Mehdi Semati
8. Transformations and Development of the Korean Broadcasting Media
Doobo Shim and Dal Yong Jin
PART III. TELEVISION, RADIO, GLOBALIZATION, AND DEMOCRACY
9. Reality Television, Politics, and Democratization in the Arab World
Marwan M. Kraidy
10. Democracy Sponsored by NAFTA?
Mexican Television in the Free Trade Era
Kenton T. Wilkinson
11. First Green Is Always Gold: An Examination of the First Private National Channel in Bulgaria
Elza Ibroscheva and Maria Raicheva-Stover
12. Globalization and the Privatization of Radio in Greece: Influences, Issues and Consequences
Judy Rene Sims
Notes on the Editors and Contributors
Index

Explores the relationship between media and democracy against the broader background of globalization.

Description

Negotiating Democracy addresses issues that have defined the challenges and consequences of media transformation faced by new and emerging democracies. These issues include the dismantling of national broadcasting systems, the promotion of private independent and pluralistic media, the clash between liberal democratic and authoritarian political traditions, negotiations about the appropriate broadcast language, and the potential for free press and for freedom of speech. The contributors use examples from countries such as Cambodia, Bulgaria, Iran, Nigeria, and Taiwan to not only provide detailed analysis of regional and/or nation-specific cases of media, but also to identify transnational patterns that help deepen the understanding of the media's role in globalization.

At Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Isaac A. Blankson is Associate Professor of Communication and Public Relations and Patrick D. Murphy is Professor of Mass Communications. Murphy is the coeditor (with Marwan M. Kraidy) of Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives.

Reviews

"Much of the material here identifies new points of discussion and ongoing lines of further investigation … With the continuing development of technology, people's access to it, and the desire of governments to control that access, the stories of this book linking media and political structures in and across nations and regions in a globalized and globalizing world will continue to be elaborated and enacted for some time." — Russian Journal of Communication

"…brings together a varied collection of analyses of ongoing changes in media, politics, and policies." — Political Communication

"…[the authors] have assembled an immense amount of data and provided careful sociological interpretations and historical presentations. The fourteen contributors find a disturbing world, while probing human resilience against obscurantism and authoritarianism. The usefulness of this book is unquestionable." — H-Net Reviews

"I like the inclusion of the wide and diverse selection of nations, all the more so because most of them aren't 'the usual suspects.' Most of the contributors are relatively new, fresh voices in the field and in a good position to present new perspectives. The topic is highly significant, very important, and as yet has not been addressed in this particular form." — Donald R. Browne, author of Ethnic Minorities, Electronic Media and the Public Sphere: A Comparative Approach

"This book provides rich, interesting historical and very useful contemporary descriptive material. The cases illustrated show a nice variety of primary concerns, from private media monopolies in Guatemala and Bulgaria, to media globalization in Bulgaria, to press freedom and media democratization." — Joseph Straubhaar, coauthor of Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology