INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION THEORY AND SOCIAL CONTROL

1.0 INTRODUCTION

What exactly is “communication”? According to Alleyne

(n.d) that the word “communication” were shared from the

Latin root “communis”, meaning of common and from this

root we got the other Latin word “communicare” which

means “to make common to many, share, impart, and

divide”. Communication consequently refers to some form

of sharing about sharing knowledge, ideas and beliefs

among the various people of the world.

When we talk about international communication, or

communication in international relations, we are really

expanding in the times of 20th century that most of the

peoples are able to communicate and also provide an

access to information with each other without boundaries

through various mediums that are available such as

through speaking, listening, reading and writing and

sophistication to communicate has improved with the

combination of all mediums (Schoonraad, Bornman, &

Lesame, 2001). Nowadays, information can be accessed from

almost anywhere. A person can log onto the Internet and

have unlimited information at their fingertips. From

this, we actually can get many positive effects that such

as a growth in innovation.

Collins English Dictionary (n.d) defines the term

“international” as “1: of or involving two or more

nations 2: controlling or legislating for several

nations”. Therefore the classical understanding of

"international" refers to the present, engaged in or

conducted in whole or occurring between two or more

nation-states. Basically, this definition states that the

field of international communication should be assumed to

emphasis mainly on interactions between and among nation-

states (D. K Thussu, 2000).

International communication as a phenomenon is

probably as old as human society itself and has occurred

ever since people have organized themselves in

communities and began to exchange ideas and products

(Schoonraad et al., 2001). In accordance with the

increasing scope of international communication, D. K

Thussu (2000) defines international communication simply

as communication that take place across international

borders.

2.0 A THEORETICAL BASIS FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

2.1 Global communication in the world of today

The terms 'international,' 'transnational' and

'global' communication are not only stands for different

definitions of an expanding communication space but also

reflect the history of worldwide communication as well as

its diversity (Volkmer, n.d). D. K Thussu (2000)

explained the phenomenon of global communications was

sparked at present due to the development of technology

in principle. Global communication in the current world

order is an amorphous and vast phenomenon with a

tumultuous history and manifold and far reaching effects

on macro and micro levels.

The world of international communication has changed

rapidly in recent years. As McPhail (2014) said that we

must not underestimate the nature and depth of the

transformation taking place in global communication and

so today we are going through a similarly deep alteration

in our societies, powered by the major structural changes

in global communication, mostly the Internet. Global

communication was first perceived only as a tool for

modernization, a process of developed countries trying to

“modernize” undeveloped, or third countries (Madikiza &

Bornman, 2007).

The improvements that give enlargement to global

communication as we recognize it in the first decade of

the 21st century started to change in the period between

the two world wars (H Mowlana, 1996). Basically, an

increase of international communication is directly after

World War II and after the Cold War, with this increase

being significantly greater after the Cold War.

Throughout this period global connectedness was

improved by the development of information and

communication technologies (ICTs) which some of these

technologies include the steam engine, internal

combustion engine, telephone, telegraph, and submarine

cables between Europe and America (Madikiza & Bornman,

2007). The global communication provides us an observer

view of events in furthest locations that we can take

part in political discourses of global, regional or even

on local significance.

2.2 APPROACHES TO THEORIZING INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

One of the important issues in international

communication is the foci of interest towards the

theories. The phenomenon of global communications being a

result to introduce many different theories that were

explained and defined in the international communication.

All of the theories have their own way of history

background that can reveal the concerns of the in which

they were developed. During the day in the 20th century,

changing towards the theories of international

communication into a distinct discipline within the new

social sciences and in each era already changed and give

an impact on society and also culture (Virtual University

of Pakistan, n.d).

Traditionally, most of the mass media research are

more focusing either in selecting micro issues, as for

instance like they look forward on the issues of agenda-

setting, ownership, or violence, or they look at a

specific medium, such as print media, radio, television,

or the Internet (McPhail, 2014). Only occasionally do

scholars examine the macro aspects of the overall mass

communication system. Theories of communication had

multiplied in response to new development in technology

and media after the Second World War which first was

radio and then television, and increasingly combined the

international economic and political system (Virtual

University of Pakistan, n.d). The following theories of

international communication are approaching in macro

aspects.

2.2.1 FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

I. Ayish (2001) mentioned that discourses on the notion of the

free flow of information existed during the Cold War when the“ ”international community was characterised by the bi-polar division

between capitalism and socialism. The concept of the free flow of‘information served both economic and political purposes which’reflected the western country, and specifically United States that

antipathy to state regulation and censorship of the media and its

use for propaganda by its communist opponents (Virtual University

of Pakistan, n.d).

The free flow discourse is totally surrounded in discourses on

democracy. In a democracy, the role of the mass media is assumed

to be to inform the electorate on public issues, to enlarge the base

of participation in the political process and to watch over

government behaviour. Proponents of a free flow of information

base their arguments on the liberal discourse of the rights of

individuals to freedom of opinion and expression (I. Ayish, 2001).

