Notes from the semi-periphery

Abstract

This article argues that small states have a significant contribution to make to international communications research, which is dominated by a large state event-oriented outlook. A study of newspaper reporting on developing countries in Ireland shows significant coverage in genres neglected by research to date, beyond the ‘international news’ pages, which presents a less negative and more nuanced picture of the developing world than usually described in the literature. The discussion is situated within international news flow and world-systems theory and demonstrates the potential for small states to depolarize the event vs context debate on determinants, showing why semi-peripheral perspectives are vital for the future development and application of world-systems theory in international communications research.