Public lecture of Prof. Daya Thussu “De-Americanizing the Internet?”
The public lecture of prof. Daya Thussu organized by Laboratory for Internet Studies was held on April, 24. The talk was aimed to evaluate how the present and proposed changes in Internet-based media in large countries – such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) members - will impact on global communication.
The global presence of the BRICS media is likely to expand exponentially with the growing convergence of mobile communications technologies and content via an altered and multi-lingual Internet. Already, the Russian version of Facebook – Vkontakte – is creating tendencies towards a fragmented Internet. China hosts the world’s largest blogging population and its version of Facebook – QZone – had more than 600 million users by 2013; while Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter), has an equally large following within the Sino media-sphere and is increasingly influencing mainstream journalism. Internet users in India are expected to reach 500 million by 2016, driven by wireless connections. The implications of such digital connectivity for global news flow, information and communication agendas and the battle for hearts and minds were discussed.
Bio-note
Daya Thussu is Professor of International Communication and founder Co-Director of India Media Centre at the University of Westminster in London. Author or editor of 16 books, among his recent publications are Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood (Palgrave, 2013); Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives (co-edited with Des Freedman, Sage, 2012); Internationalizing Media Studies (Routledge, 2009) and News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment (Sage, 2007). He is currently finishing the third edition of International Communication: Continuity and Change, to be published by Bloomsbury Academic. He is the founder and Managing Editor of the Sage journal Global Media and Communication. He was given the ‘Distinguished Scholar Award’ by the International Communication Section of the International Studies Association at their annual conference in Toronto in March 2014.