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Electronic colonialism
Book reviews
1940 may have been convenient, but raises the question of whether there were no new ideas about the telephone’s impact after 1940, or whether the technological advances that have turned the telephone into a much more versatile communications tool for data communication, and teleconferencing, for example - are to await another study. Also, the reader is not made aware of more recent research that may have added considerably to our understanding of the social and economic effects of the telephone in both industrialized and developing societies. Much of this research has been conducted within the past decade. While it may have been outside the scope of the funded research, a book on the subject should
note the major advances in research and hypothesis-testing that have been made since 1940. The two-page conclusion is disappointing. It could have offered an opportunity to summarize the key results of the research, and to elaborate upon the thesis that both market and technical analysis are needed for successful technology assessment. The conclusion could also have indicated to the reader advances since 1940, both in uses and effects of the telephone, and in research to test some of the major hypothesis in the book. Heather E. Hudson Department of Radio-TV-Film University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX, USA
Gun boats in the digital age ELECTRONIC
COLONIALISM
by Thomas L. McPhail
Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA, 1982,260 pp, f9.35 Thomas McPhail has written a sort of treatise on political economy in the old classical sense. Unlike the past masters his focus is not the creation, use and distribution of wealth but these same concerns centred on information. Since wealth and information are highly correlated, Electronic Colonialism is a modem essay in the Smith, Ricardo, Marx lineage. A common thread holds together those who consider political economy besides their emphasis on the ‘big questions’. In these works there is always the gestalt - a sudden perception that the rabbit is in fact a duck. Smith viewing the division of labour in a pin factory saw the benefits of specialization whereas Marx could see the seeds of alienation. This aspect of the ‘big question’ works makes them intrinsically attractive as long as the prose style is good, which McPhail’s is, because there is always something to feel intense about - either way. Electronic Colonialbm is also classical in the sense that there is a strong mercantalist theme holding the analy-
74
sis on course. Here giant firms are viewed as the instruments of their national governments who use them to ensure the agrandisement of the national economy and its dominance over lesser countries. Colonies are not gained and maintained by gun boats but rather by a more effective control mechanism which melts the ‘hearts and minds’. This is the function of the electronic media. Essentially McPhail’s case has four interrelated themes. First, he is concerned with the content of the electronic message and next with the commercialization of culture. As long as these two developments remain tied to one country there is no particular problem, but once they spill over there are global and distributional aspects to the issues.
Colony and saviour When the message does not support national priorities or threatens the culture of the receiving countries (colonies in McPhail’s terms) they will take steps to impede the transmission. But this natural reaction merely perplexes the colonial power before annoying it. The latter sees itself as bringing benefits to the colonies and barriers to the free flow information are a major challenge to the founda-
tions of wealth creation. The interplay between unwilling colony and wouldbe saviour (in their own perspectives) are the other two themes in the book. McPhail traces out and explains very ably the tension between the sides and particularly the demand of poor countries for a New World Information Order (NWIO) in the forum provided by the United Nations. For a European viewer the content of US TV is peculiar. A world news bulletin will start, ‘Today in Denver . . .‘, and continue in this vein for 15 minutes without any mention of another country unless there has been an event such as a Royal Wedding, massacre or meteorite. Consequently US viewers are poorly informed and cannot appreciate developments in other countries. It takes considerable effort to explain to US citizens that they are threatened by a tiny island like Grenada. But other nations also find their news and views shaped by the same forces so that their understanding of the world and themselves becomes distorted. This is especially the case for poor countries without the resources to engage in independent news gathering.
