Page 131 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

110 | Cultural Imper al sm and Hybr d ty

film and TV internationally has contributed to the charge that in their search
for worldwide markets and sympathetic populations, transnational corpora-
tions, most based in the United States, are practicing cultural imperialism.
Objections to cultural imperialism have been voiced in international debates
about the regulation of media imports in the interest of national development.
Such controversies pitted the U.S./U.K. conception of the “free flow of informa-
tion,” which promoted unregulated markets in news and entertainment, against
many other countries’ insistence on the need for balance in media exchanges,
particularly of news. This position was expressed in the UNESCO-based call
for a New World Information and Communication Order. Addressing concerns
related to cultural imperialism, the 1980 report of the UNESCO International
Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, known as the Mac-
Bride Commission, reiterated the claim that Western countries’ domination
of international media and culture were endangering national identities of less
powerful countries.

CounTEr-argumEnTs
While the concept of cultural imperialism challenges existing global inequi-
ties, it has many critics. One major critique of the cultural imperialism thesis
is that it disregards the role of audiences in interpreting media. The claim that
audiences are affected in specific, predictable ways by media content has been
widely challenged. In the context of cultural influence, some studies have shown
that people interpret the messages of television programs and other media fare
in ways that are consistent with their own cultural backgrounds. Therefore, any
television program can have multiple interpretations. This dilutes the claim that
imported audiovisual material consistently shapes audience members’ attitudes
and behaviors in ways favorable to Western values. The cultural imperialism
claim that exposure to imported images and ideas weakens cultural identities
has also been challenged along the lines that audience interpretations vary. Some
studies have shown that imported media can have a strengthening effect on peo-
ple’s identities because audience members may react to the unfamiliar images
and practices depicted in imported TV and films by becoming more aware of
their own traditions and symbols, and more loyal to their cultures.
Another major critique of the claim that imported media products weaken
receiving cultures is that this claim overlooks the complexity of cultural interac-
tions. Cultural exchange is a multifaceted process. As a way of conceptualizing
and analyzing the intricacies of cultural interactions, the concept of cultural hy-
bridity has gained attention. This concept recognizes that cultures draw from
one another and blend in unplanned ways to produce new cultural manifesta-
tions. This process is multidirectional—it does not occur solely as a one-way
imposition of elements of dominant cultures on less powerful cultures. For ex-
ample, the quintessentially U.S. musical style of rock ’n’ roll—which is exported
and emulated around the world and which has itself engendered accusations
of cultural imperialism—would not exist without the abundant contribution