BRICS Media by Thussu, Daya Kishan; Nordenstreng, Kaarle;

Short description:

Adopting a critical approach in analyses of the BRICS’ communication strategies and their effectiveness, this book contextualizes and evaluates the role of the BRICS nations in framing a new global communication order.

Long description:

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.

‘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

Table of Contents:

Foreword Understanding Global Communication in a Polycentric World ; Introduction ; Part I –Challenging Dominant Discourses in a New World Order ; 1. The BRICS paradox ; 2. Shifting paradigms of communication research ; 3. Moving beyond Western models in the study of BRICS media systems ; Part II – Media and Communication Structures and Systems ; 4. The Brazilian media system in a turbulent environment ; 5. A post-analogue hybrid media system: the Russian case ; 6. Media systems and structures in India ; 7. Beyond convergence: rethinking China’s media system in a global context ; 8. South Africa: Beyond democratic deficit in public service broadcasting ; Part III – BRICS and Global Strategic Communication ; 9. Brazil and corporatist soft power ; 10. Russian soft power from the USSR to Putin’s Russia ; 11. India: culture as soft power ; 12. China’s cultural power reconnects with the world ; 13. Contending soft powers: South African media on the African continent ; Part IV – BRICS and Changing Communication Practices ; 14. BRICS journalism as a new territory for localizing journalism studies ; 15. Neoliberal capitalism and BRICS on screen ; 16. BRICS de-Americanizing the Internet?