Media and Nationalism

Mass media and nationalism have been intertwined for as long as they have existed. In Europe the introduction of the printing press, together with increased use of folk languages, became essential for the emergence of mass media and nationalism alike. Media development has subsequently repeatedly coincided with nationalistic tendencies, as when the peak of imperialism intersected with the emergence of the telegraph and of photography. Media and nationalism are perhaps most obviously entangled in times of war and conflict, when both regulation and language use may become more nationalistic. Moreover, the gendered nature of mediated nationalism tends to stand out most clearly in wartime too. Media and nationalism can furthermore be understood in terms of “hot” versus “banal” forms, spatial categorization, media ownership and laws, postcolonialism, consumerism, and methodological nationalism in journalistic methodology. Previous dichotomization of nationalism and globalization in research has recently been countered through terms such as “hybridity” and “trans-locality.”