Theoretical questions in comparing media systems
30/11/2017 (Thursday) 13:00-14:00 E21-2001
Scholarly discussion of comparative media systems has been dominated by the work of Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini for more than a decade now. Their ideas have been used in a very wide variety of circumstances, but at the same time some critics have argued that they cannot be applied to some countries, notably mainland China. This paper mounts a critical review the main characteristics of Hallin and Mancini’s work and argues that there are a number of ways in which it is not really adequate as a guide to contemporary comparative analysis. The paper sketches the broad outline of a possible alternative approach which might prove more robust when considering non-Western societies.