Journal of Global Mass

Communication
This peer-reviewed scientific journal publishes theoretical and
empirical papers and essays and book reviews that examine
the way in which similarities and differences articulate mass
communication relations on a global scale. It also explores the
way in which similarities and differences open up spaces for
discourse, research and application in the field of mass
communication praxis. JGMC seeks innovative articles that
utilize critical and empirical approaches regarding global mass
communication, including, but not limited to, systems,
structures, processes, practices and culture. These articles
could deal with content, as well as its production, consumption
and effects, all of which are situated within inter- and trans-
national, cross-cultural, inter-disciplinary and especially
comparative perspectives. All theoretical and methodological
perspectives are welcomed.
 Submission deadline: 1 January
2009

The accelerated globalization of media, especially as a result of

technological advances during recent decades, has impacted greatly on
the way media and journalism is being understood in the developed
world. Media have become pervasive in everyday life, and new media
technologies have blurred the distinction between producers and
consumers. Distant regions of the world have been brought in close
proximity due to the global reach of media, and global media
organisations have aggressively penetrated new markets around the
globe.

Several critics have argued that the global flow of informational and
cultural content is not only a one-way street — in the era of global
media, contraflows and hybridities have emerged that challenge binary
perceptions of global informational flows. Yet media and communication
scholarship is still dominated by perspectives from the global North, due
in part to the political economy of research and publishing. The result is
that experiences based on the interaction between media and society in
the developed world are given the status of theory, only rarely to be
challenged by counter-perspectives from other regions of the world.

It would be too crude and simplistic to equate the imbalance in media

flows with a new type of colonialism, yet it cannot be denied that current
global asymmetries of power map onto the history of colonial domination
and subjection. Although globalization does not equal imperialism, the
process of globalization cannot be fully understood without
understanding the history of colonialism and its persistent legacies.

To understand the way media constructs and impacts upon global

society today, it is therefore necessary to link our view of contemporary
global media architectures, markets and flows with the history of
colonialism and decolonization; the persistent patterns of domination
and exclusion with colonial and postcolonial discourse; and refuse an
ahistorical approach to the challenge for equitable and ethical global
media.

This themed issue invites submissions dealing with research questions

related to the above approach to global media. Critical contributions,
particularly those focusing on the impact of media globalization on the
global South or analyze global media from the perspective of
postcolonial theory, are especially invited.

Information About the Journal

The Journal of Global Mass Communication is a new journal devoted to

the analysis of mass communication in a global context. Authors are
encouraged to submit high quality, original works which have not
appeared, nor are under consideration, in other journals. Articles should
be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, taking cognizance of the special
issue’s focus. All submissions should follow the APA style and be
submitted in MS Word. US English is to be used. The journal aims for a
turn-around review time of six weeks.

Focus
The Journal of Global Mass Communication examines the way in which
similarities and differences articulate mass communication relations on a
global scale. It also explores the way in which similarities and
differences open up spaces for discourse, research and application in
the field of mass communication praxis. JGMC seeks innovative articles,
utilizing critical and empirical approaches regarding global mass
communication (including, but not limited to, systems, structures,
processes, practices and cultures). These articles could deal with
content, as well as its production, consumption and effects, all of which
are situated within inter- and trans-national, cross-cultural, inter-
disciplinary and especially comparative perspectives.

Main theme for the launch issue

News flow studies – What do we know from past and present research
that can pave the way for future research? Theoretical and empirical
articles are invited on 50 years of global news flow research (1960-
2010), and related topics such as agenda setting and gatekeeping:
Where do we come from, where do we stand, and where do we want to
go in the next few years.

Editorial information

Articles should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, taking cognizance of

the journal’s focus. Articles from a comparative historical and critical
perspective, including meta-analyses of existing research, as well as
new empirical research and work on theory building, are invited. All
theoretical and empirical approaches are welcomed. Commentary
articles are also invited from individuals or combined groups of scholars
who want to critically address specific issues in the field of global mass
communication or respond in future to articles published in JGMC.
These articles in essay format should be between 2 000 and 4000
words. Contact the editor with proposals.

At least two international reviewers will, as far as possible within the

research paradigm of which the articles are presented, anonymously
referee research, as well as commentary, articles. The journal aims for a
turn-around review time of six weeks, but cannot guarantee it under all
circumstances. Book reviews should be between 800 and 1,500 words.
Contact the editor for further information.

All submissions should follow the APA style and be submitted in MS

Word. U.S. English is to be used.

