Page 160 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

150 Communication, Commerce and Power

As a result of the apparent need to do battle with the anti-free flow
and anti-liberalization assumptions of overseas officials, the mid-
1980s constituted the beginning of the kind of widespread awareness
of cultural power among American officials that Schiller and· others
assumed had already been well established. Recognizing that transna-
tional information activities constitute 'key policy instrument[s]' in
larger efforts to shape overseas perspectives and outlooks, a National
Security Council Decision Directive (NSCDD-130) of March 1984
acknowledged the need both to reform US foreign communication
policy structures and to give USIA and CIA broadcasting exports 'the
highest priority.' According to NSCDD-130, the use of DBS should
be pursued by the USIA in response to assumed Soviet preparations
to utilize them. 68 In response to Japanese and West European public
and private sector plans to pursue DBS and other communication and
information applications, US corporations with mass-media interests
began to participate directly in preliminary GAIT-based services,
trade and intellectual property negotiations. 69
Officials involved in US foreign communication policy today generally
recognize the cultural-power implications of information-based commod-
ity exports. According to the Department of Commerce, 'it appears
that the global dissemination of electronic media and technology is
playing an increasingly significant role in promoting US foreign policy
by fostering demand for democratic reforms internationally.' 70 The
reception of West European television and radio signals in Eastern
Europe, the distribution of mostly pirated US-productions on video-
tape, and the "tong-standing propaganda activities of the VoA, RL and
RFE are now commonly cited as important components facilitating
the end of the Cold War. 71 DBS and other forces facilitating the
expansion of information-based commodity activities almost regard-
less of domestic regulations will, it is believed, continue to promote
democracy and consumerism overseas. 72 Moreover, the recent regen-
eration, at least in Washington, of terms like 'radical perestroika,'
reflects the emerging common-sense belief among policy makers that
the international distribution of corporate-produced information
serves to undermine popular support in foreign countries for appar-
ently anti-corporate (and, to some extent, anti-American) policies. 73
In the words of USTR official Emory Simon, 'we have gotten a lot
further away from counting beans and pairs of shoes ... [to focusing
on instead] the overall environment that creates our competitiveness.' 74
The failure of free flow policy and the related importance and
success of the free-trade strategy has involved an overall rise in the