In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Global Media Organizations

  • Introduction
  • General Studies of Global Media Organizations
  • General Media Journals
  • Media Organizations and Media Industry Journals
  • Theories and Concepts
  • Ownership, Structures, and Power Dynamics
  • Business: Sites of Investment and Source of Employment
  • Digital Convergence
  • News Organizations
  • Transnational Corporations
  • Media Management
  • Media Work and Labor

Communication Global Media Organizations
by
Dal Yong Jin, Ju Oak Kim
  • LAST REVIEWED: 25 March 2020
  • LAST MODIFIED: 25 March 2020
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0248

Introduction

Global media organizations are not only extremely broad but also continuously changing. Global media organizations refer to various agencies that conduct diverse activities, from content production to regulation. Some media organizations such as mega media corporations play a key role in globalization and transnationalization as they produce and disseminate cultural products around the globe, while other media organizations, including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), develop global media governance structures. In other words, several forms of global media organizations, from global media industries, such as Disney, Sony, and 21st Century Fox, to international agencies including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), shape and reshape the global media systems that greatly influence people’s lives in many parts of the world. To explore these global media organizations, experts must have at least some knowledge of international communication, globalization theory, media regulation, and media policy. To understand global media organizations, experts also need the same wide-ranging knowledge for several countries, regions, and comparative national priorities in the realm of media and communication. Tackling this broad topic requires choices on what to include and what to exclude. Most of the citations annotated in this article come from diverse perspectives, with a strong historical, theoretical, policy, and governance flavor as we want to include as many relevant academic materials as possible. These books and articles focus on global media agencies, organizations, networks, and infrastructure that tie together plus their consequences, regulation, and governance. Also included are issue-based sections, each of which contains six to ten important items that introduce readers to key issues. These are Theories and Concepts; Business: Sites of Investment and Source of Employment; Digital Convergence; Ownership, Structures, and Power Dynamics; News Organizations; Transnational Corporations; Media Management; and Media Work and Labor. Academic journals that deal with important aspects of global media organizations are also noted. This article does not attempt to cover everything in relation to global media organizations, and simple national and comparative perspectives are not included here, with rare exceptions.

General Studies of Global Media Organizations

There are a few good edited collections and single-authored books on this topic, and those books included in this section are exemplary academic works on global media organizations that researchers and students commonly read and use. Research on global media organizations is not new, but these works included are some of the most significant, as they comprehensively and analytically historicize and examine the continuity and change in global media and communication in the realm of media organizations. Hallin and Mancini 2012 advances some models of media systems focusing on non-Western cases. Herman and McChesney 1997 focuses on the rise of global media systems, while Flew 2018 explores how new media technologies have contributed to social transformations by understanding media and communications as a pivotal tool for developing modern societies. Curran 2000 offers a wider approach to the analysis of media organizations, and Siochru, et al. 2002 examines the social context of dealing with media. Artz 2015 looks at the sociopolitical implication of entertainment media that delivers cultural values, social norms, and political hegemony. Lee and Jin 2017 explores changes in the global media industries in an era of digital convergence, looking at historical, political, economic, and social factors. Unlike several monographs and edited volumes, handbooks play a key role in combining and displaying diverse voices and perspectives on global media organizations. Johnston 2003 offers perspectives and contexts about media content, platforms, and their relationships, while Mansell and Raboy 2011 provides key aspects of global media and communication policy. In contrast to this, Albarran, et al. 2008 provides ideas in media management and economics.

  • Albarran, Alan B., Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted, and Michael O. Wirth, eds. 2008. Handbook of media management and economics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    The interpretive handbook covers current studies in media management and economics. It contains a topology of key theories, historical paradigms, and future directions of research in media management and economics.

  • Artz, Lee. 2015. Global entertainment media: A critical introduction. Chichester, UK: John Wiley.

    Artz looks at the sociopolitical implications of entertainment media that deliver cultural values, social norms, and political hegemony. Artz emphasizes the importance of studying media as capitalist institutions that have corporate structures, practices, and objectives.

  • Curran, James, ed. 2000. Media organisations in society. London, UK: Edward Arnold.

    This edited volume offers a broader approach to the analysis of media organizations from a typology of current research to specific case studies. It also reinterprets the sociocultural role of media organizations in a logic of neoliberal markets, innovative media technology, and entrepreneurship.

  • Flew, Terry. 2018. Understanding global media. 2d ed. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

    This book explores how new media technologies have contributed to social transformations by understanding media and communications as a crucial tool for developing modern societies.

  • Hallin, Daniel C., and Paolo Mancini, eds. 2012. Comparing media systems beyond the Western world. New York, NY: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Hallin and Mancini revisited their three models of media systems—the Mediterranean or Polarized Pluralist, the North/Central European or Democratic Corporatist, and the North Atlantic or Liberal models—by examining cases outside of western Europe and North America.

  • Herman, Edward S., and Robert W. McChesney. 1997. The Global media, the new missionaries of corporate capitalism. London: Cassell Academic.

    The rise of global media systems has been thoroughly discussed in political, economic, and technological contexts. Herman and Robert argue that global media systems have fundamentally transformed the structure and performance of the media industry on a global scale.

  • Johnston, Donald H., ed. 2003. Encyclopedia of international media and communications. 1st ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    The encyclopedia offers perspectives and contexts regarding the media content, platforms, and their relationships. It includes approximately 220 articles responding to the questions of how the information age has shaped the media and communication world.

  • Lee, Micky, and Dal Yong Jin. 2017. Understanding the business of global media in the digital age. 1st ed. New York: Routledge.

    DOI: 10.4324/9781315537962

    This book explores changes in media industries in an era of digital convergence, looking at historical, political, economic, and social factors. Three approaches, including media economics, political economy, and production studies, were applied to determine the future direction of the media business.

  • Mansell, Robin, and Marc Raboy, eds. 2011. The handbook of global media and communication policy. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    This handbook provides key aspects of global media and communication policy, which are mainly promoted by governments, legal firms, and civil society organizations. Top scholars in the fields of media and communication policy study offer conceptual frameworks and methodologies for grasping the currents and future directions of global media and communication policy.

  • Siochru, Seán Ó., Bruce Girard, and Amy Mahan. 2002. Global media governance: A beginner’s guide. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Siochru and Girad focus on the social context of global media governance. Which factors are involved in shaping media regulations in a society? Who implements power in the process of making the media regulations? In what ways does the public learn about these regulations and attempt to engage in the policymaking process?

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