Kaarle Nordenstreng

In this book, Finnish scholar Kaarle Nordenstreng provides a unique account of the Prague-based International Organization of Journalists, a group that was at one time the world’s largest media association. The IOJ expanded from a postwar fraternity of professional journalists in twenty countries to a truly global organization that had its hand in running journalism schools, a publishing house, a conference service, and a number of commercial enterprises in Czechoslovakia. Though the Cold War kept most Western journalists’ unions isolated from the organization, the IOJ was a major player in Communist Eastern Europe--at its peak in the late 1980s, the IOJ counted 300,000 journalists as members. Nordenstreng--who served as president of the IOJ for fourteen years--illuminates this exciting and little-explored chapter in the history of postwar Europe, from the rise of the Iron Curtain through the post-Soviet 1990s. He enlivens his firsthand account with personal testimonies from former IOJ members and a wealth of previously unpublished internal documents.

This study presents a general history of how journalism as an emerging profession became internationally organized over the past one hundred and twenty years, seen mainly through the associations founded to promote the interests of journalists around the world.

In this book, five leading scholars of media and communication take on the difficult but important task of explicating the role of journalism in democratic societies. Using Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm's classic Four Theories of the Press as their point of departure, the authors explore the philosophical underpinnings and the political realities that inform a normative approach to questions about the relationship between journalism and democracy, investigating not just what journalism is but what it ought to be. The authors identify four distinct yet overlapping roles for the media: the monitorial role of a vigilant informer collecting and publishing information of potential interest to the public; the facilitative role that not only reports on but also seeks to support and strengthen civil society; the radical role that challenges authority and voices support for reform; and the collaborative role that creates partnerships between journalists and centers of power in society, notably the state, to advance mutually acceptable interests. Demonstrating the value of a reconsideration of media roles, Normative Theories of the Media provides a sturdy foundation for subsequent discussions of the changing media landscape and what it portends for democratic ideals.

In this book, five leading scholars of media and communication take on the difficult but important task of explicating the role of journalism in democratic societies. Using Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm's classic Four Theories of the Press as their point of departure, the authors explore the philosophical underpinnings and the political realities that inform a normative approach to questions about the relationship between journalism and democracy, investigating not just what journalism is but what it ought to be. The authors identify four distinct yet overlapping roles for the media: the monitorial role of a vigilant informer collecting and publishing information of potential interest to the public; the facilitative role that not only reports on but also seeks to support and strengthen civil society; the radical role that challenges authority and voices support for reform; and the collaborative role that creates partnerships between journalists and centers of power in society, notably the state, to advance mutually acceptable interests. Demonstrating the value of a reconsideration of media roles, Normative Theories of the Media provides a sturdy foundation for subsequent discussions of the changing media landscape and what it portends for democratic ideals.

Media and Globalization shows why the state matters to media and telecommunications industries in a globalizing world: governments control and regulate these industries in important ways and states remain central arenas for policymaking and international agreements. Using case studies drawn from around the world, this book sheds light on the extent of state power in the face of transnational pressures and explores policy, economics, and culture as they factor into media globalization.

This volume is a collection of contemporary commentaries on international communication issues, with the concept of national sovereignty as the departure point. Offering readers an introduction to current and emerging concerns, it provides the basic analytical tools needed to understand the issues involved. Problems are examined from the perspectives of journalism, social sciences, international politics, law, and emerging technology; topics include mass media communication across borders, communication satellites, and Third World nations and the need to establish a new world information order.

This volume is a collection of contemporary commentaries on international communication issues, with the concept of national sovereignty as the departure point. Offering readers an introduction to current and emerging concerns, it provides the basic analytical tools needed to understand the issues involved. Problems are examined from the perspectives of journalism, social sciences, international politics, law, and emerging technology; topics include mass media communication across borders, communication satellites, and Third World nations and the need to establish a new world information order.

This book exmines the 1978 Mass Media Declaration of UNESCO, not only for its historical and diplomatic implications, but for its importance to the basic professional training and lifelong education of journalists. It is the first comprehensive book to appear on this subject. Making a landmark contribution to a heretofore vague and poorly articulated field, this volume inaugurates this document as a part of journalism training and brings it to the permanent agenda of professional debate. The book also serves as invaluable background material for reading the official UNESCO documents.