Developing countries should be investing in their people by learning how to use these media and then providing programmes of similar quality but their own cultural content. The only reason Western stuff is more popular is simply cause there is more of it and it looks flashier as there are more designers in the West. It would be a tragedy for the developing countries to be swamped with American garbage without having alternatives which can compete.
Rick Earl, Auckland, New Zealand

While I am not fond of the content of modern television, I do believe that it is the responsibility of the individual to either watch the program or not to. There are plenty of good programs on television, all that needs to be done is to change the channel. The Internet is the largest collection of sewage ever, but is also has excellent sites like BBC News. The dominance of western media is simply because western media is better. I would be happy to watch foreign media if the quality was better. I feel that the BBC news is far better than some American news programs, therefore I watch the BBC news (via Internet) and not my local news. If western media is so bad as those governments believe, let them show it to their peoples as an example of what is bad. This is hardly a form of colonialism, they are not forced to watch.
Anson Groves, Vienna, Virginia, USA

Yes, most definitely western media should be regulated or even eliminated in the countries of the Developing World. The Western Media has in no way contributed to the promotion or survival of Godly values. It has led to the deterioration of society in general. The "soaps" are the main tool of incitement and adds shear garbage to anyone's intellect. The world news is also biased. Each country should analyse world events through their own eyes, not through the dominant Western eyes.
Harsini Wickramasuriya, Bridgetown, Barbados

It's both a threat to national culture and, for different reasons, a threat to totalitarianism. Better let people watch what they want. And I don't believe it's pornography that the Saudi regime is worried about -- that's just an excuse. What they're really worried about is unfiltered news.
Elwood, Brazil

You can hardly blame them for wanting to ban western television. I'm a New Yorker and even I can't stand it. Television is the sewage of western civilization coming up into the living room in my opinion. Genuinely vile.
John, USA

No way. Aside from what others have already said in regards to the necessity of a free media, and its affect on totalitarianism, there comes a point at which a specific culture can become stifling to intellectual growth. Everything else aside, it probably would do a lot of Islamic countries some good to see that women aren't treated like animals in other places of the world. And there are plenty of places in the world where a little pornography might help people reclaim their sexual freedom and lose a few ridiculous inhibitions. The nice thing about western culture is that it has begun to at least tentatively embrace eastern cultures and incorporate them into itself. Cultures tend to merge so any attempt at retaining a culture as is, when it clashes with another culture is inherently doomed. Besides, if western culture weren't more interesting, they wouldn't have to worry about it, would they?
Anson Groves, Vienna, Virginia, USA

TV - not a threat to totalitarianism but a propagator of one. A few rich people and countries control the airwaves and in turn what gets broadcast on them.
Internet - The most democratic form of expression that the world has ever known. Ted Turner and I have the same excess to the net and to other people on it. I hope this revolution becomes even more powerful and people around the world can communicate one to one instead of depending upon the bloodthirsty media hounds.
"Tazmanian Devil," India

Yes, they should be regulated. A simple example is in the stupid talk shows and soap operas in the US. Almost every sane individual knows that what's shown on TV never happens in real life (or happens in the lives of a very small minority). However, for children this judgement is difficult regardless of their country. In the west, the children have the opportunity to see serials and Beavis and Butthead and realize that it is fiction. In countries where the children can't see the real world of the west, they see it on TV and try to imitate it. Hence, disgusting and harmful programs MUST be controlled!
San Jose, USA

Controlling western media will not quench the thirst that people living under totalitarian governments have for information from the "outside world." The western media did not create the idea of free-flowing information, but is rather the creation of the idea. If people in a totalitarian country embrace this idea, then the regime is sure to eventually fall, once the people's resistance reaches a critical mass to shed such reigns.
John De Masi, Huntington Beach, USA

I wish to agree that in some ways, the information revolution do pose some degree of threats to the cultural ideologies of developing nations. I believe that what makes a group of people different from others is their religious and cultural beliefs. Considering the issue of pornography, it is normal for a western family to watch pornographic movies at any time of the day. This is a taboo in the tradition and religion of most African families for example. Obviously, broadcasts of such programmes by satellite TVs create a western impression on the minds of future generations of Africans who tomorrow will think more western with respect to sex which in their customs is respected and talked less about. In the Islamic religion, women are forbidden from exposing themselves which is the opposite in the WEST where women virtually walk nude in disguise of a dress as viewed on TV screens. So I think Western media should be controlled.
Njongmeta Leo, Liverpool, U.K

