Press Freedom and Globalisation - International Press Institute

Chapter 2: Globalisation of the Mass Media
Press Freedom and Globalisation
Globalised mass media supports other globalisation processes and are vehicles for the
economic globalisation process. This chapter has three parts. First, the history of modern
economic globalisation and its triggering forces. Second, is the mass media’s role in this
process and media’s role in global spread of democracy as the standard of good
governance. Third, is press freedom as a universal concept with attention to global press
freedom regimes and critical debates.
The Economic Globalisation
Although there are numerous definitions of ‘globalisation’, the one employed by the
editors of The Globalization of World Politics, John Baylis and Steve Smith, is
appropriate. They define globalisation as: “the process of increasing interconnectedness
between societies such that events in one part of the world more and more have effects on
peoples and societies far away.” 1
Milestones in the History of Globalisation
The modern economic globalisation process can be divided into four phases. 2 First is the
five decades before First World War dominated by the British and the French empires.
These empires thought that an open international trade would benefit them because they
had modern technology, steamships, railways, falling transport costs, and access to
productive land which contributed to growth in global trade. They led colonisation in
Africa that was part of globalisation. Some countries without colonies in Africa which
benefitted most from the open global trade included the United States, Argentina,
1
Baylis, John and Smith, Steve (eds.), The Globalization of World Politics : An introduction to international
relations, second ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 7.
2
World Bank, Globalization, Growth, and Poverty : Building an Inclusive World Economy (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2002), pp. 23-24.
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