Silvio Waisbord

McTV Understanding the Global Popularity of Television Formats

Globalization has intensified interconnectivity among television industries worldwide. Interconnectivity happens through structural and institutional linkages among television systems and industries worldwide, resulting in an increasingly integrated global business governed by similar practices and goals. The dynamics are reflected in the popularity of television formats. On the surface, global dissemination of formats may suggest not only the global integration of the economy of the industry but also the standardization of content. A dozen media companies are able to do business worldwide by selling the same idea, and audiences seem to be watching national variations of the same show. At a deeper level, however, formats attest to the fact that television still remains tied to local and national cultures. Bringing up examples of Latin American cases, this article argues that television is simultaneously global and national, shaped by the globalization of media economics and the pull of local and national cultures.Globalization has intensified interconnectivity among television industries worldwide. Interconnectivity happens through structural and institutional linkages among television systems and industrie...

Introduction Political Scandals and Media Across Democracies, Volume I

The purpose of these two volumes is to analyze similarities and differences in scandals across countries that might help us to understand contemporary media and political dynamics. Are there common developments that account for the rise of scandal politics worldwide? How does the study of scandals inform/ challenge/confirm a number of literatures and theoretical propositions in the field of political communication? What can be learned from scandals to understand the workings and practices of journalism in different countries? Scandals have not been unusual in the histories of democracies around the world. The political evolutions of many different countries, certainly some more than others, are packed with revelations of corrupt actions committed by public officials (see Longman, 1990). If corruption is as old as politics, scandals are not novel developments either. What is striking about contemporary politics is the periodical eruption of scandals. If corruption has been considered universal by classic and contemporary studies, scandals too have become ubiquitous worldwide. The themes of scandals do vary across countries, as some studies and contributions in these issues show, but scandals are not unique to some countries. Scandals appear to be recurrent rather than sporadic events. Scandals seem to be the norm rather than exceptional moments. Scandals are common in countries with dissimilar political trajectories and practices, economic standards, political cultures, media systems, and levels of corruption. The United States and India, Japan and Mexico, Italy and South Korea have been lately described as being in a state of “permanent scandals” (Getlin, 1998). Scandals have been described as frenetic events, media and political frenzies that initially capture a great deal of attention and later, gradually or suddenly, disappear (see Thompson, 2000). Unless investigative commissions are set up or political interests continue to orchestrate scandals through leakages and other means, the length of scandals hinges on media interest. The media’s notorious short-lived attention, however, makes scandals prone to have a brief existence.

The institutional challenges of participatory communication in international aid

This article offers an explanation for the limited uses of participatory communication in development by taking an institutionalist perspective that examines prevalent notions about communication and organizational uses in international aid institutions. The argument is that institutional goals and dynamics determine the use of disciplinary and theoretical approaches. The selection of specific communication approaches is not primarily based on their analytical or normative value, but rather, on institutional factors and expectations. Institutional dynamics undercut the potential contributions of participatory communication in three ways. First, bureaucratic requirements favor the use of informational models over participatory approaches to communication. Standard institutional procedures inside development agencies, donors and governments perpetuate understandings and uses of communication as a set of technical skills to disseminate messages. Second, the weak status of communication as a field of study and practice in development organizations undermine the prospects for expanding the understanding of communication that do not fit prevalent institutional expectations. As long as technical experts in public health or other fields expect communication to be ‘the art of messaging,’ communication staff lacks autonomy to make decisions and incorporate participatory approaches. Third, the institutional predominance of a technical mindset also limits the uses of participation thinking. The prioritization of technical perspectives decouples ‘development’ programs from local processes of participation and change.

Communication for polio eradication: improving the quality of communication programming through real-time monitoring and evaluation.

Communication is a critical component in assuring that children are fully immunized and that simultaneous immunity is attained and maintained across large geographic areas for disease eradication and control initiatives. If service delivery is of good quality and outreach to the population is active, effective communication—through advocacy, social mobilization, and program communication (including behavior change activities and interpersonal communication)—will assist in raising awareness, creating and sustaining demand, preventing or dispelling misinformation and doubts, encouraging acceptance of and participation in vaccination services, more rapid reporting of disease cases and outbreaks, and mobilizing financial resources to support immunization efforts. There is evidence of 12% to 20% or more increases in the absolute level of immunization coverage and 33% to 100% increases in relative coverage compared to baselines when communication is included as a key component of immunization strengthening. This article utilizes evidence from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Nigeria to examine how the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has utilized monitoring and evaluation data to focus and improve the quality and impact of communication activities.

The Complexity of Social Mobilization in Health Communication: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Experiences in Polio Eradication

The Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) has been one of the most ambitious global health efforts in recent times. Social mobilization (SM) has been a strategic component of the PEI. Yet, a close-up analysis of SM dynamics seems to be lacking in the health communication literature. We examine critical aspects of the PEI experience in an attempt to move from dominant informational perspectives to a focus on emerging challenges in polio eradication efforts and new levels of complexity to SM. We examine available literature on communication and public health, available data on SM experiences that support polio eradication in Africa and Asia, and field work conducted by the authors where polio eradication efforts are ongoing. Our analysis suggests that (1) SM should not be casually approached as a top-down informational strategy to advance pre-established health goals; (2) centralized strategies hardly amount to SM; and (3) hybrid options that combine both activist and pragmatic SM are concrete possibilities for global health initiatives. In the context of renewed global democratization and persistent conflicts rooted in ethnicity, religion, and economics, it cannot be assumed that communities will either diligently espouse global goals or necessarily oppose them. Communication and SM strategies should rely on a clear understanding of the motives and agendas of involved actors. Resistance or opposition are important analytical dimensions as they may uncover new opportunities for effective health interventions. Further studies using these perspectives should be a priority for global health programs, including studies of the trust level, or lack thereof, among social actors.