2.2.2 WORLD-SYSTEM THEORY

World system theory (WST) is providing the concepts,

ideas, and language for structuring international

communication and plus the theory has also been linked to

dependency theory in that some of the criticisms are

similar to the rhetoric and writings of the critical

school of media scholars (McPhail, 2014). The term of

world system shows the social context in which people in

the modern era live. This theory was proposed and

developed by Immanuel Wallerstein (Inkeles & Sasaki,

1996).

Turner (2001) points out that WST is a global

economic growth takes place from a relatively small group

of core-zone nation-states out to two other zones of

nation-states, these being in the semi peripheral and

peripheral zones. These three groupings or sectors of

nation states have varying degrees of interaction on

economic, political, cultural, media, technical, labor,

capital, and social levels. It is expected that the zones

exhibit unequal and uneven economic relations, with the

core nations being the dominant and controlling economic

entity.

2.2.3 ELECTRONIC COLONIALISM THEORY

According to McPhail (2014) Electronic colonialism

theory (ECT) imitates much of the current global

concerns, particularly with reference to culture, and is

a good theoretical concept with which to begin. It

provides a theoretical frame for examining the

stakeholders and transnational issues. ECT focuses on the

impact of repeated mass media messages, including

advertising, influence how people look, think, and act.

The aim of ECT is to look for how the mass media to

capture the minds & the consumer habits of millions of

viewers, readers, listeners around the world. There are 4

eras of Global Colonization:

The first era, Military colonialism was characterized

by military conquests. These occurred during the Greco-

Roman period and witnessed the expansion of the Roman

Empire throughout most of what is modern Europe,

including North Africa. The militant Christianity of the

Crusades during the Middle Ages represented the second

era as Christian colonialism. The Crusades, with the

Catholic pope as patron, sought to control territory from

Europe, across northern Africa, to the Middle East

(McPhail, 2014).

The third era, Mercantile colonialism was at the

beginning with the invention of significant mechanical

advances in the seventeenth century continued until the

mid-twentieth century. Spawned by a desire for cheap

labor, the importation of raw materials, and ready export

markets cre2,ated by the colonies for finished products,

the industrial revolution created Mercantile colonialism.

Lastly, Electronic colonialism represents the dependent

relationship of poorer regions on the post-industrial

nations which is caused and established by the

importation of communication hardware and foreign-

produced software, along with engineers, technicians, and

related information protocols (McPhail, 2014).

2.2.4MODERNIZATION THEORY

Modernization theory emerged during a period when it

was very important for the West to bring the newly

independent nations of Asia, the Middle East and Africa

into the sphere of capitalism (M. Ayish, 2005). D. K

Thussu (2000) stated that complementary to discourses on

the benefits of the free flow of information in the years

after World War II were views on the key role of

international communication in the process of the

modernization and development of the Third World.

Communication research on what came to be known as

‘modernization’ or ‘development theory’ was based on the

belief that the mass media would help transform

traditional societies. One of the earliest exponent of

this theory was Daniel Lerner in 1958 had proposed that

contact with the media helped the process of transition

from a ‘traditional’ to a ‘modernized’ state,

characterizing the mass media as ‘mobility

multiplier’ ,which enables individuals to experience

events in far-off places, forcing them to reassess their

traditional way of life (Virtual University of Pakistan,

n.d).

2.2.5 DEPENDENCY THEORY

According to D. K Thussu (2000), the roots of

dependency theory is in Latin America during the 1960s

and 1970s during a period when countries of the Third

World realized that the developmental approach to

international communication have failed to deliver. In

other terms defines that it was established out of the

circumstance that economic growth in the advanced

industrialized countries did not lead to progress and

development in subordinate countries.

Although it is rooted in the neo-Marxist political

economy approach, the dependency perspective represents

an important shift away from the nation-state as unit of

analysis to a predominantly international level of

analysis (Servaes, Jacobson, & White, 1996). Thus it

emphasizes global structures and interrelationships that

influence Third World development and postulates that

post-independence dynamics keep Third World countries

locked into former colonial power structures (M. Ayish,

2005).

2.2.6 STRUCTURAL THEORY OF IMPERIALISM

The structural theory of imperialism of Galtung in

1971 can be considered as a development and improvement

of dependency theory. Galtung is not only offers the

descriptions for existing inequalities among regions,

nation-states and collectivities, but also put emphasis

on the probability of the existence of inequalities

within a particular region, nation-state and/or

collectivity (Madikiza & Bornman, 2007).

The centre-periphery relationships are sustained and

strengthened by the information of flows and reproduction

of economic activities. These create institutional

relations that work for the interests of the dominant

groups. These “cores” or “centres” within peripheral

states can deliver a bridgehead through which the centre

can enact its dominance of the periphery. In terms of

culture, values and attitudes, elites in the periphery are

often nearer to elites in the centre than to the people in

their own country (D. K Thussu, 2000).

