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Viewing the South: How Globalization and Western Television Distort Representations of the Developing World
By Emma Miller
Paperback 302 pages (October 2006)
This book examines how television covers the majority world. There is a paradox evident in TV programming in that during the current period of rapidly increasing global connections, this medium is providing less and less world cover. The study examines the factors underlying the paradox while sketching out a framework for understanding the changing relationship between globalization, television, and public understanding of the developing world.
Chapters in Part One discuss the context of capitalist globalization, including economic, political and cultural aspects Chapters in the second part examine how television covers the majority world and how it explains events. The content analysis consists of a selection of case studies of TV coverage. Part Three consists of an account of the audience reception component of the research.
Abridged Contents: Introduction. PART ONE: THE CONTEXT OF CAPITALIST GLOBALISATION. The Global Economy. Facing the Consequences. The Culture of Consumerism and the Media. PART TWO: CONTENT ANALYSIS. News Coverage. Economics. Political Coverage. Disaster Coverage. Consumer Programming. AUDIENCE RECEPTION. Results of Exercises. Results of Group Discussions. Conclusion. Appendix. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index. "This book shines important new light on how and why television keeps the public in the dark. It contains vital analysis and lessons for individuals, NGOs, academics, and journalists on how to challenge and change mainstream television to serve, rather than undermine, the cause of democracy." —Mark Curtis, Author of Web of Deceit and Unpeople
"It is what we badly need--a critical look at how Africa is portrayed to those who have an urgent need to know and understand the continent better." —Dennis Brutus, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Africana Studies, University of Pittsburgh
“Emma Miller’s VALUABLE NEW BOOK Viewing the South shows how profoundly globalization and consumerism have affected British television’s coverage of the developing world. They have caused that coverage to shrink, to feature disasters, other dramatic events that affect the developed countries, and travel and holiday options also of interest to people at home (including advertisers and the travel industry). Coverage also generally ignores the impact of globalization and its institutions like the IMF and World Bank on southern peoples, and has a strong penchant for focusing on flaws in those distant lands that reflect their backwardness (rather than any external influences). Miller’s case studies and interviews point to exceptions to these unenlightened tendencies in coverage, and she has interesting recommendations for improvement, but she shows that the trend, rooted in the globalization process itself, has been adverse and detrimental to public understanding of developing country problems and potential solutions.” —Edward S. Herman, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, co-author (with Noam Chomsky) of Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.
“In an age of globalisation when media itself is controlled by corporate rule, the people of the South either disappear or are reduced to consumers. Emma Miller's book " Viewing the South : How Globalisation and Western Television distort representations of the developing world" is a thoughtful reflection on the distortion of the South by the Western media but also raises possibilities of the potential to use television as an instrument of democracy rather than corporate dictatorship.” —Vandana Shiva is a physicist and environmental activist as well as one of the leaders of the international forum on globalisation.
"An important, provocative contribution to the sociology of media which contends that rather than inform people and enable them to understand developments in the global South, the dominant media disinform and disempower them. This book underlines the urgent need to democratize governance of the corporate media." —Walden Bello is executive director of Focus on the Global South and professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines.
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Viewing the South
