Chapter Overview

Almost since radio's inception, signals have been broadcast internationally in order to circumvent government control. Today, so much entertainment is popular internationally that many countries have laws limiting the amount of airtime devoted to foreign content.

The effects of a country's political system on its mass communications can be broken into five concepts: Western, Development, Revolutionary, Authoritarianism, and Communism. Regardless of the concept, most radio and television programming follows the model of the United States, though other countries might use the media to enforce different social messages.

The advent of satellites and the Internet has thwarted the attempts of governments to control the media. UNESCO has called for the establishment of international rules that allow governments to monitor media content, but Western nations reject this limitation on the freedom of the press. The global village is bringing world communities closer together, but often at the expense of native cultures.