The Global Outlier: American Exceptionalism and the Social Democratic Challenge

• In Event: Inscribing Utopias: Media Activisms at Centers and Peripheries

Abstract

That the American media system became dominated by lightly-regulated oligopolies—with virtually no competition from alternative models like public media—makes it fairly unique among democratic nations. However, this arrangement was historically contingent; a vibrant social democratic challenge to corporate libertarianism was evidenced by reform movements and various forms of media activism, especially in the 1930s and 40s, but was largely defeated by red-baiting and other shifts in the political landscape. Nonetheless, this tradition has reemerged during critical historical junctures, and lived on through global policy discourses and codes like Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This paper will draw attention to several case studies of social democratic alternatives located historically and globally, and discuss their relevance for contemporary media policy challenges.

Author

• Victor W. Pickard, U of Pennsylvania