1st Edition
BRICS Media Reshaping the Global Communication Order?
Bringing together distinguished scholars from BRICS nations and those with deep interest and knowledge of these emerging powers, this collection makes a significant intervention in the ongoing debates about comparative communication research and thus contributes to the further internationalization of media and communication studies.
The unprecedented expansion of online media in the world’s major non-Western nations, exemplified by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is transforming global communication. Despite their differences and divergences on key policy issues, what unites these five nations, representing more than 20 per cent of the global GDP, is the scale and scope of change in their communication environment, triggered by a multilingual, mobile Internet. The resulting networked and digitized communication ecology has reoriented international media and communication flows. Evaluating the implications of globalization of BRICS media on the reshaping of international communication, the book frames this within the contexts of theory-building on media and communication systems, soft power discourses and communication practices, including in cyberspace. Adopting a critical approach in analysing BRICS communication strategies and their effectiveness, the book assesses the role of the BRICS nations in reframing a global communication order for a ‘post-American world’.
This critical volume of essays is ideal for students, teachers and researchers in journalism, media, politics, sociology, international relations, area studies and cultural studies.
Foreword: Understanding Global Communication in a Polycentric World
Barry K. Gills
Introduction
Daya Kishan Thussu and Kaarle Nordenstreng
Part I –Challenging Dominant Discourses in a New World Order
Chapter 1 The BRICS paradox
Marko Juutinen and Jyrki Käkönen
Chapter 2 Shifting paradigms in communication research
Muniz Sodré, Raquel Paiva, Kaarle Nordenstreng and Leonardo Custódio
Chapter 3 Moving beyond Western models in the study of BRICS media systems
Savyasaachi Jain
Part II – Media and Communication Structures and Systems
Chapter 4 Th Brazilian media system in a turbulent environment
Fernando Oliveira Paulino and Liziane Guazina
Chapter 5 A post-analogue hybrid media system: the Russian case
Elena Vartanova
Chapter 6 Media systems and structures in India
B. P. Sanjay
Chapter 7 Beyond convergence: rethinking China’s media system in a global context
Zhengrong Hu, Deqiang Ji, Peixi Xu and Kriti Bhuju
Chapter 8 South Africa: Beyond democratic deficit in public service broadcasting
viola milton and Winston Mano
Part III – BRICS and Global Strategic Communication
Chapter 9 Brazil and corporatist soft power
Joseph Straubhaar
Chapter 10 Russian soft power from the USSR to Putin’s Russia
Dmitry Gavra and Elena Bykova
Chapter 11 India: culture as soft power
Daya Kishan Thussu
Chapter 12 China’s cultural power reconnects with the world
Ying Zhu and Michael Keane
Chapter 13 Contending soft powers: South African media on the African continent
Herman Wasserman and Musawenkosi Ndlovu
Part IV – BRICS and Changing Communication Practices
Chapter 14 BRICS journalism as a new territory for localizing journalism studies
Jyotika Ramaprasad and Svetlana Pasti
Chapter 15 Neoliberal capitalism and BRICS on screen
Tatu Laukkanen and Iiris Ruoho
Chapter 16 BRICS de-Americanizing the Internet?
Daya Kishan Thussu
Biography
Daya Kishan Thussu is Professor of International Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University. For many years he was Professor of International Communication at the University of Westminster in London. Author or editor of 19 books, he is Managing Editor of the Sage journal, Global Media and Communication.
Kaarle Nordenstreng is Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Mass Communication at Tampere University in Finland. A former Vice- President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research and President of the International Organization of Journalists, he has written or edited more than 60 books.
‘The BRICS countries constitute some of the most dynamic and influential players in reshaping the global communication order. This timely volume culminates a concerted multi-national effort in study media and communication in these countries. It offers rich empirical analysis and an invaluable point of reference for the ongoing search for new paradigms in reconceptualizing global communication’.
- Yuezhi Zhao, Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, and Canada Research Chair in Political Economy of Global Communication, Simon Fraser University
‘Global Media Studies is being rapidly retooled for a multipolar world, where principles of communications policy are increasingly enmeshed with geopolitical competition and soft power diplomacy. BRICS Media make important contributions to these debates, which are not only about power and statecraft, but competing worldviews, knowledge paradigms and ethical standpoints.
- Terry Flew, Professor of Communication, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
‘This carefully curated book of essays by Professors Thussu and Nordenstreng sheds light on some of the most significant questions being asked of the media and communications discourse, particularly in context of the emerging 'post-American world'. As home to over 40% of the world's population, the BRICS countries stand to play a notable role in the future of media and communications. But the questions that have plagued the grouping since its inception still stand. Is the BRICS a coherent unit that is capable of shaping the new discourse? Is the media discourse shaping the BRICS or is BRICS creating the discourse? The eminent scholars who have contributed to this book attempt to answer these questions and more. As we emerge into a post-pandemic new world (dis)order, the significance of regional and plurilateral arrangements like the BRICS will only increase, making the ideas and discussions in this book more relevant than ever before’.
– Dr. Samir Saran, President, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
