Global Media Studies Course: A Review of Textbook Options

Overview of the Course Content

Course Description: This course examines the developments, reversals and debates about globalization that have occurred over the last two centuries, and the integral role that global communications and media have played within these processes. It reviews the histories and theories of globalization and the global media, and the development of “global media studies”. It strives to cover the massive ground that such a course implies in terms of time (two hundred years of history) and the range of technological, economic, political, legal and cultural implications raised from the advent of the first attempts to “network the world” and the rise of the “industrial media” (e.g. commercial press, recorded music, radio, film and TV) in the mid-19th Century to the internet and mobile and hyper-personalized media of the 21st Century. We will also strive to go beyond a North American-centric view of the world to understand what things look like from other regions of the world and the “global south”. The course will also take the view that globalization and global media are neither inevitable nor irreversible, nor “good” or “bad”, but as an always complicated, contingent and contested mix of such characteristics—and more. Our focus, in particular, will be on the media as peculiar sets of industries—within countries and around the world, the historical development of those industries and the markets that they entail, the kinds of business, public and non-profit enterprises that have been at the centre of these industries, and how they are/have been influenced by policy, politics, law, regulation, technology and how people use and share media—from the era of the telegraph and press in the 19th Century to mobile phones, video games and the internet today. There are winners and losers in such processes and we will actively consider who falls on each side of that grim ledger. Assignment instructions: Imagine that you are me and have to select a textbook to use for this class. There’s quite a few options to choose from, including the following four that I have used in this course over the past 3 years. You must review three of these books and make the case for why one of them would be the best fit for the course (I HAVE ATTACHED 3 BOOK/JOURNALS THAT CAN BE USED). The review essay differs from a book review mostly because it reviews several books rather than just one. It will also be longer at 2000-2,500 words. You should also adopt a stronger authorial voice since you will be making the case for why one (or two, max) should be chosen as the textbook(s) for this class. In other words, students will need to defend their recommendation. Your assignment must draw in a systematic way on relevant and specific passages, sections or chapters from the course readings and lectures HERE IS A LIST OF THE BOOKS/JOURNALS THAT COULD BE USED TO REVIEW AS POSSIBLE TEXTBOOK OPTIONS FOR THE CLASS: Shi, Anbin, Burgh, H. D. & Thussu, D. (2018). China’s Media Go Global. New York: Routledge. Thussu, D. (2013). Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood. New York: Macmillan. McPhail, T. (2014). Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell (available online). Powers, S. M. & Jablonski, M. (2015). The Real Cyber War: the Political Economy of Internet Freedom. Urbana, ILL: University of Illinois. Wilkins, K. G., Straubhaar, J. & Kumar, S. (eds)(2014). Global Communication: New Agendas in Communication. New York: Routledge. Mattelart, Armand (2000). Networking the World, 1794-2000. Minnesota, MN: University of Minnesota. Jin, D. Y. (2019). Globalization and Media in the Digital Platform Age. Routledge. Flew, T. (2018). Understanding Global Media (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Lee, Micky & Jin, Dal Yong (2018). Understanding the Business of Global Media in the Digital Age. New York: Routledge. Miller, Toby & Kraidy, Marwan (2016). Global Media Studies. London: Polity. Your final assignment should be 2,000-2,500 words (no including title page and references list, etc.), type-written, double-spaced and paginated. It must be well-written and thoughtfully crafted and presented. It must also use at least one primary source and two refereed academic sources from outside of class. Your final assignment must also include a properly formatted title page and use a recognized citation and referencing style guideline.