A microeconomic approach to international broadcasting

Abstract

In this article, we borrow from microeconomic theory of market interventions to conceptualize international broadcasting as a form of information intervention. Using Price's market for loyalties model, we explore the US's Middle East Broadcasting Network and Qatar's Al-Jazeera Network, identifying how both governments are using new and traditional information technologies to compete for influence, and highlighting both effective and ineffective strategies.

Keywords:

• markets
• international broadcasting
• Al-Jazeera
• BBG
• international communication
• geopolitics

Notes

[1] See: http://www.aljazeera.com/demandaljazeera

[2] White House OGC memo, 2003. http://www.whitehouse.gov/ogc/

[3] http://www.bbgstrategy.com/2012/02/bbg-strategic-plan-2012-2016-full-text/

[4] http://www.bbg.gov/wp-content/media/2012/02/FY-2013-BBG-Congressional-Budget-Request-FINAL-2-9-12-Small.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shawn Powers

Shawn Powers (Ph.D, University of Southern California) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. His research specializes in international political communication with particular attention to the geopolitics of information and technology policy. Powers is a faculty affiliate of GSU's Transcultural Violence and Conflict initiative and co-leads its British Council and U.S. Institute of Peace funded project on Civic Approaches to Religious Conflict. Powers is also an associate director at the Center for International Media Education where he co-directs an Open Society Foundations sponsored project on Critical Thinking in Iraqi High Education. In 2010, Powers helped launch GSU's Global Business & Media program in Istanbul, Turkey and continues to oversee the initiative as co-director.

Tal Samuel-Azran

Tal Samuel-Azran is an Associate Professor at the Sammy Ofer School of Communications at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. His main fields of research are political communication, new media and media globalization. His book Al-Jazeera and US War Coverage was published in 2010 (Peter Lang Press). In 2008, he has co-edited the book New Media and Innovative Technologies (Ben-Gurion University Press) with Professor Dan Caspi.