Dallas The impression gained from watching Dallas is that people are enormously rich, nasty to each other and white. From Starsky and Hutch it can be gleaned that people are very rich, nasty to each other and that blacks engage in criminal activities. Certainly TV output supports the cultural basis of our societies so that there is an emphasis on the market and competition between firms, teams, individuals and even members of the same family. Such a set of beliefs may be completely unacceptable to a poor country. When the commercial aspects of the electronic media are added to the message of consume (products you cannot make) and compete (with little chance of winning), they can destroy the development plans of a poor country. In this context the coming of direct broadcast satellites is especially worrying to small countries. Because the media and culture pass through the market the firms that sell
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
POLICY
March
1984
Book reviews
products and the output itself will conform to the patterns of structure and behaviour that prevail in other product areas. Consequently we can witness the trend to fewer and bigger conglomerates operating globally. Their need for mass markets and their views on mass products have severe ramifications on the nature of their offerings. McPhail emphasizes this paradox for in these circumstances an abundance of information co-exists with a restricted choice. Further, the relative powerlessness of poor countries in comparison to the media giants intensifies their frustration. Independent action can be quite futile and in those organs of the UN where they have a numerical advantage the ideology of the free flow of information can be an extremely powerful adversary. This could imply that the demand for a NW10 is doomed though McPhail is more optimistic.
Again there are overtones of the classical considerations. Like the old classical economists McPhail draws his argument from the experience in one country, the USA, and this opens him up to some criticism. Certainly the UK’s Channel Four does not conform to the pattern he describes but it has a small audience. His mercantalist stance is also questionable. Nevertheless, Electronic Coloniabm is a worthy document especially in its treatment of poor countries and their aspirations which cannot be ignored even on purely commercial grounds let alone on political considerations. This book should be read by anyone with even a remote interest in the world beyond Soap.
Gareth Lock&y Polytechnic of Central London London, UK
Little change expected in Europe COMMUNICATIONS IN EUROPE The Changing Environment Logica Limited, 64 Newman Street, London WlA 4SE, UK, l963,466pp, f295 Despite the title, Logica devotes just 22 of the near 500 pages of this informative publication to the reasons, expectations and probability of change over the next few years. The reasons are good but the expectations and probability are seen, from the facts presented, to be less than certain. Of course, if the changing environment is measured in terms of new technologies that would enable new services to be introduced for the benefit of business and the professions, then it is certain that a real and dramatic change is taking place in the communications environment of European users to whom productivity, competitivity and timeliness are vital to their very existence.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
POLICY
However, even in the UK where, alone amongst the European telecommunications administrations, British Telecom finds itself sharing some part of its monopoly with an, as yet, latent competitor, the key to an improved user environment is seen to depend upon a substantially increased investment in the new networks and other facilities that must be provided. This is a problem to which neither technology nor liberalization appear to supply more than a small part of the answer. The changing environment therefore is seen to be gradual rather than tempestuous. However, if some of the examples of too hasty past innovation act as a cautionary tale to moderate the exploitation of this gigantic but imprecise European market for telematic and added-value services, a little more time spent on developing the European dimension of this market could do much to serve users’ interests in the longer term. In Logica’s opinion, the present uncertain investment pattern will be replaced by a much steadier and stron-
March 1984
ger growth over the next decade. Only time will tell, but Logica’s opinion is the result of a thorough, systematic and well presented investigation into the present and planned administration and supply of telecommunications services and equipments in 14 European countries.
