Lexington Books Beyond Monopoly: Globalization and Contemporary Italian Media (Critical Media Studies)

Current trends of globalization have influenced the social, economic, and political framework of national media worldwide. In recent years, the field of media studies has focused on globalization as a phenomenon that has greatly impacted the production and reception of media formats. By reshaping local economies, diversifying societies, and introducing digital technologies, the globalization of media has enacted a process of re-definition of national and local broadcasting. Beyond Monopoly: Globalization and Contemporary Italian Media examines the impact of globalization on contemporary Italian media. By engaging both the production and reception levels of different media, this volume assesses the extent to which Italian media have been part of current trends of media flows and have responded to the centrifugal and centripetal forces of globalization. The contributors to this edited volume touch upon a wide diversity of issues, such as foreign ownership on Satellite TV, the effects of digital technology on media policy making, and the framing of "Otherness" in the news. Beyond Monopoly provides a unique case study of the complexity of national media in the era of globalization that will appeal to students as well as scholars of global and national media systems. Review This smart and accessible volume guides the reader across the diverse and fascinating terrain of Italian media, showing why the common fixation on the media empire of Silvio Berlusconi obscures the complicated cultural reality of Italy today. Michela Ardizzoni and Chiara Ferrari have selected an impressive collection of critical essays on topics ranging from local guerrilla television to digital media to transnational satellite TV. Taken together these studies profoundly expand and enrich our understanding of such important concerns as globalization, corporatization, and transculturation.--Michael Curtin, Mellichamp Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara; author of Playing to the World's Biggest Audience The essays in this innovative and timely book offer a fascinating insight into lesser-known aspects of the Italian media system in the era of Berlusconi. Beyond Monopoly will be of great value to anyone interested in understanding the way the Italian media have changed in the last twenty years. While Berlusconi looms large in the volume, the focus falls on unconventional and alternative media as well as the opportunities furnished through technological change, globalization, and national and local media markets.--Stephen Gundle, Warwick University About the Author Michela Ardizzoni is assistant professor in the department of French and Italian and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is author of North/South, East/West: Mapping Italianness on Television. Chiara Ferrari is assistant professor of mass communication in the department of communication design at California State University, Chico.