The Jeremiad Over Journalism

cultural imperialism where individuals on the receiving end of Americanization had little
opportunity to resist these influences. An overview and brief analysis of two American and one
Danish example are provided in the pages below.
Schiller, 1976
Media scholar and journalist Herbert Schiller‘s thematically organized book ―Communication and
Cultural Domination,‖ serves as an early example of the ―cultural imperialism‖ paradigm within
Americanization studies. In the book, Schiller demonstrates how closely the United States‘ policy
towards worldwide communication after World War II was tied to the country‘s economic, strategic
and technological interests. 35 Through the prism of class-struggle between workers and capitalists
worldwide, Schiller traces United States policy from World War II to the 1970s and shows that
American leaders overtly have tried to mold the global communication structure to their own
advantage. Utilizing terminology which includes ―cultural take-over,‖ ―cultural imperialism,‖ ―U.S.
global hegemony,‖ and ―imperial ascendancy,‖ 36 Schiller argues that,
―Assisted by the sophisticated communications technology developed in the militarily
oriented space program, techniques of persuasion, manipulation, and cultural penetration are
becoming steadily more important, and more deliberate, in their exercise of American power.
In addition, the accumulation of fifty years of domestic marketing expertise is now let loose in
the world at large (…) Made-in-America messages, imagery, life-styles, and information
techniques are being internationally circulated and, equally important, globally imitated.‖ 37
According to Schiller, cultural imperialism, as propagated by the United States, dominates other
nations who are ―attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions
35 Herbert I. Schiller, Communication and Cultural Domination (New York: International Arts and Sciences Press,
1976). Page 53-54. Writing on the development of satellites for communication purposes, Schiller notes, ―[i]n this effort
monopolistic business worked closely with the U.S. Armed Forces, whose interest in instantaneous global
communications was extraordinarily high.‖
36 Ibid. 5-24.
37 Ibid. Page 3.
14