2.2.7 THEORY OF HEGEMONY

According to D. K Thussu (2000) that the theory of

hegemony is created on the work of the Italian Marxist,

Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1937), who died in prison under

the Fascist regime in Italy. The idea of Gramsci’s in the

theory of hegemony is rooted in the concept that the

dominant social group in society has the capability to

implement the intellectual and moral direction over

society at large and to build a new system of social

coalitions to supports its aims (Virtual University of

Pakistan, n.d).

In accordance with Gramsci’s viewpoints, society is

perceived as the site of struggle among interests through

the domination of one ideology over others (Littlejohn &

Foss, 2005). In international communication, the concept

of hegemony is generally used to conceptualize political

function of the mass media, as a key player in

propagating and maintaining the dominant ideology and

also to explain the process of media and communication

production, with dominant ideology shaping production of

news and entertainment (Virtual University of Pakistan,

n.d).

2.2.8 CRITICAL THEORY

Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno who was the

researchers at the Institute for Social Research in

Frankfurt which is also known as the Frankfurt School

that are responsible to play a leading role in the

development of the critical theory (Madikiza & Bornman,

2007). Critical theory is a philosophical approach to

culture, and especially to literature, that considers the

social, historical, and ideological forces and structures

which produce and constrain it. Adorno and Horkheimer

believed that cultural products manifested the same kind

of management practices, technological rationality and

organizational schemes as the mass production industrial

goods such as cars (Virtual University of Pakistan, n.d).

Critical theory is criticized for its highlighting on

reason and the ownership and control of the means of

cultural production as the main factors that determine

the activities of artists. Writers and artists have

claimed that creativity and cultural consumption can grow

well simultaneously and independently and that the

production process is not as organized according to

rigidly standardized procedures as propagated by the

theorists of the Frankfurt School (Littlejohn & Foss,

2005).

2.2.9 THE PUBLIC SPHERE

Benson (2009) did mentioned that the concept of

“public sphere” was developed by Jürgen Habermas who is

the German sociologist, and the central concept of this

theory, the public sphere, is defined as an arena where a

community of individuals are drawn together by

participating in rational-critical debate. Theories of

the public sphere have been a most important issue in

Media Studies in particular.

Hebermas argued that the ‘bourgeois public sphere’

emerged in an expanding capitalist society exemplified by

eighteenth century Britain, where entrepreneurs were

becoming powerful enough to achieve autonomy from state

and church and increasingly demanding wider and more

effective political representation to facilitate

expansion of their businesses (Virtual University of

Pakistan, n.d). The public sphere is an area in social

life where people can get together and freely discuss and

identify societal problems, and through that discussion

influence political action.

2.2.10 CULTURAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES

Preston (2005) views the cultural studies approach as

a reaction against the holistic focus of structural and

production orientated analyses of political and economic

power relationships as represented in debates regarding

the MacBride report, dependency theory, political economy

and similar approaches. This theory is about the

different cultures interpret media messages differently.

An important contribution of cultural theorists is the

fact that they have created the possibility of studying

all kind of issues and subcultures that have been

excluded in earlier theories of international

communication (D. K Thussu, 2000).

The main interests of cultural theorists have been

the textual analysis of media texts that especially focus

on the television texts as well as ethnographic research.

The importance of this theorists from Hall’s is about the

encoding and decoding of media messages and how these

messages can be interpreted in different ways such as

from accepting the dominant meaning, negotiating with the

encoding message or opposing or resisting the dominant

viewpoint as imbedded in the media text (Madikiza &

Bornman, 2007).

2.2.11 THEORIES OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

D. K Thussu (2000) stated that theories of the

information society are one of the most recent

theoretical strands to develop and the central of this

theories is the conceptualization of information in

economic terms. The term “information society” had

emerged in the 1990s and concurred with the explosive

development and global expansion of ICTs and the Internet

in particular. According to Madikiza and Bornman (2007),

proponents of the idea of an information society believe

that the new possibilities for the processing, storage

and transmission of information have been creating an

international information society that will in the end

digitally link every home, office and business via the

Internet through the network of all networks.

Researcher and analyst, Daniel Bell hold that society

has moved through three stages: one relating to the post-

industrial information workforce, a second dealing with

information flows which particularly scientific

knowledge, and a third concerning computers and the

information revolution. Bell argues that the information

age is not only characterized by the use of more

information, but that a qualitatively different type of

information has become available (D. K Thussu, 2000).

2.2.12 DISCOURSES OF GLOBALIZATION

Discourses on globalization is one of the latest and

probably most important and wide-ranging theoretical

debates that have emerged in International Communication.

Although it appears that the usage of the term has

increased consistently in recent years, globalization

remains what may be called a shifting concept in that

there is not a universally accepted definition of the

term (Virtual University of Pakistan, n.d). Some

theorists hold “globalization” to be the key concept to

understand changes of human society into the third

millennium (D. K Thussu, 2000).

