Future directions of international communication research?
long before the arrival in office of George W. Bush and the neo-conservatives, Washington was a company town, and a small one at that ... The company is government, and the product is money and power, the two intimately related and in the Bush administration all but indistinguishable. The town's sources of information have steadily diminished over the years. Serious newspapers have disappeared, broadcast news became entertainment ... Virtually no attention is paid to information generated from non-US sources, which are considered irrelevant or hostile. The result, so far as international affairs are concerned, is that nobody knows much of anything about what really is going on. Those who do, who have worked in the field ... professional diplomats and intelligence people, experienced journalists, have increasingly been cut out of the policy making chain ... Washington people think they are informed, but they actually deal in a limited number of ideologically constructed stories about the world that rely heavily on stereotype and prejudice ... Iran's phantom weapons of mass destruction and the fantasy of quasi-spontaneous democratisation of Iraq are the two most recent examples. (10 October 2003, p.12)
The Role of the Media in Democratization
The Role of Media in Democratization by Patrick J. McConnell and Lee B. Becker A diverse and growing body of research and writing on the role of media in democratic development exists in the literatures of political science, mass communication, economics and sociology, as well as other fields. Unfortunately, little has been done to integrate this work. As a result, there is at present no consensus on the role the media play in the democratic process. This paper provides an integration of that literature. This review indicates that the process of democratization does not always move in a single direction. Countries move toward democracy in starts and stops, with regression at least somewhat common. The literature indicates that there are four distinct phases that a country or territory goes through on the path to becoming a stable democracy. These four stages of societal development can be labeled pretransition, transition, consolidation and stable (or mature). The pretransition stage focuses on societal conditions under the old regime, while the transition stage is that historical moment when the previous regime no longer holds political power. A state becomes consolidated when the ideals of democracy are accepted and adhered to, and then is considered stable when democracy functions over a period of time. This approach suggests that media tend to be most supportive of democracy in the early, often euphoric, period after the previous regime has fallen, when journalists as well as other citizens are enjoying newfound freedoms. As the transition process moves toward consolidation, the media as well as the public can become more cynical, particularly in the face of continued political wrangling and the financial pressures of a market economy. The media in a stable democracy are considered the principal institutions from which members of the public can better understand their society. Ideally, the media contribute to the public sphere by providing citizens with information about their world, by fostering debate about various issues and by encouraging informed decisions about available courses of action. The media are also a site of contestation in which diverse positions are advanced, significant opinions are heard, interests and inner-workings are exposed, and input is received. These all contribute to public debate. The media are also expected to act as “watchdogs” on government and industry. This paper summarizes and integrates the existing literature. It identifies consistencies and inconsistencies in the literatures and offers possible explanations of those inconsistencies. The outcome is a theoretical perspective from which hypotheses can be derived. These hypotheses can be used to reexamine historical cases as well as make predictions about the future.
Developers of the hepatitis B vaccine.
air at VA facilities, one of the many pieces of unfinished business beyond those major issues that we discussed in our Commentary. We agree that all facilities where current and past military personnel serve and receive treatment should be 100% smoke-free and note the recent Institute of Medicine report Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations. The report, which was commissioned by the Department of Defense (DOD) in 2007, calls for the DOD to set a timeline to eliminate smoking on military installations. The report also recommends that the DOD stop selling tobacco products in military commissaries and exchanges, prohibit tobacco use anywhere on military installations, and treat tobacco use in the same way as other health-related behaviors, such as alcohol abuse and poor physical fitness. We join Matthews and the Institute of Medicine in urging the VA and the DOD to take more immediate steps to protect the health of the men and women who serve in the armed services, as well as the civilians (such as Dr Matthews) working to serve them.