Global Television Book

Is the international spread of American television programming swamping the national identities of many countries with "wall-to-wall Dallas"? Or is this merely an argument that serves the interests of European national elites, masking larger issues of television's perpetuation of existing class and power structures? Global Television investigates these and other widespread conflicts arising front the dramatic changes that have taken place in the structure and uses of television in the past decade. It examines in particular how television has become a device for the assertion of cultural and economic domination. The contributors take up the shift from film to television as the principal bearer of national ideology; the changing structure of national broadcasting in France, Israel, and the Soviet Union; the effects of the global distribution of advertising and stereotypic American programming; and the resistance to media domination by independent producers, video collectives, and various national networks. Included are essays by Thomas Elsaesser, Patricia Mellencamp, Armand Mattelart, Simon Watney, and David Goldberg, as well as interviews with Paul Virilio and Jay Chiat. Global Television is a Wedge special issue. Since its inception in 1982, Wedge has provided a critical forum for cultural and political debate. The general editors are Phil Mariani and Brian Wallis.Read More