Rantanen (2005) points out that there are three

phases in discourses on globalization. In the first phase

the main point of contestation was whether globalization

exists or not. In the second phase it was no longer a

question of whether globalization exists or not, but

rather what the consequences are. Currently we are

entering a third stage where debates address the

responses necessary to counteract the negative

consequences of globalization.

2.2.13 A CRITICAL POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF THE 21ST CENTURY

D. K Thussu (2000) looks at the political economy

approach as an umbrella theory that includes many of the

other theories of international communication such as

dependency and hegemony plus with the much of the

critical research with regard to political economy has

been related to patterns of ownership and production in

the media and communications industries. In contrast to

cultural analyses, it concerns itself primarily with

primary structures of political and economic power.

Researchers working within this area have focused on

transnational corporate and state power, with a particular stress on

ownership concentration in media and communication industries

world-wide and the growing trends towards vertical integration that

companies controlling production in a specific sector and horizontal

integration across sectors within and outside media and the

communication industry (Virtual University of Pakistan, n.d). One of

the important themes within the critical political economy approach

in international communication is the transition from American

post-war hegemony to a global order where world communication is

dominated by transnational and multinational corporations supported

by their national governments that are linked and integrated in

global structures (D. K Thussu, 2000).

3.0 SYMBOL AND MEANING IN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

3.1 SEMIOTICS AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

The French semiotician, Roland Barthes (1915-1980)

became the first one to apply semiotic theory directly to

the media and culture in his now classic 1957 book

entitled Mythologies. Mythologies signals, in effect, the

start of media semiotics proper, bringing out the

importance of studying the media texts in terms of how

they recycle mythological or second-order meanings

(Cobley, 2010). Floch (2002) defined semiotics which is

also called as ‘semiology’ is the study of signs and

meanings. Semiotics is the study of everything that can

be used for communication: words, images, traffic signs,

flowers, music, medical symptoms, and much more

Semiotics is the science of communication and sign

systems, in short, of the ways people understand

phenomena and organize them mentally, and of the ways in

which they devise means for transmitting that

understanding and for sharing it with others. Although

natural and artificial languages are therefore central to

semiotics, its field covers all non-verbal signaling and

extends to domains whose communicative dimension is

perceived only unconsciously or subliminally. Knowledge,

meaning, intention and action are thus fundamental

concepts in the semiotic investigation of phenomena

(Deely, 2004).

Semiotics began to become a major approach to

cultural studies in the late 1960s and it could be

everywhere. It would form part of social psychology, and

hence of general psychology. According to Chandler

(2003), semiotics usually divided into the three branches

which first is semantics, a relation between signs and

the things to which they refer. Second is syntactics, a

relations among signs in formal structures and lastly

is pragmatics, a relation between signs and their effects

on the people who use them. Studying semiotics can assist

us to become more aware of reality as a construction and

of the roles played by ourselves and others in

constructing it. It can help us to realize that

information or meaning is not 'contained' in the world or

in books, computers or audio-visual media.

Semiotics is not widely institutionalized as an

academic discipline. It is a field of study involving

many different theoretical stances and methodological

tools. One of the broadest definitions is that of Umberto

Eco, who states that 'semiotics is concerned with

everything that can be taken as a sign.’ Semiotics

involves the study not only of what we refer to as

'signs' in everyday speech, but of anything which 'stands

for' something else. In a semiotic sense, signs take the

form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects

(Chandler, 2003).

3.2 THE BASIC SEMIOTICS COMMUNICATION PROCESS MODEL

There is a variety of idealized models of

communication systems exist, and all may have something

in common. Communication is typically defined as a

process of sending and receiving that such a

communication process can be found in many disciplines. A

basic semiotic communication process model were used to

pay the explicit attention to communication processes

(Albertazzi & Cobley, 2009).

The communication process model that we adopt makes a

distinction between three levels of abstraction in the

communication process: the media level, the information

level, and the communication level. The media level of

communication describes the physical characteristics of

the communication process. The question is: how? How are

messages put across? The information level of

communication has to with the data contents. It is not

about how messages are transported, but which messages

are transported. The communication level is about what

people do with messages (Moor & Weigand, 2002).

This communication model is grounded in the language

as action perspective paradigm, which studies problems of

organizations from the perspective of the conversations

that are being conducted to get things done, and thus

starts from a process view. The refinement offered by the

ladder can be used very well to investigate a certain

layer in more detail. For example, at the communication

level, the goal-oriented aspects of communication should

be investigated against the background of the

organizational embedding of communication acts. These

aspects relate to the pragmatic and social levels of the

semiotic ladder, respectively (Moor & Weigand, 2002).

At each process model level, quality attributes can

be provided. Quality attributes at the media level

include media richness, interactivity, reliability and

efficiency. Information quality attributes are for

instance integrity, completeness, precision, and

timeliness. Integrity constraints in the communication

system can be used to enforce some of these qualities. An

example of a complex communication level attribute is the

communicative rationality expressed by communicating

parties in their interactions. Traditional quality

management systems mainly focus on the two lower levels.

