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The dissertation explores the issue of culture and power on the Internet. Specifically, using an ethnographic approach to a website of a Korean drama, primarily its BBS section, the dissertation focuses on examining the utopian discourse of the Internet as free, equal, and democratic space and as a revolutionary user-centered medium. This study finds three aspects of the Internet in terms of culture and power. First, the Internet is a communal but exclusive space: although the participants tend to construct the BBS as a community, the community is not so much free, equal, and democratic as the utopians emphasize. In the process of constructing and maintaining the BBS as a community, the participants create new forms of identities, hierarchies, and disparities within the BBS. And the new forms of identities, hierarchies, and disparities are related to those in embodied world. In other words, the Internet is another hegemonic space and thus another space for hegemonic struggles over power. Second, the Internet is a participatory but one-way space: the users of the website as the audience are very active and even aggressive for interacting with the production side of the drama and for participating in the production process of the drama. However, the production side of the drama has a non-participatory and indifferent attitude to interact with the users. In other words, the website is not an interactive space but still a one-way space. This result problematizes the utopian assumption of the Internet's interactivity and its role as empowering audiences over the production of media content. The result also reminds us that the issue of the interactivity of media should be understood not only as the issue of technology but also as the issue of overall media structure and industry. Third, the Internet is a diverse but hegemonic space: although the participants' interpretations of the drama are diverse, they seem not to be free from the authorship of the drama unlike the utopian assumption of the Internet's hypertextuality and its role. The participants in particular produce an overwhelming number of dominant readings that reinforce dominant Korean culture. Most of the patterns that the participants produce in these dominant readings are significantly related to the logics of the narrative structure of the drama. The results of my research warn us to equate the participants' activeness on the Internet with the participants' power over the production of meanings of hypertexts.

In August of 1974, the French broadcasting system underwent a change in organizational structure. L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Television Francaise was reorganized into seven companies, each with a specific responsibility. The extent of the change is debatable but there is little doubt that Valery Giscard d'Estaing's intent was to effect a system freer from governmental control and bring about fiscal responsibility. The extent of the achievement of these goals is the subject of this dissertation. Chapter One examines the social, cultural, and political climate of France. The chapter reveals a country with contradictory philosophies and a strong desire to hold on to the past. Chapter Two reviews the literature in the related fields of economics, sociology, political science, history, and communications. The historical perspective highlights contradictions in systems theory, especially in the areas of goals and organizational structure. Chapter Three describes the French system with particular emphasis on organizational structure. The West German system is also cited for comparison. Chapter Four examines government documents which indicate that the system does not function efficiently. Financial reports indicate the new system became more and more dependent on commercials and tax revenues. Both increases were counter to the intent of the reorganization. Chapter Five summarizes the dissertation and offers the following conclusions: (1) Reorganization or initiation of a media system must take into account the culture, heritage, economic traits, and political philosophies that have contributed to the uniqueness of that country. (2) Reorganization should be undertaken with consideration of international as well as national implications. (3) Reorganization should involve the entire country rather than a political power structure. (4) Reorganization should begin with a goal-oriented agenda. (5) Reorganization must be structured to permit internal flexibility. (6) The new structure should be technologically compatible to existing systems and if possible to one universally established system.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Murdoch University, 1996. / Thesis submitted to the School of Social Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 333-357).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves[66]-69).

Thesis (doctoral)--Fu dan da xue, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-205)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Adviser: Daniel Schiller. Includes bibliographical references.