From Propaganda to Cultural Awareness: My Intro. to International Communications

            As an emerging scholar diving into the field of International Communications, I wasn’t sure where I could start in developing my own views of such a dynamic field.

However, reading Dr. Gary R. Weaver’s The Evolution of International Communication as a Field of Study transformed my apprehensiveness into realization. What resonated with me most was his stating, “While some of us are international relations scholars, others are political scientists, socio-linguists, or communications experts”. This field relates to everyone.

He goes on to explain how the field evolved for him.  Dr. Weaver realized in the 1960s that International Relations was too expansive to explain the many changes going on at the time. At the root of the Korean and Vietnam wars was culture, a subject people didn’t fully take account of in the field. World War I and II could be explained by International Relations theories on European states being in conflict, but these theories alone couldn’t explain every aspect of the era.

Thussu is another International Communications scholar. He explains the prevalence of propaganda in part of The Historical Context of International Communication. Thussu’s point emerges from his explanation on how propaganda at this time, during the Cold War, was extensively broadcast via the radio. Aiming at the Third World, the Soviet Union strove for communism promotion and the West wanted raw materials and emerging product markets. By the end of it, the rapidly developing part of the Third World spoke up and “demanded the international communication issues be seen in terms of North-South rather than East-West categories”. They wanted to be split based on similar development levels, not advancement of Western and Soviet interests.

It’s interesting to look back on these forms of propaganda and compare them to what goes on today. Propaganda is still used in the U.S. that does not recognize culture as Dr. Weaver realized in the ‘60s. The public constantly watches NBC, Fox News, and reality TV shows significantly more than BBC or NPR. It can be argued that BBC and NPR are not culturally sensitive either, or that NBC and Fox can be at most times, but in the end the media is being used to advance some U.S. interest; culturally sensitive media is not a priority.

Nevertheless, with the onset of globalization especially taking effect now, propaganda is slowly dying as the primary form of media in the world today. The Internet has an especially large role in shaping this point. With Twitter and Reddit, blogs and instant contacts overseas, people are becoming more in-tune with the world around them. Weaver closes his article with the point that international education, sending Americans overseas, is the easiest step the nation can take now. “If people are well educated… they will demand that the news media cover more factual information about the rest of the world”.

            I came to realize at the end of the article that it isn’t just scholars who utilize International Communications daily, but anyone who surfs the web, overhears a conversation, tries a new type of food, or even just flips on the television in the morning is exposed to it. I agree with Dr. Weaver that everyone should realize how important communicating effectively in this globalized world has come to be – and the first step is through education.