Chapter 15: Global Media: Communication around the World
Summary and Learning Objectives
Not all countries take the same approach to the relationship between the government and the
press. This relationship can take a variety of forms, depending on the form of government and
the culture of the country. Theories of the press include the authoritarian, communist, libertarian,
States.
The electronic media have a powerful presence in the Middle East, and satellite television is able
to bypass national borders and bring outside content into otherwise closed media systems. The
most popular source of news in the Arab-speaking countries of the Middle East is the satellite
news channel Al Jazeera. Small media also have a significant presence in the Middle East
for reporters, with 42 journalists killed on the job in 2008, including 11 in Iraq. Journalists also
face the risks of injury and kidnapping.
Media theorist Marshall McLuhan suggested in the 1960s that the world would become a global
village, linked together through electronic media. Although these media have become far more
pervasive today than when McLuhan was writing, it is unclear whether they are bringing the
world together or breaking it up into a series of disconnected villages.
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Discuss different media standards around the world by using four normative theories of the press.
2. Explain the usefulness of a more recent “development theory” for describing the press in the 21st
century.
3. Explain the importance of social media and other “small media” in the Middle East.
4. Describe the dangers that journalists face when reporting from conflict zones.
5. Discuss whether Marshall McLuhan’s concept of the “global village” is relevant to the media
world today.
Review Questions
1. Who was Marie Colvin? What was her approach to covering wars? How did she die?
2. Why do some people think there should be a development theory to go with the original
four theories of the press? What do critics say is wrong with that theory?
3. How does freedom of speech in the United States differ from that in Canada or France?
4. How do media in Africa differ from media in South America?
5. Why are social media and small media important in the Middle East?
Media Literacy Exercises
Cartoons of controversy
Read the material on the lesson page about the Danish cartoons before working on the discussions
question. In his blog, cartoonist Daryl Cagle defends the publication of the Danish cartoons
portraying the prophet Muhammad. How does he defend the creation and publication of
deliberately provocative cartoons? What do you think of the cartoons he published about the
controversy? What do you think about the cartoons?
• http://www.caglecartoons.com/column.asp?ColumnID=%7B3FA565D3-2A09-4772-8135–
174B4DDF1AD4%7D
Notes: There has been an enormous amount written about the cartoons and people’s reactions to
them. Here is a link to a blog post that provides links to a range of sources about the cartoons,
including a blog that has reprinted the cartoons.
• http://www.ralphehanson.com/2012/05/30/link-ch–15-the-danish-cartoons/
In spring 2010, the always controversial animated television program South Park got itself
censored and edited by its network, Comedy Central, for running an episode featuring the prophet
Muhammad. You can read more about the fuss in a guest blog post written by Charley Reed, who
contributed research to the third edition of Mass Communication: Living in a Media World:
• http://ralphehanson.com/blog/archive_10_01.html#042710_southpark
Reporters Without Borders
Every year, the group Reporters Without Borders for Freedom of Information issues a report on the
state of press freedom around the world. You find the link to the latest version here:
• https://rsf.org/en
Read the opening summary, then use the complete report to write an essay (500–750 words) that
looks at how democratic practices vary in regard to freedom of speech and of the press across the
countries in the study. You will have to read Chapter 15 in your text (especially about the different
press systems and theories, pages 379–383) to complete this assignment. You may find it helpful to
use information from the complete report as well.
In your essay, you should address the following issues:
• Which three nations had the best records on freedom of the press? Why did they get those high
ratings? How do they behave as democracies? How would you describe their approach to
freedom of the press?
• Which three nations were at the bottom of the list? Why did they get those low ratings? What
kind of governments do they have in those countries? How would you describe their approach to
freedom of the press?
• Where did the United States fit on the rankings? Was it up or down from the previous year? Why
is it ranked, where it is? Based on what you have read; how would you describe the United
States’s approach to freedom of the press?
Note: This report gets updated every year; you will want to link to the latest report available.
