Today hundreds of millions of people throughout the world depend on international radio broadcasting for their understanding of national and international political affairs. Broadcasting Propaganda represents the first application of theory and research in sociology and communication to analyze the contents of this medium of international political communication. Wasburn illustrates how two theoretical perspectives, social construction of reality theory and media-system-dependency theory, can be applied to understand the ways in which nations use symbolic means to position themselves in the international arena of political competition.
The study begins with two chapters that outline the history of international radio broadcasting, identifying the medium's involvement in maintaining colonial empires, supporting wars, promoting revolutionary and counterrevolutionary action, and legitimating the policies of sponsoring states. The third chapter introduces social construction of reality theory and media-system-dependency theory, indicating their relevance to understanding the newscasts and other programming of international broadcasting organizations. The two following chapters present empirical case studies of international broadcasting: one analyzes Voice of America and Radio Moscow broadcasts to the Third World toward the end of the Cold War; the other explores South Africa's use of radio to broadcast counter-propaganda. In the sixth and final chapter, Wasburn winds up his discussion by charting the the possible course of broadcasting in light of the world political situation since 1989 and suggests an agenda for future research