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. This assertion assumes the automatic dominance of the imported productions and with personal tastes, and most of them tend to prefer domestically produced television over imported television.
The role of television in developing nations is far removed from what the specialists assert. An anthropological study of one community that deals in part with residents’ viewing habits where imported programs are available cites the popularity of domestically produced serial dramas and points out that, because viewers enjoy following the dramas often use at public gatherings as a daily journal of events of interest.
An empirical approach not unlike that of anthropologists is needed if communications specialists are to understand the impact of external cultural influences on the lives of people in a society. The first question they must investigate is: Given the evidence suggesting that the primary relationship of imported cultural productions to domestic ones the use of themes, situations, or character types that are relevant and interesting to both cultures.
Communications researchers will also need to consider how to assess the position of the individual viewer in their model of cultural relationships. This model must emphasize the diversity of human responses, and will require engaging with the actual experiences of viewers, taking into account the variable contexts manner in which individuals ascribe meanings to those productions.
What this question is testing
Topic
The author is pushing back against a popular claim — that when developing countries import TV from rich countries, it's a form of cultural imperialism — and arguing communications specialists should be doing real research instead.
Framework
Problem-Solution.
Main Point
The simpler version: communications specialists keep saying that imported TV in developing countries crushes local culture. But they're not actually basing that on data — when you look, viewers usually prefer their own country's shows, and imported shows don't kill local industries. The author thinks the field needs to start doing empirical, anthropology-style research that engages with how real viewers actually experience these shows.
P1: The unsupported assertion
Specialists call imported TV cultural imperialism. The author says: that's polemical and not based on research. The data we have actually contradict it.
P2: A counterexample worth taking seriously
An anthropological study of one community found viewers loved their domestic serial dramas — and the shows worked like a daily journal, similar to oral poetry traditions.
P3: What real research would look like
Communications specialists should do empirical work, like anthropologists do. The first question to investigate: if imported shows don't dominate, what's actually going on? Maybe the local culture absorbs the imports and gets richer; maybe imports only fuse with local culture where the two already share something.
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