Is Communication Research Foundational to a Theory of Globalization?
Media globalization raises new questions for the study of international news flows. According to H. Denis Wu’s (1998) meta-analysis of existing studies of international news flows, the majority of research has focused on the impact of “gate-keeper” and “logistical” determinants of news flows. We offer that studies of globalization (Held & McGrew 1999; Castells, 2000; Appadurai, 1996) can compliment the current understanding of news flow determinants, by suggesting that we re-categorize studies to reflect existing theoretical views of media and economic globalization. We present an update to Wu’s meta-analysis of news flow studies by demonstrating how both gate-keeping and logistical news flow determinants reflect historical shifts in media globalization over time, concurrent with other indicators of globalization. We conclude by suggesting how future studies of news flow determinants can incorporate theoretical insights from globalization studies, such as how global media ownership, fi
