Abstracts of Research


Index

Authors Name Title
Shuying Xie People Republic of China's International Broadcasting: History, Structure, Policy and Politics (December, 1992)
Kohava Simhi The Historical Development of Kol Israel as an International Broadcaster (August, 1993)
Lubaina S. Tyebji From Development to Commercialism: Changing Goals of State-Owned Television In India (May, 1994)
Helen L. Ditgef The BBC External Services: National Priorities and the Development of Language Services 1932-1946 (December, 1994)
Livia Bornigia From Ente Italiana Audizioni Radiofoniche to Radio Audizioni Italia: The Political and Legal Foundations of Italian Broadcasting, 1910-1952 (August, 1995)
Pai-ting Lin The Historical Development of the Republic of China's Domestic and International Broadcasting and Its Political Role (September, 1996)
Sacharania Soeharto American Syndication Programs And Movies On Prime Time Indonesian Television: A Case Study Of Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (August, 1998)

Abstracts


Shuying Xie

People Republic of China's International Broadcasting: History, Structure, Policy and Politics (December, 1992)
The People's Republic of China (PRC) over the years since its birth in 1949, has invested heavily in external radio broadcasting and today (1992) ranks third in the number of broadcasting hours and in worldwide coverage with 38 foreign languages, four dialects and its official language (Mandarin). Western scholarship has little to say about the People's Republic of China broadcasting and this study provides a contribution towards filling this major gap in scholarship. The thesis examines Chinese radio broadcasting, especially its external services -- its history, structure, function, policies and politics -- and its response to social change, political struggles and external pressures. The broadcasting system of the Republic of China (ROC), located on Tawain, lies outside the scope of this study.

The most recent data available in China was utilized in the preparation of the thesis. Data came from primary sources, such as Radio Beijing's published and unpublished documents, statistical information from government and Radio Beijing station, and personal interviews. The thesis also draws on published sources in Mandarin dealing with the history and development of Chinese radio broadcasting as well as selective monitoring and analysis of external news broadcasts in English and Mandarin.

114 p.p. 

Kohava Simhi

The Historical Development of Kol Israel as an International Broadcaster (August, 1993)
Broadcasting in Israel dates back to British rule in Palestine and the creation of the Palestine Broadcasting Service, unofficially known to Jewish settlers as Kol Jerusalem (the Voice of Jerusalem). Operating on a small scale, the PBS's radio programs were beamed in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. Broadcast services expanded during World War II, and continued to grow after the war. On May 15, 1948, Kol Israel (The Voice of Israel) was born simultaneously with the birth of the State of Israel. In Kol Israel's first broadcast, emanating live from Tel Aviv Museum, Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the Jewish State. From its inception, the Kol Israel remained under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office until l965 when the Israel Broadcast Authority (I BA) was formed. On March 8th of that year, the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, passed the "Broadcasting Authority Law," on the basis of which the IBA operates. Kol Israel also broadcasts to Jews outside Israel. Israel Radio International, originally called Kol Zion Lagolah (The Voice of Zion to the Diaspora), was officially inaugurated in March 1950. At first it was under the auspices of the Jewish Agency, an independent Jewish organization, beaming programs overseas in English, French, Yiddish, and Hebrew. In 1960 it became part of Kol Israel, at that time within the Prime Minister's Office. In 1965, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority was established as an independent corporation, responsible for all radio broadcasts, including the broadcasts to the Diaspora. Kol Israel's shortwave service broadcasts in 18 languages all around the world. These daily broadcasts include news, information, music, feature programs, and special programs for Jewish audience. Domestically, Kol Israel operates twenty-four hours a day on six channels, and includes a wide range of programs on AM and FM radio.

157 p.p.

Lubaina S. Tyebji

From Development to Commercialism: Changing Goals of State-Owned Television In India (May, 1994)
This study questions the central premises of the cultural imperialism thesis, which emphasize the negative role of external political and economic forces and foreign media on media systems and audiences in the Third World. Protective broadcast policies in the Third World, which were formulated on the basis of this understanding, have failed to serve indigenous needs. 

The problem was studied by undertaking a historical/descriptive study of the changing goals of state-owned Indian television from development to commercialism. Parameters for study were drawn from the dependent development and non-Marxist approaches for studying the growth of broadcast systems in developing countries. 

