ABSTRACT
We are often told that nowadays, under the impact of the new technologies of our postmodern age, we live in an increasingly globalised world, characterised by the experience of time-space compression brought about by an increase in the speed and reach of communications. However, these questions about postmodernity and globalisation are often presented in a rather abstract and ahistorical manner. In this essay I want to look back at some of the roots of these concerns in earlier debates within media and cultural studies, concerning the question of what used to be called media (or cultural) imperialism.1 In these debates, we find some important questions still lurking, and still unanswered, which may provide us with the historical perspective we need if we are able to properly grasp the issues facing us today, as we discuss globalisation. To that extent, as my title implies, I think we today confront ‘old questions in new guises’.
