Specialists in international communications almost unanimously assert that the broadcasting in developing nations of television programs produced by industrialized countries amounts to cultural imperialism: the phenomenon of one culture’s productions overwhelming another’s, to the detriment of the flourishing of the latter.
Topic
The "cultural imperialism" claim about industrialized-country TV in developing nations — and what an empirical (anthropological) approach would look like instead.
Framework
Present Debate / Problem-Solution. The author criticizes communications specialists' polemical assertion of cultural imperialism and argues for an empirical approach borrowed from anthropology.
Main Point
Specialists in international communications wrongly claim that imported TV programs amount to cultural imperialism — the claim is polemical and unsupported by evidence. Communications researchers should adopt an empirical, anthropological approach to understand the real (and more nuanced) relationship between imported and domestic productions.
P1: The cultural-imperialism claim and its weakness
Specialists almost unanimously assert that imported TV in developing nations equals cultural imperialism. The claim assumes automatic dominance and negative effects on domestic culture. But it's polemical and lacks empirical foundation — sometimes contradicting fact. Imported programs rarely threaten the domestic industry's viability; viewers tend to prefer domestic over imported programming.
P2: An anthropological example
An anthropological study of one community where imported programs are available cites the popularity of domestically produced serial dramas. Television in the community can serve a function analogous to oral poetry — a daily journal of events of interest, followed day to day.
P3: The proposed approach — empirical models of relationships
Communications specialists need an empirical approach (like anthropologists'). The first question: given that the relationship isn't dominance, what model best represents it? Possibilities: domestic culture absorbs imported productions and becomes enriched; or imported productions fuse with domestic culture only where the two share aspects.