Search

India has joined the league of rich industrial nations which have accorded top priority to the promotion of telecommunications (both basic telephone systems and value-added services) as well as the new information technologies. The economic policy of 'liberalization' has resulted in a scramble among multinationals to invest in the Indian technology market. However, in the effort to promote these information technologies and the infrastructure necessary for their effective functioning, developing countries like India have overlooked the social and cultural consequences, besides the neglect of other priority sectors like education, employment generation, poverty alleviation, health and medical care, etc. The hope is that the new policy will stimulate industrial and economic growth. This paper takes a hard critical look at Indian government policy on telecommunications and the new information technologies, and the implications of such a policy for the social and cultural life of the nation. The critique takes the stance that information technologies are not a-historical or a-cultural and that they imagine on society in ways that aggravate social conflict, and challenge the cultural values of communities. The focus of the paper is on the possible implications of the technologies for employment, privacy, surveillance, human relations, consumerism, and efficiency in administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study which analysis the news flow from developed and developing nations. It mentions that the study which used the main trunk teletype wire of the Associated Press (AP) in the U.S. focus on the comparison of the news flow from such states with the news flow form more economically and politically developed areas of the world. It states that the I.B.M. 1108 computer at the University of Wisconsin was used to compile the comparative content analysis data during the study. Moreover, the study shows that the largest percentage of news from individual developed countries was concerned in the U.S.

The article discusses the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) and the 'alternative' press in Great Britain. It mentions several agencies which were the source of information for audiences in advanced country and the dominant reservoir for information in the Third World including Associated Press (AP) in the U.S., United Press International (UPI), and Reuter in Great Britain. It states that news distributors denied access to other agencies in the advanced countries. Meanwhile, other regional news agencies had their own outlet called as the alternative press, which presents the experience of ethnic minority groups in the country.

The article presents a study which aims to find out the nature of the coverage of foreign news in several newspapers in Nigeria. The study used a cross-tabulation analysis to determine the amount of the Nigerian stories on local events and personalities and foreign items, that are treated favourably. The results indicate an evidence of bias in the press coverage of forein news in Nigeria. It concludes that modern journalism can be biased in favor of its immediate location, in terms of quantity and quality.

This study examines the global network structures of telecommunication and transportation, and tests structural relationships among countries in the global system. Specifically, telephone and air travel networks are examined. The results of zero-order correlation, canonical correlation, and LISREL analysis show a high correlation between telecommunication and transportation network. NEGOPY reveals a similar structure for both networks. It identifies one large group with western industrialized countries as center and the rest as periphery for both networks. These results suggest the replication of inequalities in political and economic areas between center and periphery countries. It turns Out that telephone is obviously one of the `space-adjusting technologies' that change the significance of distance and allow for higher degrees of accessibility to remote locations. Only one country is identified as an isolate in the telephone network, whereas many isolate countries exist in the transportation network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borrowing from the literature of mass communication and development and its many variations over time, a model was formulated to explain the role of mass media and interpersonal discussion on two persistent communication concerns, namely, political efficacy and political ideology. These relationships were examined in light of their possible modification or refinement based on an individual's location in the social structure. Using survey data collected in an urban area of a media-rich underdeveloped country, eleven hypotheses were tested. A structural equation technique (LISREL) demonstrated that all the hypotheses were at least partially supported, furthermore the effects of the communication variables were all fully supported. We concluded that our model, developed from literature in the United States and Third World countries, appears to have substantial external validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on information society and on the function of broadcasting and new media in the mass and popular culture among highly developed countries. It says that media provides a connection between culture and all other subsystems of the society including political system, economy and technology. It mentions that socio-institutional models of broadcasting have a broad connection to culture. It says that because of mass culture, local communities and folk cultures are being united as one nation. It also suggests that the evolution of culture in the information society needs to be studied with greater intensity.

The article focuses on the foreign telecommunication policy goals of the U.S. and the competition among industrialized countries over innovations in telecommunications technology and services. It states that telecommunication services has been an increasingly significant foreign policy priority in promoting the political, economic and national security interests of the country in 1985-1989. It suggests that policy decisions and initiatives of the U.S. in international communications and information goals had better served the interest of the U.S. The author adds that supporting the contention that U.S. policies can best serve the interests of developing economies can be premature, due to the reluctance of U.S. to participate in financing Third World telecommunications.