Grading Rubric
Levels of Achievement
Criteria
Does
Not
Meet
Criteria
Beginning
Developing
Proficient
Rankings of
High and
Low
Countries
Weight
33.00%
0%
Does not
meet
criteria
60%
Answer
omits one or
more
significant
details
75%
Minimal
explanation of
rankings
85%
Includes basic
information about
each nation from
the summary
report
Application
of Theories
of the Press
Weight
33.00%
0%
Does not
meet
criteria
60%
Answer
omits one or
more
significant
details
75%
Uses a theory
of the press to
describe
approaches to
freedom of the
press
85%
Uses appropriate
theory of the press
to describe each
government’s
approach to
freedom of the
press
Analysis of
the United
States
Weight
34.00%
0%
Does not
meet
criteria
60%
Answer
omits one or
more
significant
details
75%
Has minimal
explanation of
United States’s
ranking
85%
Discusses United
States’s ranking,
includes basic
details from
summary report
Suggested Readings
• Siebert, F. S., Peterson, T., & Schramm, W. (1956). Four Theories of the Press. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press This is the original book that laid out the four normative theories
of the press.
• Nerone, J. C. (Ed.). (1995). Last Rights: Revisiting Four Theories of the Press. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press. This is the major critique of Four Theories.
• Wells, A. (Ed.). (1996). World Broadcasting: A Comparative View. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. An
excellent roundup of broadcasting around the world.
• All of the Chapter 15 links posted to my RalphEHanson.com blog at
http://www.ralphehanson.com/category/chapter-15/
Lecture Builders
Attacks on Journalists
You can get news about freedom of the press and attacks on journalists around the world at two
main locations:
• The Committee to Protect Journalists: http://cpj.org/
• Reporters Without Borders (mentioned in the Media Literacy exercise): www.rsf.org/
post early in the news cycle about murder of two international journalists—Bulgarian investigative
journalist Victoria Marinova and Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal
Khashoggi. https://www.ralphehanson.com/2018/10/11/dangerous-times-globally-for-journalists/
• I fear that I will continue to be writing about the Khashoggi case; you can find any posts I write
on this subject here: https://www.ralphehanson.com/tag/khashoggi/
Here are a pair of guest blog post from my friend Dr. Chris Allen, who works extensively on global
journalism. He’s writing about attacks on journalists throughout the Middle East and the Islamic
world. These blog posts are intensely personal statements that make it clear that attacks on
journalists anywhere in the world still affect us all.
• The Price of Global Journalism: https://www.ralphehanson.com/2016/12/01/the-price-of-global-
journalism/
• Another group of Afghan journalists killed; another note of condolences
https://www.ralphehanson.com/2018/05/14/4648/
And finally, I might add a piece Dr. Allen wrote after he was in England at the time of the Machester
bombing: https://www.ralphehanson.com/2017/05/23/guest-blog-post-when-a-bomb-explodes/
Fighting Wars With Social Media
In the section on media in the Middle East, I write about the importance of small and social media
there. I was reminded about this in November 2012 when I saw that Israel and Hamas were both
making extensive use of social media during their fighting then. You can read more about that
propaganda battle here:
http://www.ralphehanson.com/2012/11/18/fighting-wars-with-social-media-israel-v-hamas/
Media Activities
Classroom Discussion: Dealing Globally With Free Speech
It’s one thing to talk about free speech rights in a relatively stable Western democracy. It can be
more complex when we look at the conflict between public safety, ethnic violence and civil wars,
and free speech around the world—especially in Turkey and MENA (Middle East/North Africa). I’m
not able to come up with a good link to send you to better understand the issues going on here, but
the link above is to a sampling of the Tweets I read one morning during the summer of 2014 from
Zeynep Tufekci, now an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. These tweets give a nuanced look at the difficulty of
balancing rights in these circumstances. Read these tweets (the oldest are on the bottom of the list),
along with some of the pingbacks to the post, then—
• http://www.ralphehanson.com/2014/07/14/dealing-globally-with-free-speech/
Questions: What are the main issues about free speech discussed in the Tweets? How do
conditions in Turkey and MENA differ from those in the United States and Western Europe? How do
you balance the need for public safety and protection with the need for free speech? Are there times
when free speech is more dangerous than not having free speech? Why or why not?