The ongoing significance of national media systems in the context of media globalization

This article argues that the concept of national media systems, and the comparative study of media systems, institutions, and practices, retains relevance in an era of media globalization and technological convergence. It considers various critiques of ‘media systems’ theories, such as those which view the concept of ‘system’ as a legacy of an outdated positivism and those which argue that the media globalization is weakening the relevance of nation-states in structuring the field of media cultures and practices. It argues for the continuing centrality of nation-states to media processes, and the ongoing significance of the national space in an age of media globalization, with reference to case studies of Internet policies in China, Brazil, and Australia. These studies indicate that nation-states remain critical actors in media governance and that domestic actors largely shape the central dynamics of media policies, even where media technologies and platforms enable global flows of media content.

Democratic Journalism and “Statelessness”

The starting premise of this article is that democratic journalism, no matter its specifics, is not viable as long as states are unable to perform key functions that cannot be delegated to other actors. For journalism, an intrusive state is as problematic as a tenuous, chaotic, and absent state. This point has not been sufficiently recognized and investigated in the literature on the current expansion and consolidation of a democratic press worldwide. “Statelessness,” a condition particularly affecting large swaths of the global South, deters the prospects for the affirmation of journalism that anchors democratic life. State absence facilitates anti-press violence, undermines the economic basis for news organizations, and weakens the rule of law. It remains unclear whether the press, an institution that has historically played key roles in building and renovating national identities and mediating civic engagement, can also make significant contributions to strengthening effective and democratic states. The article concludes by suggesting ways in which the press supports state-building processes. It is argued that although journalism as civic institution alone cannot address entrenched problems of violence, security, and lawlessness, it contributes to state-building through monitoring state actions, raising attention to problems, and identifying effective accountability mechanisms.

Scandals, Media, and Citizenship in Contemporary Argentina

This article examines several scandals in 1990s Argentina to discuss the linkages between scandals, media, and citizenship. Suggesting that media publicity is central for scandals to unfold, the article examines a particular arms scandal. An institutional approach that considers the role of different political actors in different scandals shows how and why the media and other institutions contributed to the making and unmaking of scandals. Although scandals offer opportunities for “doing politics by other means,” not all actors are similarly involved. Scandals that dealt with official corruption mainly featured political elites, whereas scandals that followed revelations about human rights violations showed a different pattern: public outrage and citizens’mobilization. In a political context of “scandal fatigue,” scandals do not necessarily trigger public action or moral crusades. Only those scandals that directly affected groups of citizens and were not simply causes d’état were followed by public demonstrations and intense audience attention.

Antipress Violence and the Crisis of the State

Although it is an issue of immediate interest to reporters and press organizations, antipress violence has not elicited a great deal of scholarly attention. While in the context of developed democracies, studies have concluded that violence against the press has significantly diminished in the twentieth century, the situation is markedly different elsewhere. This gap is not surprising considering that the literature on press and democracy has been largely produced in the West and has largely reflected the absence of antipress violence in Western nations. The persistence of attacks against journalists outside the West, however, makes it necessary to put it at the center to analyze the situation of journalistic labor and the prospects for the press in historically weak democracies. This article analyzes antipress violence by focusing on the Latin American case. The argument is that in postauthoritarian situations, the breakdown of the state accounts for why the press, particularly investigative reporters and publications, is the target of violence. Antipress violence reflects the impossibility of the state’s fulfilling its mission to monopolize the legitimate use of violence and the lack of accountability of those responsible for the attacks. Because it is a central arena in the battle for public expression, the press becomes a prominent target when naked violence replaces the rule of law. The fate of the press is intrinsically linked to the fate of the democratic state. There cannot be a democratic press as long as the state does not secure minimal institutional conditions that democracy demands.

The pragmatic politics of media reform: Media movements and coalition-building in Latin America

This article analyzes the strategies and the impact of two ‘media movements’ in Latin America — the experiences of civic coalitions working on media policy reform in Uruguay, and advocacy journalism about tobacco control in Argentina — through interviewing the principle actors involved in these movements and reviewing the literature relevant to them. Media movements refer to a broad set of civic initiatives to transform media structures, practices, and content. The analysis aims to discuss the goals and tactics of civic actions to promote media democracy. The cases show a critical yet pragmatic sensitivity among progressive actors who use advocacy and legislative mechanisms to catalyze changes in media systems. The article has three implications for the study of global media democracy. First, to assess the impact of media movements, it is necessary to understand the press as a field that ‘refracts’ the influence of external forces. The successes and setbacks of media movements suggest the need to understand the conditions that make the media susceptible to civic efforts. Second, the findings bolster the case for conceptualizing the role of the state as an arena for competing interests struggling to influence media systems. Third, the state remains a crucial actor for media democracy in a globalized world. Key decisions affecting media structures and news content remain closely linked to the state.