New communication technologies and the opening up of global markets are transforming the world's media and cultural industries. Colonising the imagination of consumers worldwide, the virtual empires of the electronic age have a profound effect on national media systems and cultural sovereignty. This book centres on current debates on globalization, the public sphere, and the potential of the Internet for empowerment. Written by a group of internationally renowned scholars in the field, it looks at the effects of large transnational media corporations - from the US and Europe to Asia, the Middle East and Australia - on national and regional media. Chapters include a detailed and up-to-date analysis of the world's three largest media corporations and an assessment of the implication for the 'majority world' of the changing contours of global television news. Exploring the question of whether media globalization is helping create a global public sphere, the book also offers alternative regional and gender based perspectives on globalization, as well as a strongly argued case for the relevance of a reformulated thesis of media imperialism. Case studies by media professionals and activists on the ground offer examples of how the process of media globalization is being negotiated and resisted.

'Electronic Empires' covers the central issues in international media research with intelligence and sophistication. It gives full play to current debates over the globalization of media firms, the future of the public sphere, the rise of the internet, and the potential for building genuine alternative media. Professor Vincent Mosco, Carleton University, Cana

Daya Kishan Thussu is currently Disney Chair in Global Media at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. For many years he was professor of International Communication at the University of Westminster in London. Author or editor of 18 books, most recently China’s Media Go Global (2018), he is the founder and Managing Editor of the journal Global Media and Communication.