61 research outputs found
The MacBride Report in Twenty-first-century Capitalism, the Age of Social Media and the BRICS Countries
The MacBride Report was published in 1980. The report communicated the need for a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). With the breakdown of what used to be called âactually existing socialismâ in the East and with the rise of the neoliberal commodification of everything, a NWICO indeed emerged, but one that looked quite different from that the MacBride commission imagined. Thirty-five years later, it is time to ask how the situation of the media and communications in society has changed. This contribution asks the question of what we can make of the MacBride Report today in a media world and society that has seen the rise of an economically driven form of globalisation that also has impacts on the media, the expansion of the information economy with a new young precariat at its core, and the emergence of the World Wide Web and its change into a highly commercialised system, including the emergence of so-called âsocial mediaâ whose capital accumulation model is based on targeted advertising
Reinventing âMany Voicesâ: MacBride and a Digital New World Information and Communication Order
The MacBride Commission Report was arguably one of the most significant multilateral interventions in the history of international communication. This article charts its emergence at the time of deeply contested Cold War politics, coinciding with the rise of the southern voices in the global arena, led by the non-aligned nations. Thirty-five years after the report's publication, has the global media evolved into a more democratic system, demonstrating greater diversity of views and viewpoints? Despite the still formidable power of US-led western media, the article suggests that the globalisation and digitisation of communication has contributed to a multi-layered and more complex global media scene, demonstrating the ârise of the restâ
The Soft Power of India
Indiaâs soft power is on the rise, in parallel with its economic power as one of the fastest growing major economies in the world. This chapter discusses Indiaâs soft power within four domains: firstly, the democratic strengths of India, a particular distinction among the BRICS countries. As the worldâs largest democracy, India has retained and arguably strengthened democracy in a multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-religious society. The second domain examines the diasporic dimension of Indiaâs international presence, increasingly viewed by Indian government and corporates as a vital resource for its soft power. As the worldâs largest English-language speaking diaspora, the Indian presence is visible across the globe. The third domain focuses on the emergence of an Indian internet â part of the Indian governmentâs âDigital Indiaâ initiative, launched in 2015 - and its potential for becoming the worldâs largest âopenâ internet. The chapter argues that, with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the push for digital commerce and communication is likely to increase. Already home to the worldâs second largest internet population, its creative and cultural industries, notably Bollywood, have the potential to circulate across various digital domains, resulting in globalized production, distribution and consumption practices. However, the chapter argues that these three domains of soft power will remain ineffective until India is able to eliminate its pervasive and persistent poverty, afflicting large number of its citizens
A BRICS Internet and the de-Westernisation of Media Studies
Nous sommes Ă lâĂšre des mĂ©dias, dynamique et numĂ©risĂ©e, en activitĂ© constante, 24 heures sur 24 et 7 jours sur 7. Dans ce contexte, les flux de communication multilingues se multiplient et les pays des BRICS jouent un rĂŽle majeur dans cette Ă©volution. La prĂ©sence des BRICS sur la scĂšne mĂ©diatique mondiale a toutes les chances de prendre de lâampleur au vu du dĂ©veloppement convergent des contenus et des technologies mobiles via un Internet de plus en plus multilingue. La Chine est dĂ©jĂ le pays qui compte le plus grand nombre dâutilisateurs dâInternet, devant lâInde, avec une utilisation qui passe majoritairement par des plateformes mobiles. La Russie, le BrĂ©sil et lâAfrique du Sud ont Ă©galement enregistrĂ© une importante expansion des communications en ligne. Au cours des dix derniĂšres annĂ©es, lâInternet en langue russe (« RuNet ») a connu une croissance exceptionnelle tandis quâen Chine, le gouvernement ainsi que des cyber-sociĂ©tĂ©s (Ă lâinstar dâAlibaba) se font les champions de la promotion de lâInternet pour dĂ©fendre la place de deuxiĂšme Ă©conomie mondiale du pays. LâInde, qui dispose dâun ambitieux programme de dĂ©veloppement du numĂ©rique (« Digital India ») et de la plus grande industrie cinĂ©matographique du monde, est aussi un centre nĂ©vralgique de lâindustrie informatique mondiale et son potentiel dâexportation des produits culturels est en forte croissance. Internet connaĂźt une progression rapide au BrĂ©sil, oĂč les pouvoirs publics ont entrepris des expĂ©riences innovantes en matiĂšre dâadministration du web. LâInternet mobile devrait Ă©galement gagner du terrain en Afrique du Sud, au fur et Ă mesure que la technologie 4G y devient plus abordable. Quelles consĂ©quences cette connectivitĂ© numĂ©rique va-tâelle avoir sur les flux dâactualitĂ©s, lâorganisation de lâinformation et de la communication, et la pluralitĂ© des mĂ©dias Ă lâĂ©chelle mondiale ? Quelles en seront les implications pour les sciences de lâinformation, de la communication et des mĂ©dias, discipline qui a vu le jour en Occident ? Lâarticle montre que les BRICS sont bien placĂ©s pour restructurer la recherche mondiale en communication, contribuer Ă la dĂ©mocratisation des mĂ©dias internationaux dans un monde polycentrique et favoriser la poursuite de la dĂ©soccidentalisation des mĂ©dias et de la recherche qui leur est consacrĂ©e.In our dynamic, digitised, 24/7 media age, multilingual communication is increasing, with the BRICS countries playing a key role. The global presence of BRICS media is likely to expand with the growing convergence of mobile communications technologies and content via the increasingly multi-lingual Internet. China already has the worldâs largest population of Internet users, ahead of India, mainly using mobile phone platforms. Russia, Brazil and South Africa are also seeing rapid growth in on-line communication. In the last ten years, Runet, the Russian-language Internet, has expanded greatly, while the Chinese government and cyber-companies such as Alibaba have taken the lead in promoting the countryâs Internet to support its position as the worldâs second largest economy. India, with its ambitious âDigital Indiaâ programme and the worldâs largest film industry, as well as its position as a hub for the global IT industry, has growing potential for cultural exports. In Brazil, the Internet is also expanding rapidly and the government has launched innovative experiments in Internet governance, while mobile internet expansion in South Africa is set to accelerate as 4G connections become more affordable. What impacts will this digital connectivity have on global news flows, the organisation of information and communication and media plurality around the world ? What will be the implications for information, communication and media studies, a field that developed in the West ? Our paper suggests that the BRICS nations have the potential to reframe global research on communication, contribute to the democratisation of global media in a polycentric world and thus to further the de-westernisation of the media and media studies
Review: A riveting media chronicle of giving voice to the voiceless
Review of: Donât Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific, by David Robie. Foreword by Kalafi Moala. Auckland: Little Island Press in association with the Pacific Media Centre. 2014, 362 pp. ISBN 978-1877484-25-4Most journalists work to earn a decent living. Some join the profession to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, benefitting from close proximity to the powers that be. David Robie, the doyen of journalism in the South Pacific region, has pursued a different type of journalism, as this book attests. An exceptional individual, apart from being an award-winning journalist, a prolific author and a committed journalism educator, Robie has set new standards of journalism practice and politics in a part of the globe which receives scant coverage in the international media. During the early 1990s, as associate editor of the London-based and now defunct Gemini News Service, a âThird World-orientedâ news features service, this reviewer had the privilege to work with Robie, who regularly contributed thoughtful, well-researched but never preachy articles and commentaries from the South Pacific region, which were circulated among the agencyâs more than 100 newspapers around the world
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