New Technologies and International Broadcasting: Reflections on Adaptations and Transformations

Publication Date

3-2008

Journal

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

Abstract

International broadcasters, like all media institutions, adjust to reflect the existence of new distribution technologies. Technological change is part of a new media landscape that has rendered older definitions and contexts of international broadcasting insufficient. The pace and extent of adjustment differs among the players. Adaptations range from the superficial to the highly integrative and, on the other hand, from the merely adaptive to the pervasively transformative. Can one compare, among institutions, how this process takes place and what factors influence the patterns of accommodation? Theories of organizational structure shed light on which factors lead international broadcasters to which path. This article considers U.S. international broadcasting as a model to tease out some of these factors, among them organizational complexity, political influence, and control and contradictions embedded in institutional purpose. In this scenario, technological adaptation can mask a critical need to address institutional transformation.

Volume

616

Issue

1

First Page

150

Last Page

172

Publisher

SAGE Publishing

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716207312033

Keywords

public diplomacy, international broadcasting, discourse analysis, Radio Free Europe, BBC World Service, Internet, new technologies

Disciplines

Communications Law | International Law | Law | Law and Politics | Public Law and Legal Theory | Science and Technology Law

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