THE INTERNATIONAL FLOW OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS

Abstract
The international flow of television programs has been a focus of many communication scholars since publication of the United Nations Declaration on Freedom of Information in 1946. An unbalanced flow of T.V. programs between nations has maintained this policy interest. Two competing intellectual paradigm emerged during the 1960s and 1970s to explain and evaluate this phenomenon: (1) the free flow of information, versus (2) American hegemony. However, each paradigm was concerned primarily with the outcomes of unbalanced flows, and so the process by which flows occurred remained unexplored. Here the authors identify cases where international television flows cannot be explained fully by either of the competing paradigms. A middle-range approach is presented with four structural conditions and two catalytic actions serving to determine flows.

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