A comprehensive quality management approach is thus

needed that accounts for all levels and their

dependencies (Moor & Weigand, 2002).

A fundamental aspect of quality is fitness-for-use.

The quality of a tool cannot be assessed without taking

into account the goals it has to serve. As a consequence,

total quality management should explicitly account for

the dependencies between the levels. For example,

communicative acts that are aimed at fixing commitments

between parties are better served by a medium that offers

persistence such as paper or email, whereas explorative

acts are sometimes better served by a medium that does

not offer persistence such as a face-to-face meeting or

an untapped telephone call (Moor & Weigand, 2002).

4.0 INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

4.1 INTRODUCTION

International broadcasting define by Price, Haas,

and Margolin (2008) as ‘the use of electronic media by

one society to shape the opinion of the people and

leaders of another’. The term includes the use of

radio, television, and increasingly, internet

broadcasting targeting a foreign population (Kamalipour,

2006).

International broadcasting is often treated as ‘one

component of public diplomacy’ (Cull, 2008), an umbrella

term used to describe ‘an instrument of public diplomacy’

(Hamid Mowlana, 1997). It is likely an agent of

psychological warfare to inform and influence the

receiver on ‘politically, socially, culturally or

academically’ (Hamid Mowlana, 1997). Longwave, mediumwave

or shortwave radio and in the recent satellite

broadcasting and internet is used as medium to broadcast

(Taylor, 2003). Three primary actors involved in the flow

of international broadcasting which are government

agencies, international institutions and private

organizations (Hamid Mowlana, 1997).

4.2 REASON OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

Boyd (1980) identified four major reasons that

broadcaster aimed to reach out international audience.

The four reasons are: to enhance national or

organizational prestige; to promote national or

organizational interests; to transmit religious,

ideological or political indoctrination; and to foster

cultural ties. In today’s satellite era, Straubhaar

(2000) added a fifth reason; to sell advertising for

internationally and a sixth, to sell access to pay-tv

broadcast.

Besides, Boyd (1980) clarify, the early reason,

people perceived international radio development `as

medium of propaganda, an instrument of foreign policy or

to promote ideology of the broadcaster.’ Almost all

international broadcasting have some variety of influence

over their audience.

4.3 THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

Most colonial powers started services in the 1920s,

with Soviet Union became the first nation to exploit new

medium of international broadcasting (Hamelink, 1994).

In 1926, the first world’s short-wave radio broadcast to

U.S, Central and South America and the Far East was from

Nauen, German (Daya Kishan Thussu, 2006). These followed

by Netherlands who started in 1927, Germany in 1929,

France in 1931 and Britain in 1932 (Head, 1985). BBC

Empire Service which started on December 19, 1932, aimed

transmission towards Australia and New Zealand.

(McChesney, 2004).

Effectively, beginning with the efforts by various

nations during World War 1 to influence publics in other

nations using radio broadcasting, the idea of propaganda

gathered (Kamalipour, 2006). Whatever the situation is,

propaganda continued to be directly associated with war

or open conflict through WW11.

4.4 CONTROL OF INFORMATION DURING WORLD WAR 11

The second World War saw an explosion in

international broadcasting as a propaganda tool. During

the era, Russian, German, British, and Italian

international broadcasting services have expanded. Daya

Kishan Thussu (2006) wrotes, ‘radio broadcasts were used

to weaken the spirit of enemy, publics and armies,

spread belief and dissent through misinformation or

combat other countries’ propaganda’. Wood (1992) define

it as “one-way communication system designed to influence

belief”. Some practitioners have taken a more conflict-

oriented approach. Edward Kaufman, the member of the

American Broadcasting Board of Governors, BBG, referred

propaganda to ‘modern media wars’ (Kamalipour, 2006).

Among the international broadcaster in the war time are

as follows:

Soviet Broadcast - The first public broadcast of propaganda

was message of Russian communists by Lenin on the

overthrown of Kerensky government and the formed of a new

Soviet Government (Hale, 1975). Communist Propaganda, a

central component of post-war Soviet diplomacy, was aimed

at Eastern Block and Third World. Soviet broadcast

policies were aimed at countering Western propaganda and

promoting Moscow’s line on international affairs.

Italy Broadcast - colonial campaign to promote Fascist idea

and win public support for invasion of Abyssinia

(Ethiopia) was created by Benito Mussolini, a Ministry of

Print and Propaganda in 1935 (Daya Kishan Thussu, 2006).

Radio sets were also distributed to Arabs, who tuned to

only one station; Radio Bari in southern Italy.

British Broadcast - The steps urged British Foreign Office to

create BBC’s monitoring unit. The unit monitoring

international broadcast and later start an Arabic

language service to the region (Hamelink, 1994). BBC

established the Empires Service in 1932 with the aim of

connecting the scattered parts of the British Empire.

Funded by the Foreign Office, it tended to reflect the

government’s public diplomacy and by the end of the war

it was broadcasting in 39 languages.

