Abstract
Cosmopolitan Communications: Cultural Diversity in a Globalized World. By Pippa Norris, Ronald Inglehart. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 429 pp., $25.99 paperback (ISBN 978-0-521-73838-5). The Anthropology of News and Journalism: Global Perspectives. Edited by S. Elizabeth Bird. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2010. 328 pp., $24.95 paperback (ISBN 978-0-253-22126-1). The two books under review here sit at opposing ends of a continuum of possible approaches in the study of mediated communication around the globe. Cosmopolitan Communications by Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart offers a broad comparative study of the effects that exposure to news media flows has on the values of individuals. The book features clear causal assumptions and standardized survey data (from the World Values Survey) collected in an identical fashion in several dozens countries (56 in the last wave). The Anthropology of News and Journalism edited by S. Elizabeth Bird, on the other hand, presents a collection of ethnographic studies of news production and reception in 11 countries around the globe, along with a number of meta-theoretical chapters reflecting on the current state of ethnographic study of news and journalism. The studies are based on participant observation, unstructured interviews, textual and visual interpretation, among other methods, and are sometimes written in a personalized, narrative style. The differences in approach become most apparent when we compare how the two books construct the central objects of study: media (or news) production and media use. To start with the latter, in Cosmopolitan Communications media use means “the regular use of daily newspapers, radio or TV news, magazines, books, and the Internet or email 'to learn what is going on in your country and the world'” (p. 57). The answers to the respective survey questions are treated dichotomously: You either use those media regularly or you do not. In The Anthropology of News and Journalism, media use can mean many things, among them, for example, the “taking” of a newspaper by urban newspaper sellers in New Delhi, that is, the privileging of one newspaper over others for purposes of long-standing appreciation and identification by the entire family (as detailed in the …
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
