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Cover

The Media Were American

U.S. Mass Media in Decline

Jeremy Tunstall

Publication Date - 26 January 2007

ISBN: 9780195181470

480 pages
Paperback
6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

Chronicles the massive changes that have taken place in the media over the past forty years.

Description

In 1977, Jeremy Tunstall published the landmark The Media Are American. In it, he argued that while much of the mass media originated in Europe and elsewhere, the United States dominated global media because nearly every mass medium became industrialized within the United States. With this provocative follow-up, Tunstall chronicles the massive changes that have taken place in the media over the past forty years--changes that have significantly altered the "balance of power" within the global media landscape. The Media Were American demonstrates that both the United States and its mass media have lost their previous moral leadership. Instead of sole American control of the world news flow, we now see a world media structure comprised of interlocking national, regional, and cultural systems.
From a relentlessly global point of view, Tunstall looks closely at China and India--and at their rapidly burgeoning populations--and also at the rise of the mass media in the Muslim world. He considers the role of the media in the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ascendance of the Brazilian and Mexican soap opera, the increasing strength of "Bollywood"--the national cinema output of India--and the relative decline in influence of U.S. media. Reconsidering the very notion of "global media," the book posits a reemergence of stronger national cultures and national media systems.

Table of Contents

    Introduction
    PART A. AMERICAN MEDIA IN DECLINE
    1. Anglo-American, Global and Euro-American Media versus Media Nationalism
    2. Television Soap Operas, Telenovelas, Brazil
    3. From B2B to Bedroom and From USA to World
    4. Freakish Media Finances Benefit Number One
    5. Media Moguls are National
    6. Anglo-American World News, Public Relations and unreported Mass Killings
    7. US World Media Peak Around 1950
    8. Since 1950. The US Looking Superlative, While Losing World Media Market Share
    9. Decline. US Media, Moral Authority, "Sole Superpower"
    PART B. BIG POPULATION COUNTRIES. INDIA AND CHINA
    10. The Rise of Big Population Countries and Their Media
    11. India's Multi-Ring Media Circus
    12. China. Capitalist-Communist Media Stir-Fry
    PART C. WORLD MEDIA PECKING ORDER
    13. World Media Pecking Order
    14. Europe and Euro-American Media
    15. Africa. Bottom of the Media Pecking Order
    PART D. MEDIA AND CULTURAL NATIONALISM IN EMPIRE, WORLD REGIONAL, AND GLOBAL, SETTINGS
    16. National Media System as Lead Players
    17. A Separate Arab Media Bloc
    18. Spanish Language Media in Latin America
    19. 21 New Nation States Replace Communist Media Empire
    20. American Media Decline to Continue?

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