Market, Organizational, and Strategic Factors Affecting Media Entrepreneurs in Emerging Economies
By
C. Ann Hollifield, Tudor Vlad, and Lee B. Becker
Abstract
Since the late 1980s, major changes have taken place in the global political
economy. As a result of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the end of the Cold
War, the expansion of global trade, and other factors, numerous countries have
begun moving towards more open political and economic systems.
Accompanying these political and economic changes has been a
corresponding liberalization of national media systems. Many nations, such as
those in Eastern Europe, that have undergone transitions to democratic political
systems, have abandoned government ownership of the media. They have
moved, instead, to new media systems based on private ownership. Others,
such as the People’s Republic of China have slowly eased prohibitions against
private ownership of some media even while maintaining more authoritarian
political systems and some government control over media. Among nations
using a more mixed approach to liberalization, the opening of the media to
more private investment and competition reflects, at least in part, the
recognition that access to information is a critical issue for nations wishing to
compete successfully in the global economy.
