The State of Asian Communication Research and Directions for the 21st Century

The 21st century has been called ‘the Asian Century’ by Eastern and Western academics, largely due to the economic and cultural rise of China and India. This volume explores both what this means for communication research, and the implications of Asia’s rising global power for communication scholars in Asia and from around the world. Hot topics and emerging trends are explored, encapsulating the new opportunities as well as the challenges for Asian communication scholars.

Asia represents diverse cultural, economic, social and political systems that shape different media systems in various countries with fertile contexts for communication research. The scope of the chapters in this book includes mass communications, mobile technology, intercultural and political communication, news and entertainment, health communication, public relations, and comparative analyses of mainstream mass communication theories. The articles in this book were originally published in the Asian Journal of Communication.

Ran Wei is the Gonzales Brothers Professor of Journalism in the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina, USA.