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Untitled - socium.ge

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416 Anshu Chatterjeedecisions. The fourth and fifth elements follow from this as the decisionmakingforum and the type of decision taken also impress upon the organizationalstructure.In tracking these elements in the Indian context, transnational mediamana<strong>ge</strong>ment appears to internally decentralize by shifting domestic controlover productions to high-level mana<strong>ge</strong>ment from the region. Star TV andMTV’s mana<strong>ge</strong>ment at the Indian headquarters come from a domestic mediabackground and continue to operate with some of the objectives defined intheir previous positions. The regional mana<strong>ge</strong>ment furnishes these corporationswith their expertise and their professional and political networks atdomestic levels. Meanwhile, other corporations, such as Sony, form allianceswith Indian partners who participate in their daily operations. This ownershipactuality exerts influence upon production by guiding the ima<strong>ge</strong>s andmessa<strong>ge</strong>s promoted in the content. Because of such actors, regional branchesoften differ in organizational and operational manner from their foundingheadquarters.THE QUESTION OF DOMINANCE IN THECOMMUNICATION SECTORThe restructuring of television in India sug<strong>ge</strong>sts a new direction for researchon the consequences of liberalized media space. Without doubt, dominationby the transnationals of the developed world remains a critical element of thenew communication debate. Imperial theories that appeared in the 1960s and1970s expressed their concerns regarding the exportation of media intosecondary markets that had yet to sufficiently develop their televisionsystems. They warned of the threat of cultural he<strong>ge</strong>mony and new valuesystems by the flow of Western models into non-Western systems (seeSchiller, 1979; Sussman and Lent, 1991). These frameworks placed the worldsystem in the context of a dependency relationship between developed andless-developed nations with the latter relying on the former for economicsustenance (see Evans, 1979). However, the gradual importation of mediaproducts into developing countries was mitigated by the state’s control overtelevision, limiting the contradictions surrounding the creation of independentsystems that relied on the West. The opening up of several developin<strong>ge</strong>conomies to foreign media enterprises appears to make these propositionsincreasingly relevant.Yet, the unexpected emer<strong>ge</strong>nce of community media indicates some interestingpossibilities. The new liberalized environment unexpectedly introducesnew sources for expression for the community elite in a multiculturalenvironment at the national and global level. The majority of the local televi-

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