INTERNATIONAL RADIO BROADCASTING: SOME CONSIDERATIONS FOR POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

International Radio Broadcasting (IRB) carried on by such organizations as the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Voice of America, and Radio Moscow, is a major source of political ideas for much of the world's population. However, political sociologists have never investigated either the social and political conditions which shape this medium of political communication or the social and political influences which it exerts. The extent, purposes, and history of IRB are discussed. Several explanations are offered for political sociology's neglect of IRB. Questions for the future study of IRB are proposed. The questions are related to several approaches prominent in contemporary mass communication theory.