ISDN The facts,
as they stand revealed, show little or no significant or unexpected planning changes to have taken place, except in the UK, where, in response to the threat of competition from the new Mercury Communications network, British Telecom is expanding many of the services already offered to business users. BT’s National Network Unit, which was set up in 1982 in order to compete with Mercury, is also introducing a range of new business services. The Logica findings confirm that all the administrations are moving, at different rates, towards the concepts of an ISDN even if, in the initial stages, the integration of the services takes place only at the local level. In.the process all administrations are introducing electronic exchanges able to offer other services in conjunction with voice telephony that could improve the convenience of ordinary voice communication; most offer or plan soon to offer public packet switched data networks, mobile telephony, teletex and videotex services. The two concluding sections of the book look at the ‘Satellite communications’ situation in Europe and ‘Telecommunications regulation’. Although the information provided in these sections is almost entirely factual with a small smattering of opinion, the physical juxtaposition of the two subjects makes a strong and rather sad impression of inadequacy in a brand new space age. Telecommunications policy-makers, attention! Leon Smulian Information Technologies Task Force Commission of the European Communities Brussels, Belgium
75
1940 may have been convenient, but raises the question of whether there were no new ideas about the telephone’s impact after 1940, or whether the technological advances that have turned the telephone into a much more versatile communications tool for data communication, and teleconferencing, for example - are to await another study. Also, the reader is not made aware of more recent research that may have added considerably to our understanding of the social and economic effects of the telephone in both industrialized and developing societies. Much of this research has been conducted within the past decade. While it may have been outside the scope of the funded research, a book on the subject should
note the major advances in research and hypothesis-testing that have been made since 1940. The two-page conclusion is disappointing. It could have offered an opportunity to summarize the key results of the research, and to elaborate upon the thesis that both market and technical analysis are needed for successful technology assessment. The conclusion could also have indicated to the reader advances since 1940, both in uses and effects of the telephone, and in research to test some of the major hypothesis in the book. Heather E. Hudson Department of Radio-TV-Film University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX, USA
Gun boats in the digital age ELECTRONIC
COLONIALISM
by Thomas L. McPhail
Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA, 1982,260 pp, f9.35 Thomas McPhail has written a sort of treatise on political economy in the old classical sense. Unlike the past masters his focus is not the creation, use and distribution of wealth but these same concerns centred on information. Since wealth and information are highly correlated, Electronic Colonialism is a modem essay in the Smith, Ricardo, Marx lineage. A common thread holds together those who consider political economy besides their emphasis on the ‘big questions’. In these works there is always the gestalt - a sudden perception that the rabbit is in fact a duck. Smith viewing the division of labour in a pin factory saw the benefits of specialization whereas Marx could see the seeds of alienation. This aspect of the ‘big question’ works makes them intrinsically attractive as long as the prose style is good, which McPhail’s is, because there is always something to feel intense about - either way. Electronic Colonialbm is also classical in the sense that there is a strong mercantalist theme holding the analy-
74
sis on course. Here giant firms are viewed as the instruments of their national governments who use them to ensure the agrandisement of the national economy and its dominance over lesser countries. Colonies are not gained and maintained by gun boats but rather by a more effective control mechanism which melts the ‘hearts and minds’. This is the function of the electronic media. Essentially McPhail’s case has four interrelated themes. First, he is concerned with the content of the electronic message and next with the commercialization of culture. As long as these two developments remain tied to one country there is no particular problem, but once they spill over there are global and distributional aspects to the issues.
Colony and saviour When the message does not support national priorities or threatens the culture of the receiving countries (colonies in McPhail’s terms) they will take steps to impede the transmission. But this natural reaction merely perplexes the colonial power before annoying it. The latter sees itself as bringing benefits to the colonies and barriers to the free flow information are a major challenge to the founda-
tions of wealth creation. The interplay between unwilling colony and wouldbe saviour (in their own perspectives) are the other two themes in the book. McPhail traces out and explains very ably the tension between the sides and particularly the demand of poor countries for a New World Information Order (NWIO) in the forum provided by the United Nations. For a European viewer the content of US TV is peculiar. A world news bulletin will start, ‘Today in Denver . . .‘, and continue in this vein for 15 minutes without any mention of another country unless there has been an event such as a Royal Wedding, massacre or meteorite. Consequently US viewers are poorly informed and cannot appreciate developments in other countries. It takes considerable effort to explain to US citizens that they are threatened by a tiny island like Grenada. But other nations also find their news and views shaped by the same forces so that their understanding of the world and themselves becomes distorted. This is especially the case for poor countries without the resources to engage in independent news gathering.
