Page 31 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

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Comparing Political Communication

Metathemes of Comparative Political Communication
Research: Americanization, Globalization,
and Modernization
The idea of a convergence of media systems and of a homogeniza-
tion of media contents has established itself at a relatively early stage as
aprocess of “Americanization” in the literature. As Daniel Hallin and
Paolo Mancini (Chapter 2, this volume) write, “in terms of the kinds of
media structures and practices that are emerging and the direction of
change in the relation of media to other social institutions, it is reason-
able to say that homogenization is to a significant degree a convergence
of world media toward forms that first evolved in the United States.”
Americanization accordingly comprises a targeted, uni-linear diffusion
of political communication practices from the United States to other
countries. Central parameters of behavioral logic converge with those
of the corresponding actors in the United States, irrespective of institu-
tional restrictions. The source of innovation is without doubt the United
States, the adoption pattern is an imitation of communication practices
that are prevalent there. This view, however, remains for the most part
superficial, as it refers only to symptoms and practical patterns of polit-
ical communication, whereas the institutions of the political system or
the organizations and roles of media and political actors are neglected.
Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini therefore suggest that the changes
in political communication are assigned to the broader and more com-
plex concept of “globalization.” This perception implies a reciprocal,
free, even conflicting exchange of values, norms, and practices between
cultures. The far-reaching integration of modern means of communi-
cation facilitates that actors in one country orient themselves to the
practices of other countries – including those of the United States –
and adopt their strategies. In so doing, however, there is no hierarchical
subordinance/superiority, as implied by the term Americanization.The
perspective of globalization points to mutual interaction or transaction
processes of communication stemming from various sources. Many of
the structures and behavior patterns that characterize an increasingly
homogenous global communication system were in fact first of all ob-
served in the United States. “Where European countries have borrowed
American innovations, they have done so for reasons rooted in their own
economic and political processes, often modifying them in significant
ways” (Chapter 2, this volume).
Adecisive shift in perspective regarding the changes in political com-
munication was to attribute these to endogenous causes in the respective

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