Summary Of Media And The Invention Of The Nation

Silvio Waisbord’s essay “Media and the Reinvention of the Nation” raises a variety of central themes regarding the role of media and culture in the nation and its corresponding nationalism, the most encompassing being the great complexity of the relationships between media, culture, the nation, and nationalism. Another major theme is the permanence of the nation and nationality as the dominant base for cultural identity above other identities such as cosmopolitanism or supranationalism. Furthermore, Waisbord consistently makes a case for the importance of media, such as literature, radio, and television, in the creation of a national culture, helping to form both nations and their unique forms of nationalism, as well as, reinforce national

Firstly, Waisbord makes the claim that “the media contribute to the sustainability of nations by institutionalizing ‘national cultures’” (pg. 387), which, combined with the popularity of television, supplies a simple justification for national sites of television production. He also argues that media is necessary to codify national culture, including languages, accents, places, and symbols and what better way to do so than through television which also fits nicely into the quiet everyday media patriotism that is most common and that Waisbord seems to favor. Furthermore, due to socioeconomic power inequalities in cultural production and consumption, particularly in a globalized media landscape which poses threats of global Americanization, lack of cultural diversity, and the standardization of media culture, it is important for nations to establish national sites of television production to attempt to counteract these threats and establish a strong sense of nationalism and cultural