Dallas The impression gained from watching Dallas is that people are enormously rich, nasty to each other and white. From Starsky and Hutch it can be gleaned that people are very rich, nasty to each other and that blacks engage in criminal activities. Certainly TV output supports the cultural basis of our societies so that there is an emphasis on the market and competition between firms, teams, individuals and even members of the same family. Such a set of beliefs may be completely unacceptable to a poor country. When the commercial aspects of the electronic media are added to the message of consume (products you cannot make) and compete (with little chance of winning), they can destroy the development plans of a poor country. In this context the coming of direct broadcast satellites is especially worrying to small countries. Because the media and culture pass through the market the firms that sell
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
POLICY
March
1984
Book reviews
products and the output itself will conform to the patterns of structure and behaviour that prevail in other product areas. Consequently we can witness the trend to fewer and bigger conglomerates operating globally. Their need for mass markets and their views on mass products have severe ramifications on the nature of their offerings. McPhail emphasizes this paradox for in these circumstances an abundance of information co-exists with a restricted choice. Further, the relative powerlessness of poor countries in comparison to the media giants intensifies their frustration. Independent action can be quite futile and in those organs of the UN where they have a numerical advantage the ideology of the free flow of information can be an extremely powerful adversary. This could imply that the demand for a NW10 is doomed though McPhail is more optimistic.
Again there are overtones of the classical considerations. Like the old classical economists McPhail draws his argument from the experience in one country, the USA, and this opens him up to some criticism. Certainly the UK’s Channel Four does not conform to the pattern he describes but it has a small audience. His mercantalist stance is also questionable. Nevertheless, Electronic Coloniabm is a worthy document especially in its treatment of poor countries and their aspirations which cannot be ignored even on purely commercial grounds let alone on political considerations. This book should be read by anyone with even a remote interest in the world beyond Soap.
Gareth Lock&y Polytechnic of Central London London, UK
Little change expected in Europe COMMUNICATIONS IN EUROPE The Changing Environment Logica Limited, 64 Newman Street, London WlA 4SE, UK, l963,466pp, f295 Despite the title, Logica devotes just 22 of the near 500 pages of this informative publication to the reasons, expectations and probability of change over the next few years. The reasons are good but the expectations and probability are seen, from the facts presented, to be less than certain. Of course, if the changing environment is measured in terms of new technologies that would enable new services to be introduced for the benefit of business and the professions, then it is certain that a real and dramatic change is taking place in the communications environment of European users to whom productivity, competitivity and timeliness are vital to their very existence.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
POLICY
However, even in the UK where, alone amongst the European telecommunications administrations, British Telecom finds itself sharing some part of its monopoly with an, as yet, latent competitor, the key to an improved user environment is seen to depend upon a substantially increased investment in the new networks and other facilities that must be provided. This is a problem to which neither technology nor liberalization appear to supply more than a small part of the answer. The changing environment therefore is seen to be gradual rather than tempestuous. However, if some of the examples of too hasty past innovation act as a cautionary tale to moderate the exploitation of this gigantic but imprecise European market for telematic and added-value services, a little more time spent on developing the European dimension of this market could do much to serve users’ interests in the longer term. In Logica’s opinion, the present uncertain investment pattern will be replaced by a much steadier and stron-
March 1984
ger growth over the next decade. Only time will tell, but Logica’s opinion is the result of a thorough, systematic and well presented investigation into the present and planned administration and supply of telecommunications services and equipments in 14 European countries.
ISDN The facts,
as they stand revealed, show little or no significant or unexpected planning changes to have taken place, except in the UK, where, in response to the threat of competition from the new Mercury Communications network, British Telecom is expanding many of the services already offered to business users. BT’s National Network Unit, which was set up in 1982 in order to compete with Mercury, is also introducing a range of new business services. The Logica findings confirm that all the administrations are moving, at different rates, towards the concepts of an ISDN even if, in the initial stages, the integration of the services takes place only at the local level. In.the process all administrations are introducing electronic exchanges able to offer other services in conjunction with voice telephony that could improve the convenience of ordinary voice communication; most offer or plan soon to offer public packet switched data networks, mobile telephony, teletex and videotex services. The two concluding sections of the book look at the ‘Satellite communications’ situation in Europe and ‘Telecommunications regulation’. Although the information provided in these sections is almost entirely factual with a small smattering of opinion, the physical juxtaposition of the two subjects makes a strong and rather sad impression of inadequacy in a brand new space age. Telecommunications policy-makers, attention! Leon Smulian Information Technologies Task Force Commission of the European Communities Brussels, Belgium
75