Page 201 - Culture Society and the Media

CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE MEDIA 191
western soap opera is extracted the predictable list of negatively-evaluated
concepts—greed, sexism, individualism, etc.—a game that can almost always be
played two ways to yield an alternative list of virtues in which, for example, the
‘violence’ of ‘Starsky and Hutch’ becomes a mere backdrop to the celebration of
comradeship and teamwork. Sophisticated semiological research is
comparatively rare in Third-World contexts and even the value of Dorfman and
Mattelart’s (1975) vaunted analysis of Donald Duck must be assessed in relation
to the highly purposeful propagandistic activity of Chilean media during the
period of research. The orthodox view of audiences in the West is now one that
stresses the social context in which communications are received, and which
stresses the individual’s capacity for active selection and selective retention. This
view does not yet seem to have carried over sufficiently to ThirdWorld contexts
in relation to general programming (cf. the review of Latin American research by
Beltrans, 1978). Individual capacity for psychological compartmentalization and
rationalization is underestimated to an extraordinary degree. Much more
attention needs to be given to the processes by which individuals and groups
interpret, translate and transform their experiences of foreign culture to relate to
more familiar experiences. Perhaps the most useful working conclusion that can
be drawn from this brief survey of inter-cultural media communications and the
dependency process is that there is a great need for an emphasis on micro-
analysis of media impacts at small group and individual levels to engage with
and to illuminate the present emphasis on macro-analysis of media and
multinational structures.

REFERENCES

Barghouti, S.M. (1974) ‘The role of communication in Jordan’s rural development’,
Journalism Quarterly, Autumn.
Beltrans, L.R. (1978) ‘TV etchings in the minds of Latin Americans: conservatism,
materialism and conformism, Gazette, XXIV (1).
Boyd-Barrett, O. (1980) The International News Agencies, London, Constable.
Carnoy, M. (1974) Education as Cultural Imperialism, New York, McKay.
Carnoy, M. (1975) ‘The economic costs and returns to educational television’, Economic
Development and Cultural Change, 23 (2).
Centre for Educational Development Overseas (1972/3) Survey of Educational
Broadcasting in Commonwealth Countries, London.
Cole, R. (1975) ‘The Mexican press system: aspects of growth, control and ownership’,
Gazette, (2).
Dorfman, A. and Mattelart, A. (1975) How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in
the Disney Comic, New York, International General.
Fett, John H. (1975) ‘Situational factors and peasants’ search for market information’,
Journalism Quarterly, Autumn.
Hachten, W.A. (1975) ‘Ghana’s press under the NRC’, Journalism Quarterly, Autumn.
Hamelink, C.J. (1979) ‘Informatics: Third World call for new order, Journal of
Communication, Summer, 29 (3).