Christians, Clifford, and Kaarle Nordenstreng (Eds.). Communication Theories in a Multicultural World.
McAnany, Emile
Christians, Clifford, and Kaarle Nordenstreng (Eds.). Communication
Theories in a Multicultural World. NY: Peter Lang, 2014. Pp. ix, 325.
ISBN 978-14331-2306-1 (cloth) SFR 148.00; 978-1-4331-2305 (paper) SFR
40.00, $39.62.
This volume dedicated by the authors to their colleague Robert
White, S.J., is a consistently excellent summary of issues raised and
promoted by him from the time of his creation of this journal
(Communication Research Trends) and his tenure at the Centre for the
Study of Communication and Culture in London from 1978 to 1989. Many of
the authors point out the influence that White had on them and their
various professional interests. I had a connection with Bob both in
early training as Jesuits together but also in the later years of the
1970s and beyond.
In addition to the acknowledgment of Bob White's influence,
there are two important things to highlight in the 18 chapters and the
preface by Kaarle Nordenstreng: first, many of the authors trace the
history of their own areas of interest and thus make this volume an
important documentation of the growth of the communication field over
the past 30 years or more; second, the authors are all recognized
leaders in the field and consequently bring an in-depth accounting for
the theories they have worked with during their careers. Beyond these
structural elements, the theme of the book centers on what White himself
highlights in his overview chapter as the centrality of "Keeping
the Public Sphere(s) Public." As he defines the public sphere he
argues that it (1) is "open to all to speak their opinions,
information, objections, and rhetorical arguments" regardless of
who they are; (2) "No part of the public sphere can be private
property excluding the views of others"; (3) "it is
dialogical"; (4) "(t)he language of the public sphere is
understandable to all who are part of the culture"; (5) the
"public sphere must be based on a common narrative and common
theoretical discourse of democratic governance"; (6) the public
sphere is contestable with every proposal being challenged, in terms of
its validity, to the rest of the public" (pp. 4-5). The remainder
of the chapter briefly recounts Bob's own story of how he came to
his conclusions about the public sphere. He summarizes the remaining
chapters and recounts how many of the authors had made some significant
contribution to his thinking and development from the cultural studies
perspective of Jim Carey and Stuart Hall to the ethics concerns of
Joseph Faniran and Clifford Christians and everything in between.
Trying to the summarize all of the chapters briefly could do no
justice to this volume, but let me select several that I think connect
well with Bob White's own development. To begin with the end of the
book, I think the editors wisely put Clifford Christians' chapter
on Media Ethics as Chapter 18 as a way of bringing White's argument
about the public sphere in the opening chapter to a compelling
conclusion about both normative theories and values in communication
studies and a clear explication of theories of media ethics that relate
to the public sphere outlined in Chapter 1. After a detailed history of
ethical and value considerations in early journalism through the 19th
century, Christians points to the transition in American journalism from
partisan to professional values and the beginning of more professional
ethics in the journalistic work place. But he points out the
professional concerns were for the individual within the structures of
the media and its neoliberal underpinnings. He summarizes:
"Throughout this [20th] century, in and around the formative
decades in Europe and North America, communication ethics with its
professional orientation benefitted little from philosophical ethics
generally." He says that instead of "searching for neutral
principles to which all practices can appeal, or accepting general
relativism uncritically, an entirely new model of media ethics should
rest on a complex view of moral judgments as integrating facts,
principles, and emotions in philosophical terms" (p. 296).
Christians proposes and explains three models: Dialogic Ethics, Feminist
Ethics, and Communitarian Media Ethics, but in the end after carefully
critiquing the first two, he concludes that Communitarian Media Ethics,
with which he has been associated for some years, may best serve as a
foundation for application to many aspects of media value concerns. He
argues that the communitarian approach does not exclude much of what
dialogic and feminist approaches are concerned about but it does so with
a more solid philosophical foundation. His final section on the issue of
"social justice" and competing theories of how this concept is
best justified within media ethics with a comparison of Rawls, and
Sandel's theories of justice. With a careful analysis of why
Sandel's theory of justice and individual moral development is
superior to that of Rawls, Christians argues: "Our selves [we as
individuals as assumed by Rawls] are presumed to be constituted
antecedently, that is, in advance of our engagement with others. Our
moral obligations are not invented by individuals, but they are located
within the social worlds that we enter and within which we live"
(p. 305). The author concludes that Communitarianism "as a
philosophical concept yields a media ethics that is centered on
restorative justice and stretches across continents" (p. 308).
A brief accounting of a few of the other chapters between these two
bookends will give the reader a feeling for the strong theory and
history referred to above. Roger Bromley provides an especially clear
but concise summary of the history of British cultural studies, and
Dennis McQuail's personal memoir provides another side of the
evolution of British communication research during the second half of
the last century. While Janet Wasko provides a skillful historical
overview of political economy theory, especially in the U.S., Peter
Golding and Karen Williamson make a telling application of the theory in
modern British higher education. In more applied studies Thomas Tufte
brings up institutional barriers to a participatory approach to civic
action programs in Africa, and Pradip Thomas provides a case of a
successful participatory movement of the Right to Information in India.
Stewart Hoover also provides a thorough historical account of the study
of religion and communication with which he has been personally involved
from the beginning and recognizing Bob White's key contributions.
This volume is a valuable contribution to the broad issues of value
in communication studies. It delineates the critical shift in
communication research to a more humanistic, critica,l and value-based
theory and practice in both North and South, and East and West. It is a
book for everyone who is interested in change and it is a fitting salute
to Bob White in this new era.
There are references at the end of each chapter and a summary
bibliography at the end of the book along with a detailed index.
Emile McAnany
Santa Clara University
