Globalisation and Television: Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

This paper examines the major debates about globalisation and television, setting them in an international empirical context. It explores varying conceptualisations of globalisation, examining common themes and significant differences, arguing that often unrecognised complexities lie behind some of the assumptions made about the impact of global television. Globalisation is presented as the most recent expression of a phenomenon having a long history but a much more recent conceptual origin in the media imperialism thesis. Using examples drawn from such widely varying countries as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Pakistan and India, the paper examines the role of national governments, and media organisations in both exploiting and resisting global television. In doing so it points to the importance of studying media regulation particularly in relation to the public sphere and suggests  that a greater understanding of television in contemporary Cyprus can be achieved by utilising aspects of theories of globalisation and drawing on empirical examples from elsewhere in the world.