During the war, BBC helped the US Army to create the

American Forces Network. The recorded broadcast shows for

US forces in Britain, the Middle East and Africa. At the

same BBC’s French service was used by French General de

Gaulle to send messages to the Resistance movement in

occupied France. A weekly 15 minute newsletter was

broadcast to Russia with the cooperation of the Russian

news agency TASS. It also broadcast The Shadow of the

Swastika, the first of a series of dramas about the Nazi

Party.

Germany Broadcast - The head of Hitler’s propaganda

ministry, Josef Goebbels, played a key role in

disseminating the racist and anti-Semitic ideology of the

Third Reich (Wood, 1992). Goebbels set up the Reich

Chamber of Commerce in 1933 to ensure that everybody

thought in the correct manner. This organisation dealt

with literature, art, music, radio, film, newspapers etc.

To produce anything that was in these groups, you had to

be a member of the Reich Chamber (Wood, 1992).

As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced

a system of censorship. People could only read, see and

hear what the Nazis wanted them to read, see and hear.

Books that did not match the Nazi ideal were burnt in

public. The same approach was used in films. Films

released to the public concentrated on certain issues

such as; the Jews; the greatness of Hitler; the way of

life for a true Nazi especially children, and how badly

Germans who lived in countries in Eastern Europe were

treated (Taylor, 2003).

The ensure that everybody could hear Hitler speak,

Goebbels organised the sale of cheap radios or called the

"People's Receiver". Loud speakers were put up in streets

so that people could not avoid any speeches by the

Fuhrer. Cafes and other such properties were ordered to

play in public speeches by Hitler (Hale, 1975). The Nazi

Reich broadcast were targeted at German living abroad as

far as South America and Australia. By 1945 Germany

radio was broadcasting in more than 50 languages (Taylor,

2003).

American Broadcast - U.S. Government control the press by

issued A “Code of Wartime Practices for the American

Press” . All news about war had to pass through the

Office of War Information (Burns & Novick, 2007).

President Roosevelt ordered War Department to published

images of war through film, magazines, posters, newspaper

and newsreel to attract audience on a wider scale.

Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour, the slogan

“Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs” become popular. In

1942, the United States took over several existing

private shortwave broadcasters aimed at international

audiences and initiated the Voice of America (McChesney,

2004).

Japanese Broadcast - Japanese wartime propaganda included

short-wave transmission from Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK),

The Japan broadcasting Corporation to South East and East

Asia population (Kamalipour, 2006). In addition, NHK also

transmitted high quality propaganda programmes in English

such as Zero Hero or “Tokyo Rose”, along with American

music to help ensure listeners, aimed to demoralized US

troops in the Pacific Island (Wood, 1992).

Japan’s concept of Hakko Ichiu, or “eight corners

under one roof,” was their counter to America’s Manifest

Destiny.  Japan catered to the idea of a common Asian

race and promoted ethnic unity (Navarro, 2006). Japanese

films showed a lot of sacrifice in order to create

humanity and empathy for the characters. Historical

accounts of America’s was often used to describe the

racist, injustice, greedy and care about nothing except

for their own capital gain (Kamalipour, 2006).

4.5 THE COLD WAR ERA (1945-1991)

The usage of radio to promote its political

interests reached its high point during the decades of

the cold war (Daya Kishan Thussu, 2006). Contrasting view

between Soviet Union and America led to increased

international broadcasting, as both party attempted to

influence each other’s domestic population. More than 80

countries had official international services aimed at

other countries (Wood, 1992).

The Voice of America (VOA) has tended to concentrate

on international news, music and culture to the target

country including Middle East. Although VOA had been a

part of Us diplomacy during ww11, propaganda become a

crucial component in cold war time. Those stations have

strengthened with inclusion of Radio Free Europe (RFE),

Radio Liberty (aimed at former USSR), Radio TV Marti

(Cuba) and AlHurra with Radio Sawa (aimed at Middle

East). All were state-funded and answerable to US State

Department. (Youmans & Powers, 2012). Following the

outbreak of Korean War, VOA was used to promote US

president Harry Truman’s `Campaign for Thruth’ against

communism and to propagate the ideal of the American way

of life’. The worldwide campaign was aimed at

legitimizing US involvement in the Korean War. In Asia,

VOA operated from Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Following the Chinese revolution in 1949, US priority was

to stop the expansion of communism into other parts of

Asia.

During the Vietnam War, US propaganda leads by the

joint public office aim to undermine support for

communists and to keep support of the South Vietnamese.

These messages were conveyed mainly through dropping

leaflets and broadcasting from low-flying aircraft.

During seven years it operated in Vietnam armed forces

dropped nearly 50 billion leaflets –nearly 1500 for every

person (Burns & Novick, 2007).

By the late 1960s Moscow Radio was the world’s

largest single international broadcaster with broadcast

hours 1950 hours per week in 84 languages (Critchlow,

1999). In many countries, the consequences or penalty

for listening to a certain foreign broadcasts was severe.

