Transnational Media and Third World Development: The Structure and Impact of Imperialism

Abstract

MRYHR, WILLIAM H., Transnational Media and Third World Development: The Structure and Impact of Imperialism. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. 132 pp. $37.85 cloth. William Meyer has set out on an important task-to test empirically the accuracy of the contention that the domination of the Third World's media systems by the Western agencies and television program producers has negatively affected the process. He does this by focusing on three areas frequently mentioned in this long-term discussion: flows, cultural imperialism and the relationship between mass media and violence. Unfortunately, the results of his study only serve to convince the reader that a much more systematic and in-depth look at these issues needs to be considered. A political science professor at the University of Delaware, Meyer probably comes to international communication questions without firsthand acquaintance with the field. At least that is the way it seems. An examination of the sources consulted in the bibliography shows that he has cited the most visible scholars in this field-Daniel Lerner, Herbert Schiller, Anthony Smith, Rosemary Righter, Robert Stevenson and Donald Shaw, Wilbur Schramm, John Merrill and Thomas McPhail. But most of the cites are to books-and to studies completed several years ago. According to Meyer, there is a dearth of empirical data on the international flow of information, and a lack of studies on the impact of global information flow on the political economies of developing nations. I'm not sure how he knows this. Since he cites no journal articles based on empirical research in or television program flow or studies in the field of communications, he has not done an adequate job of building on the previous work in these areas. The result of ignoring much of the empirical work of the 1980s is that Meyer formulates definitions of concepts and operationalizes those definitions in ways that are inconsistent with previous research. Had he reviewed this work, he would have discovered, for example, that most studies don't break down into two types, spot and developmental news; that in content analysis studies of flow in developing countries, development news is not a topic category that is exclusive of economic news, or of science, culture or society; that indeed, there is some debate over exactly how should be conceptualized and operationalized. …

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