Understanding Global Media »

TERRY FLEW is Senior Lecturer and Head of Media and Communication at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. He is Course Coordinator of the Creative Industries postgraduate degree programme at the university. His latest book is New Media: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Understanding Global Media offers a comprehensive overview of global media production and circulation, drawing insight from a range of perspectives, including politics, political economy, media and cultural studies, and creative industries. Grounded in extensive case study material in order to illustrate key debates, the book analyzes media industries, production, content, audiences, and policies on an international scale. It is both a comprehensive synthesis of existing academic work and an ambitious statement of new research directions. This book is an essential guide to understanding media today.

List of Figures, Tables and Case Studies vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgements x

1 Introduction to Global Media: Key Concepts 1

Introduction 4

Media and Power

Media Markets: Audiences, Advertisers, Finance and Creative Content 8

Media Organizations and Policy 14

Media and Culture 18

New Media Technologies 21

Media in Space: Understanding Global Media 24

2 Theories of Global Media 30

Introduction 30

Critical Political Economy 30

Cultural Studies 37

Institutionalism, Media Corporations and Public Policy 43

Rethinking State Capacities: Cultural Policy Studies 47

Cultural and Economic Geography 50

Theories of 'Strong Globalization' and their Critics 54

Strong Globalization Theories: a Critique 58

3 Globalization and Global Media Corporations 66

Introduction: Globalization and the Media 66

Critical Political Economy and Global Media 72

Questioning Media Globalization 80

New Theories of Globalization and Foreign Investment: Perspectives from Economic Geography 91

4 Global Media, the Knowledge Economy and the New Competition 98

Introduction 98

Knowledge Economy 99

New Competition 102

Network Organization 106

Clusters and the Economic Geography of Competitive Advantage 108

Global Production Networks 112

Globalization and the Continuing Social Embeddedness of Market Relations 117

Asymmetrical Interdependence and Cultural Reconversion 121

Revising Cultural Imperialism: Cultural and Economic Perspectives 124

The Globalization of Media Production Centres: 'Race to the Bottom' or Cultural Technology Transfer? 128

5 Global Media Cultures 138

Introduction: Four Ways to Think about Culture138

Integrating Diverse Conceptions of Culture 144

Culture and Citizenship 156

Global Culture, Identity and Hybridity 162

6 From Sovereignty to Software: National Media Policies in an Age of Global Media 170

Introduction: Beyond National Culture? 170

Media Policy and the Regulatory State 171

Cultural Policy and the Portective State: the State in its Ordinary Dimension 174

The Limits of Cultural Policy in the Contemporary Global Media Context 176

Creative Industries Policy and the Enabling State 178

Sub-national Cultural Policy: Creative Cities and Creative Clusters 184

Supra-national Media and Cultural Policy: Trade Agreements, Cultural Diversity and Global Civil Society 191

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 197

Conclusion: Theories of Global Media Revisited 205

How Significant Is Media Globalization? 207

The Knowledge Economy and the Creative Industries: Different Ways of Thinking about Global Media 209

The Politics of Globalization and Media Policy: Beyond Sanguinity and Critique 212

Notes 216

Bibliography 223

Index 253