In Soviet Union, who listened to the BBC-WS and some

other western broadcasters would be branded as dissident

and can be send to concentration camp in Siberia which

he may have not return (Straubhaar, 2000).

In contrast to VOA, The BBC’s external services

presenting a mature and balanced view reporting. This

policy gave BBC has a capacity to critize its own

government however indirectly (Head, 1985). Government

has no influence on BBC since the relay stations and

overseas transmitter were owned by the Diplomatic

Wireless Service. That was why BB has more international

credibility than any other broadcasting organization and

has characterized the UK/US relationship (Daya Kishan

Thussu, 2006)

Religious propaganda broadcasting such as Kol Israel

(Zionist), Radio Free Russia (Christian) is also playing

a key role in another political confrontation. Radio RSA,

as part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation,

was established in 1966 to promote the image of South

Africa internationally and reduce criticism of apartheid.

It continued in 1992, when the post-apartheid government

renamed it Channel Africa (Boyd, 1980).

4.6 INFLUENCING FACTOR AND IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

Technical and financial factor

The ability to provide technical capacity for

production and distribution determines the amount of flow

that is produced and disseminated. On the other hand,

the maintenance of the equipment in different

geographical barrier is too high. The cost of human

resource was also high.

VOM, was closed because the transmitter is too old

and cannot provide enough capacity or clear broadcast to

the target countries. In another case, USIA’s (U.S.

Information Agency) Worldnet which was a major innovation

during Reagan administration was cancelled by the U.S.

Congress because of cost counted against benefit (less

than 2 million viewers in Western Europe) (Jackson,

2013). Meanwhile in 1980’s BBC had to drop its services

in three languages because of budget constraints (Bearne,

2013). Besides, the financial capability to provide

multilingual services will gain size and diversity of the

audience. In February 2012, China has started to serve US

citizens its own side of the story. CCTV America

broadcast from its studio in Washington, D.C. It is part

of Beijing’s outreach of telling its own story through

its own voice.   The move was after Russia Today, Russian

Government’s media channel expanded in U.S.

National sovereignty

Direct broadcasting by using satellite TV poses

serious threats to national sovereignty, control and

regulation. The users are expose especially

on propaganda, commercial domination and cultural

intrusion.

Orbital/ spectrum spacing

The increased number of communications satellites, will

cause orbital spacing or `band capacity/frequencies’. The

capacity of a band of frequencies is the maximum quantity

of information which that band can convey (Youmans &

Powers, 2012)

One way flow of information

would create imbalance information. History shows that

international broadcasting represent their country on

their foreign policy that can persuade people and

decreased cultural integrity and national identity.

(Wood, 1992) There is also research of imbalance report

towards Third World country (Kamalipour, 2006).

Small audience and prefer locality - Previous research

shows that audience of international broadcasting channel

to be highly segmented into different interest such as

news, music, documentaries, sports and so on. These

audience relatively smaller than the audiences for

regular national broadcast television. Research also

shown (Straubhaar 1991, 2000) that mass audience tend to

prefer national broadcaster that are more relevant to

them.

4.7 TREND TOWARDS TELEVISION (1920’S)

With the changes in ffundamental’s geopolitic after

the Cold War, it requires international broadcasting

reconfigure their new targets, new justifications, and

new purposes. New technologies and new way of

distributing information, have also been influential in

the reassessment of international broadcasting. The

scenario leads to international broadcasting underwent a

deep crisis of purpose and credibility in the mid-1990s.

Wood (1992) in his book wrote, at the end of the Cold

War, many international broadcasters cut back on hours

and foreign languages broadcast, or reemphasized other

language services. Most of the international radio

services move towards rebroadcasting, transmitting on

local FM or streaming audio feeds on the internet.

There is a trend towards TV and news websites (Hamid

Mowlana, 1997).

The BBC World Service was the first broadcaster to

consider setting up a satellite television news and

information channel as far back as 1976. Other services

are Cable News Network International (CNNI), British

Broadcasting Corporation’s World, CNN international and

the entrants, Al-Jazeera.

4.8 BROADCASTING IN MALAYSIA

Since its early broadcast in 1 April 1946, and later

became the government official broadcaster under Ministry

of InformationRTM now have 36 radio stations including

channel in local dialect. The sole function of

broadcasting until the country independence in 1957 was

to help the government to control the social and

political confusion that followed the war and the

communist insurgent 1948. Today, besides RTM, Malaysia

have a total of 19 private radio station and 12

television station. (Department of Broadcasting Malaysia,

2014)

RTM External service Voice of Malaysia began

broadcast on 15 February 1963. On 1972 VOM have service

in seven languages; English, Thailand, Tagalog, Malay,

Indonesia, Mynmar and Arabic. VOM’s mission is to help

government explaining their policy and stand on local and

foreign affairs. VOM portray to an overseas audience true

images of Malaysia, from the economic and perspective to

encourage foreign investment and from social and cultural

of Malaysian people. Target listeners are foreigners and

overseas Malaysian students. The broadcast were

transmitted to Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, China,

Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar,

North Africa and Middle East (Roslina Abdul Latif, Wan

Amizah Wan Mahmud, & Ali Salman, 2013)

RTM has been played as active broadcaster and assist

on the establishment of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting

Union, ABU a year later. As a non-profit, non-government,

professional association, ABU establishment is to assist

the development of radio and television broadcasting in

the region by promoting and encouraging regional and

international co-operation. The ABU runs a wide range of

activities, including the daily Asia Vision satellite TV

news exchange, providing a major source of news for the

20-plus national broadcasters who take part (Asia-Pacific

Broadcasting Union, 2011).