The study found the critical premise of cultural imperialism theorists that media were a means to integrate nations into the world economy by becoming an important channel for promoting consumer goods to a middle class, holds true. It also found that economic dependency does in fact lead to creation of conditions within nations that are conducive to the development of commercial broadcasting systems. But commercialization was also the result of internal conditions, six of which are examined in the study. They were: (i) The creation of a centralized powerful state at independence to promote elitist notions of modernization and national integration. (ii) The creation of a bureaucratic-authoritarian broadcast structure in colonial India and the retention of its administrative and technical structure by the powerful state led by the Congress party at independence (ii) The expansion of the broadcast system to a primarily urban middle class audience to serve political goals and the inability of the bureaucratic infrastructure to meet important audience programming demands. (iii) The rise of the middle class as an important audience of television as well as an significant consumer of products and services and therefore prime targets of advertisers. (iv) The rise of a private national and multinational consumer industry, partly due to India's economic dependency to finance commercialization of television. (v) Existence of a commercial film industry that shaped audience expectations of television as well as provided commercial programming (vi) International satellite television penetration, which by virtue of diverting advertising revenue as well as a prime audience towards itself, accelerated the process of commercialization of national broadcast Systems. 

The study recognizes the need for an integrated approach to the study of broadcast systems in the third world that takes into consideration the position of a nation within world system, and also examines national political, economic, social and economic contexts as well as the history of the media itself.

158 p.p. 

Helen L. Ditgef

The BBC External Services: National Priorities and the Development of Language Services 1932-1946 (December, 1994)
During World War II, the BBC's overseas services gained the enviable reputation of providing a high quality broadcasting service to audiences worldwide. Interestingly, it was earned during a period in which the BBC, external broadcasting was used as as an extension of Britain's overseas information and propaganda services. The genius of the BBC during World War II lay in the ability of balancing truthful news reporting while serving the interests of the nation. While scholars have written extensively on the development of the BBC, none have adequately defined the relationship between the Foreign office, the Treasury, and the BBC's overseas services. This thesis makes a contribution towards analyzing the inauguration and developments of the British language services in light of changing international events and issues of control.

266 p.p. 

Livia Bornigia

From Ente Italiana Audizioni Radiofoniche to Radio Audizioni Italia: The Political and Legal Foundations of Italian Broadcasting, 1910-1952 (August, 1995)
State ownership of the media was characteristic throughout Europe. However ltaly's situation may be unique because it is characterized by a minimum amount of change in the political structure of the nation between the Monarchy, the Fascist state and the post-Fascist democratic political system, which is strongly reflected in radio and television. Therefore one cannot discuss the development of the state owned broadcasting agency Radio Audizioni Italia ( RAI ) in Italy as separate from the political history of the nation. This thesis systematically documents how the development of RAI was repeatedly hindered by government control in the years l910-1952.

191 p.p.

Pai-ting Lin

The Historical Development of the Republic of China's Domestic and International Broadcasting and Its Political Role (September, 1996)
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has functioned as an independent country since the former Nationalist Chinese government fled to the island in 1949. With the unique quality of transmission, international short-wave broadcasting has served as an important tool for the ROC's political propaganda and an instrument of its foreign policy. This thesis presents the historical development of the ROC's radio broadcasting, in particular its international broadcasting in terms of its structure, policy, programming and function. The study also examines current trends in its relationship to the ROC's political liberalization and the ROC's primary foreign policy. In addition, a case study provides considerable details of the ROC's current international news broadcasts. The study presents the size and characteristics of the audience for the ROC's short-wave broadcasts by the Voice of Free China (VOFC) and the Voice of Asia (VA). Historical methodology is used in this study. Although qualitative methods predominate, statistical material is introduced into the study where appropriate.

134 p.p.

Sacharania Soeharto

American Syndication Programs And Movies On Prime Time Indonesian Television: A Case Study Of Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia
The thesis presents a case study of the domination of American programs and movies in Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI), the first Indonesian commercial television. There has been a rapid development in Indonesian television since the government eased its regulation on the industry. Beside lifting the banned of television advertising, government gave licenses to four other private channels which, include RCTI, are owned by Soeharto’s children and associates. Like many broadcasters around the world when first going on air, RCTI also relied heavily on American programs. The finding of the thesis reveals that American programs and movies dominate Indonesian television by occupying 78% of the 43-46% foreign programming schedule during primetime, despite government regulation that restricts foreign programs to only 20%. The thesis also examines the historical development of Indonesian broadcasting, determines a model for Indonesian broadcasting, and analyzes the Indonesian audiences by using the literature review of cultivation analysis to speculate the cultivation effect.