New International Broadcasters and the Global Economy: Sites of Contestation
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Dissertations Department of Communication Spring 5-10-2017 NEW INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: SITES OF CONTESTATION Christopher M. Toula Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss Recommended Citation Toula, Christopher M., "NEW INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: SITES OF CONTESTATION." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2017. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss/85 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NEW INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: SITES OF CONTESTATION by CHRISTOPHER M. TOULA Under the Direction of Amelia H. Arsenault, PhD ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, a variety of states such as China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, France, South Korea, and Japan have funded 24-hour news stations, called international broadcasters (IB), to frame their policies for foreign publics. While a variety of scholars have acknowledged the proliferation of state-funded media channels, they have also elided key features of IBs. Research in contra-flow theory, strategic narrative theory, and public diplomacy analyze IBs as tools of state power intended to promote state interests, but do not analyze content. Meanwhile, scholars of global media examine IBs as part of the global media system, but omit the broadcaster’s state funding. Building on these complementary but often disparate groups of inquiry into international broadcasting, this dissertation provides this dissertation provides a comparative analysis of the economic coverage of four international broadcasters: Russia Today, China Central Television, Al-Jazeera English, and Deutsche Welle. Using this data, the analysis assesses the role of these broadcasters in the projection of state power. Using a mixed-methodological approach combining content analysis and critical discourse analysis, I compare economic newsmagazine coverage to official state positions on economic issues, which allows an empirical and systematic test of the extent to which IB content conforms to the respective state’s economic policy. Because specialist economic news caters to elite audiences, this dissertation also analyze regular newscast coverage of economic protests reveal the gap, if any, between IB’s coverage of economics and thereby determine if state interests determine coverage. INDEX WORDS: International broadcasting, International communication, State power, Strategic narratives, Public diplomacy, Contra-flow NEW INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: SITES OF CONTESTATION IN THE GLOBAL MEDIA by CHRISTOPHER M. TOULA A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2017 Copyright by Christopher Michael Toula 2017 NEW INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: SITES OF CONTESTATION IN THE GLOBAL MEDIA by CHRISTOPHER M. TOULA Committee Chair: Amelia Arsenault Committee: Shawn Power Michael Bruner Alexa Robertson, Stockholm University Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2017 iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my mother and father who always believed I could do this, to my sisters and their families, and my friends for supporting me. I’d also like to thank that people of Little Five Points and East Atlanta Village and the varied coffee shops and restaurants that let me sit for hours not buying anything while I wrote and edited. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I’d like to thank my advisor Amelia Arsenault. Without her tireless effort, insightful critiques, and thoughtful guidance this dissertation would never have achieved what is has. Her mentorship helped me to transform a vague idea into what you are about to read. I also want to thank committee members Michael Bruner and Shawn Powers. Over the course of my time at Georgia State University, they have both provided advice and counsel with dedication and care to my intellectual and scholarly development and shaped the scholar I am about to become. Alexa Robertson’s scholarship and generosity made this project more complete and rigorous and she deserves many thanks for her hospitality and advice in Stockholm that March. My friend and fellow scholar Dominique Thomas aided in my statistical analysis, teaching me the tools I needed to complete this project and his words have always given me pause for thought. Finally, I’d like to thank Greg Lisby, Chair of the Department of Communication at GSU for his support and giving a young teacher a chance to work above his weight class. It has been a long road and I am sure I have omitted many who deserve praise, but you are in my thoughts. Any mistakes and omissions you read from here on only a fault of my own. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. 1 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Background and Significance ........................................................................... 11 1.2 Plan of Dissertation ........................................................................................... 17 2 INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS AND THE “GLOBAL WAR OF IDEAS” 19 2.1 Agents of State, Agents of Power ..................................................................... 23 2.2 International Broadcasters and the Global Media: Trends and Patterns in News Norms 28 2.3 The Neoliberal Turn and Financial Journalism: Making the Case for Economics 32 2.4 Addressing Critical Political Economy ........................................................... 40 2.5 Research Questions ........................................................................................... 43 2.6 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 45 2.6.1 Mixed Methods – Content ............................................................................. 46 2.6.2 Mixed Methods – Discourse ......................................................................... 49 2.6.3 Material and Data Collection: Economic News Programs ......................... 55 2.6.4 Material and Data Collection: Economic Protest News Items .................... 59 2.6.5 Study Period .................................................................................................. 64 3 2.6.6 Clarification of Terminology ........................................................................ 65 2.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 69 3 THE RISE OF THE NETWORKS ......................................................................... 73 3.1 International Broadcasters and National Media Systems ............................. 74 3.1.1 Russia Today ................................................................................................. 76 3.1.2 Al-Jazeera English ........................................................................................ 81 3.1.3 Deutsche Welle .............................................................................................. 86 3.1.4 China Central Television .............................................................................. 89 3.2 Public Diplomacy and State Interests ............................................................. 97 3.3 Economic Policy and Interests: What the Boss Says Goes .......................... 105 3.3.1 Russia: Remaking the System..................................................................... 106 3.3.2 China: A Responsible Stakeholder ............................................................. 107 3.3.3 Qatar: Oil and Royals ................................................................................. 110 3.3.4 Germany: A Steady Hand ........................................................................... 111 3.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 113 4 VISIONS OF NATIONAL OF ECONOMY ........................................................ 116 4.1 State Sponsored Though not of a Kind ......................................................... 118 4.1.1 Geographic Focus – Where is my Country? .............................................. 121 4.1.2 Voices – And Now, Live from… ................................................................. 126 4.1.3 News Norms – How we do Things Here .................................................... 137 4 4.1.4 Self-Presentation – I think what the Government Meant to Say Was… .. 141 4.1.5 Opposing Power Narratives – Or watch out for the Other Guy ................ 149 4.1.6 Neoliberalism in the Narrative – Markets and the State ........................... 156 4.2 Conclusion .......................................................................................................