Meanwhile in 1977, another unique regional inter-

governmental organisation under United Nations Economic

and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN-ESCAPE),

The Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development

(AIBD) was established. With 26 members, AIBD mandated to

achieve a vibrant and cohesive electronic media

environment in the Asia-Pacific region through technical

training and resource development. Both of the

organization are hosted by the Government of Malaysia and

the secretariat is located at Angkasapuri Complex, Kuala

Lumpur. (Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting

Development, 2014).

4.9 ISSUE AND CHALLENGES

4.9.1 CHANGING THE IMAGE

At one side, we see that international broadcasting

is idealized because it stands for objective coverage of

world events, to bring necessary information. At the

other hand, the propaganda image that attached along with

it should be change. After the collapse of the former

Soviet Union, Russian international broadcasting agencies

stop carrying their previous agenda. The transmitting

facilities in the former Soviet Union and the Eastern

European countries, once the source of propaganda

dissemination, are no longer used against the Western

nations (Navarro, 2006)

Ironically, the United States, UK, and Germany now

began to rent the same equipment for propaganda purposes

against new targets. The VOA, for example, employed seven

500 kW short-wave transmitters in several places in

Russia to broadcast to China and other Asian countries.

The BBC rented three Russian transmitters to broadcast to

China as well. The Voice of Germany, Deutsche Welle used

eleven Russian short-wave transmitters in that country to

broadcast to China, Northeast Asia, South Asia, West

Asia, and Russia (Daya Kishan Thussu, 2006). The

cooperation shows that they aim the same objective; to

provide the best information to their users. With that,

the propaganda objective removed, instead its create

greater cooperation and open to accept other nations

foreign policies, economic and trade objectives.

4.9.2 REASSESSMENT

For a very long time, Voice of America, VOA is a

symbol of United States international broadcasting with

CIA funding and two other affiliate that have different

target countries; Radio Free Europe (targeting Central

and Eastern Europe) and Radio Liberation (targeting the

Soviet Union). Previously, government denied its

relationship to the stations. Subsequently, the Radios

merged (Radio Liberation became Radio Liberty) and the

federal government acknowledged its financing role when

President Bill Clinton called for consolidation

(Navarro, 2006)

The budget for VOA slashed, that would save $400

million in a 5-year period. On April 30, 1994, the

President signed into law the United States International

Broadcasting Act. All the Radios, including Radio Marti,

would report to International Broadcasting Bureau within

the United States Information Agency (USIA) (Youmans &

Powers, 2012). The legislation also authorized the

establishment of a Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)

to oversee the Broadcasting Bureau to make sure the

content provide balanced, accurate, and comprehensive

news and information. In order to obey the rules and

avoiding any conflict, the name of Radio Free Iran

changed to the Persian-language service of RFE/RL,

meanwhile Radio Free Africa was change to Radio Democracy

(BBG Audience Overview, 2012).

4.9.3 GLOBAL ADJUSTMENT

The issue of international broadcasting and its

post-Cold War justification was a global one. Canada and

Australia came close to eliminating external

broadcasting. In 1999, Deutsche Welle, the German

external broadcaster, have to dismiss their staff and

budget cuts. The drastic action was similar for many

external broadcasters (McChesney, 2004)

4.9.4 NEW FOCUS

Another rising function of international

broadcasting is to assist in the

prevention of conflict, the moderation of voices so as to

avoid genocides and other massive violations of human

rights and the post-conflict contexts. Combinations of

so-called monitoring and peace broadcasting give special

coverage on rebuilding new society in conflict area such

as Rwanda, Cambodia and Kosovo and bring along external

donors from international and local agencies and also

NGO. (Jackson, 2013) This new role, to some extent will

transform the international broadcasters image as a

propaganda medium.

4.10 CONCLUSION

Bringing about major changes in international

broadcasting isn’t easy. But international broadcasters

have no other choice if they want to adapt to the growing

competition abroad and the ways people consume

information these days. The new development on the flow

of expansion services by foreign countries in Western

countries should be taken as a lesson. International

broadcasting should be conducted with the highest

professional standard of journalism, which relies on

accuracy, objectivity and comprehensive. After going

through the challenging historic spasms of fascism, the

Cold War and decolonization, it became necessary for the

World Service to find a more inclusive definition for its

long-term purposes.

The service found itself with another new role, and new

listeners.

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