Reaction Paper 2

The second chapter of the textbook is all about the theories of communication, which first appeared in response to the Industrial Revolution in Europe, and what it brought when it comes to social and economic changes. This is because communication had a huge impact on provoking these changes.

Theories of international communication became prominent during the Cold War. One of the first concepts that was greatly debated was the concept of “free flow of information”. This concept was on par with Western ideas on what the role of media should be, following their view of international communication as a tool for promoting democracy and liberal markets. It was, on the contrary, the complete opposite of what the Soviet wanted, which was regulations imposed by sovereign states.

Free flow of information essentially means that media proprietors are able to “sell wherever and whatever they wished”. This reasoning, for the West and especially for the United States, is ideal for avoiding the censorship and propaganda that would come from the states regulations that the Soviet Union was promoting.

Because the West was more technologically advanced, free flow of information was also beneficial from an economic point of view, since media proprietors were concentrated there and thus contributed more to the enrichment of their governments and their businesses. Politically, this concentration of media production allowed them to also dominate ideologically, by overpowering the diffusion of Soviet doctrine with their own.

I think the concept of “free flow of information” itself seems like it would be the most compatible with democracy and freedom of expression, but in reality it only serves to stifle the freedom of expression of others, which is completely the opposite of what the true meaning of democracy is.

It is clear from the very reasons why the West was in favor of this concept being applied to international communication. They wanted it so that they could maintain their dominance and suppress the spread of the Soviet ideology as much as possible. This in itself is censorship.

Their dominance in media ownership and production also meant that only Western ideas, lifestyles and opinions were presented in the international scene. As capitalism being the main Western ideology, it was applied to international communication as well.

Capitalism is, in my opinion, a genius system when you are a rich person trying to get richer, but a cruel system when you are a poor person being exploited for minimum gain. In the same way, capitalist ideas being applied in international communication is only a way for the West to remain the hegemonic power and to impose their ideas while preventing others to have any say, which is again a form of censorship.

Of course, this a pessimistic way of viewing things, but in any case, the concept of free flow of information, while not necessarily a more evil alternative to state regulations, might achieve freedom, but does not achieve equality.