The Media of Mass Communication

Since 1991, John Vivian’s line of basic mass communication textbooks has
spawned special updates, interactive and Web editions, and even Canadian
editions. This year, the latest installment of Vivian’s series, the ninth edition of
The Media of Mass Communication, arrives. This textbook features an
attractive, magazine-like layout, with plenty of color photographs, sidebars,
case studies, and marginalia scattered through the main content of the book.
The general organization of the book is to take a media industry approach in
the beginning, then to flush out media messages and media issues in later
chapters.
Overall, the book is a fairly effective summation of mass communication,
providing a theory-light, “mile wide and an inch deep” glimpse so typical of
introductory textbooks on media, for better or worse. The updating of content
from the eighth edition is more significant than any other prior update in the
series, finally beginning to embrace decade-old industry changes brought about
by digital convergence. As a survey textbook for introductory mass
communication courses, this book serves its basic purpose to expose students to
the elementary knowledge of the field. However, based on my experience
teaching from the Vivian textbook series, it seems unlikely that instructors can
rely solely on this book for an entire term. Theory is handled in earnest in the
chapter on media effects, and to some degree in the ethics chapter, but the
remainder of the book is a smooth narrative without even footnotes to direct
readers to deeper reading. Supplemental readings, particularly theory-rich
readings, are necessary additions to this text, especially if a course using this
text is expected to form a foundation for an eventual undergraduate major in
mass communication.
The book is divided into three parts: The Mass Media, Media Messages, and
Mass-Media Issues. The book opens with a chapter on media literacy, and this
literacy framework reemerges throughout the book in case studies about media
topics and in critical questions at the end of most sub-sections as “learning
checks.” A chapter on media technology follows, establishing an organizational
format for the subsequent industry-specific chapters. For each mass medium,
the industry chapters provide brief historical sketches, overviews of industry
structures and ownership trends, as well as select issues within each industry.
Books, newspapers, magazines, sound recordings, motion pictures, radio,
television, and the internet—each industry receives its own chapter-length
treatment. Yet, the multi-billion dollar video game industry receives about five
pages of coverage in the entire text, scattered through chapters on advertising
and entertainment. The chapter on the Internet does little to address some of the
latest trends in new media, as well, especially regarding developments in the
so-called realm of Web 2.0 and revolutions in user-generated content. This is
not entirely surprising, though. Consider the still-influential McQuail’s Mass
Communication Theory (5th ed.) and its tendency to conclude each chapter
with an obligatory and short-sighted acknowledgment that “the Internet is
coming and may some day change mass communication,” even a decade after
AOL’s rise to dominance. So much of mass communication theory and research
today still smacks of this empty observation of digital media, unwilling to more
fully integrate new media theory and research into the guarded domain of mass
communication. Vivian’s textbook is but a distillation of this paradigm.
Part two, “Mass Messages,” covers news, public relations, advertising,
entertainment, and media research. Vivian’s chapter on news is particularly
good, as is the industry chapter on newspapers and several historical segments
in the book. Its strength lies in the way Vivian weaves historical snapshots into
the text, touring the many eras of the newspaper industry, the evolving
standards of journalism, and the colorful characters that have dotted the mass
communication timeline. Despite my new media crusading above, this book
does offer a great survey of the more established, traditional areas of the mass
communication discipline. Vivian’s writing style is clear and engaging as well,
integrating the core knowledge of mass communication with intriguing—and
current—vignettes and case studies. On public relations, Vivian includes a
needed section to distinguish public relations from advertising, but the
distinction between public relations and marketing—a far more common
question from undergraduates—is absent. Instead, a section on integrated
marketing communication (IMC) follows, describing IMC as a joining up of
advertising and public relations. This sketch of IMC as a mash-up of
advertising and public relations addresses only the tactical dimension of IMC
and not the programmatic, data-driven, corporate commitment in IMC to align
all marketing, public relations, and advertising messages according to the
bottom line. Introductory textbooks understandably compile only the tips of
great icebergs of communication research, and in no way can they be
exhaustive. However, Vivian’s portrayal of IMC, like a handful of other topics
in the text, is so scant as to be a bit misleading.
The final part, “Mass-Media Issues,” includes chapters on mass media effects,
global mass media, mass media and governance, mass media law, and ethics.
The strongest chapter in this part, and in fact the strongest chapter in the entire
book, deals with global mass media issues. Previous editions in Vivian’s series
kept discussions of the global in distant, abstract terms, with sidebars bringing
concrete examples to bear. For the ninth edition, Vivian has included sections
in the chapter which each focus on specific cultures and global concerns.
Media and terrorism, Arab media systems, Chinese media, and shorter sections
on British, Indian, and Colombian media all add vibrant new facets to the book
and encourage intercultural perspective in the study of mass communication.
I am still confounded by the insistence of so many textbooks in the entire
communication discipline to tack the ethics chapter at the end of the book. Is
not the purpose of this discipline to further effective and ethical communication
practices? Why not an ethics chapter at the beginning, to trace a framework for
inquiry for the remainder of the book? Or, better still, a full, seamless
integration of ethics into the entire text might better serve the book’s intended
audience. Given that many mass communication departments require
undergraduates to take an introductory mass communication course for which
this textbook is designed, it makes sense that young, aspiring media
professionals should be expected from the beginning to consider their
professional responsibilities in ethical terms. Ethics is and has always been
central to the study of mass communication, and a future edition of this
textbook would be well served to front-load the ethics chapter.
Vivian’s ninth edition of The Media of Mass Communication is certainly a step
forward in the series. The book is still readable, well-designed, and a good
pedagogical tool. New global perspectives are an improvement, and the media
literacy foundation is a needed perspective. Despite this literacy framework,
though, ethics remains the afterthought. A future edition ought to consider ways
to encourage both intelligent consumption of media content and responsible
production of media content. Finally, a future edition should consider ways to
catch-up on trends in new media. If the book continues to adopt an industry-
specific survey, it must eventually include a chapter on the important video
game industry.
This book is appropriate for an undergraduate, introductory survey course on
mass communication. The general lack of depth, the intentional avoidance of
excessive theory and citation, and the absence of video game content warrants
a supplemental reading list to make an introductory mass communication
course relevant as a foundation for mass communication majors.