No. I came to the USA from Czechoslovakia in 1981. My decision to escape was formed over the years more by the banned media programming than anything else. We, the sixties kids were more interested in Beatles than Red Pioneers meetings. Those Czech language transmissions of RFE and BBC did more damage to the Communist regime than the Sixth Fleet and Pershing II missiles combined. Thanks God those western pacifists of the era did not manage to stop it. Same applies today to the Internet. Let's just leave it alone.
Jerry Zak, Butler, NJ

No, a free press is necessary for a democracy to work. When governments start controlling the media the people of that country have no way of knowing what is the truth and what isn't. Freedom does not mean that no one will be offended or hurt, it means that people will be able to control their own lives and (as long as they don't hurt other people) do what they want to do.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

Yes, western media in developing countries should be controlled. People are beginning to lose their identities and are subscribing to western values and ideas. Eventually, anything that does not conform to western values and standards will be considered inferior, which is truly a big blow to nations like India that have a rich culture and valuable traditions.
Elizabeth Augustine, Seattle, U.S.A.

Absolutely It should be controlled because some content of western media involved lurid sexual relationship which is very different and even embarrassing attitude compared with Eastern style.
Kang Taejin, Pusan, South Korea

It seems to me that the definitive function of government is still to serve the people by governing according to the collective will of the people. Fanciful perhaps, but if a significant number of people in a given country decide that surfing the 'net, or watching Oprah, BBC World Service, or MTV is what they want to do with some of their time, it behoves their government to accept this. If the cultural and/or religious foundation of that country is so infirm that it cannot tolerate a cultural curiosity, or intellectual adventurism, in a significant number of its citizens, then those citizens should be applauded for taking the first tentative steps on the road to change that must eventually lead, for all of us, to a truly global society.
James Fanning, New Delhi, India

The media is controlled by those who use and those who produce. It is only a form of self-control that will eventually work - any other form will be full of loopholes and thus lead to a mockery of 'control' anyway. The media is about variety and diversity and thus the unfortunate thing is that the present 'control' system is too heavily biased in favour of western view points and little is heard from other points of view. If the media truly wants to be more democratic, it needs to recognise that people with less 'money' to put into the media also need to be heard - but that is rarely the case.
Charlene Rajendran, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I feel very strongly that western media should be controlled, with some exceptions in relation to news and current affairs. It is too easy, and it appears cheaper, for broadcasters to buy programs rather than developing them for themselves. Thus different cultures don't develop their own ideas and identities, and I feel become clones of the culture they watch on the box. Scary . . . and particularly noticeable with the kids. I value the diversity of the world, and I can see it getting eroded very quickly due to the effect of western media. Is there a workable solution?
Stephen Hurton, Australia

Oh, dear heavens! Citizens of downtrodden cultures are learning that Englishmen and Americans can speak freely! Mock their leaders! Treat women with equality! This imperialism must not be allowed to stand!
Omri Schwarz, Boston, MA, USA

If a country is a true democracy and those elected officials feel that there society would be better off without certain aspect then yes the outside media should be controlled. Media is a powerful medium.
J Vinsel, Vancouver, WA (US)

Western media has gone beyond the bounds of what anyone could imagine in such a short time. Much of what it spreads is not harmful, but it tends to focus on its own culture without trying to look to other sources for content. Supply and demand should determine some of what should be provided, but there needs to be a agenda setter that looks to preserve cultural autonomy.
Jon Hjelm, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Should western media be controlled." Wrong question. The arguments on both sides may seem thoughtful and educated, but the real or perceived threat to the dissolution of cultures abroad points to a greater and more fundamental concern: Why are they accepting it? It seems to me that this terribly delicate culture is eating up dish time because they are hungry for Western influence. Neither one person, nor 1000 could never say what is good for 50 million people. If a country (i.e. Saudi Arabia) wishes to regulate western media, then that is their decision to make. But the simple fact is, the bottom line, if western media is changing cultures around the world, it is because those cultures feel the need and/or desire to change.
Kurt Shriner, Eauu Claire, Wisconsin, USA

After spending 15 months in Asia, I was fully disgusted with all the American influence that seems to be polluting traditional cultures. However, it would be a huge mistake to try to control the worlds information flow, even if most of it is American talkshow trash.
Sam, Minneapolis, USA

I feel there is, in fact, a modern colonialism taking place in the form of media, ie television, music, internet. I disagree with the north-south, or developed vs. developing conclusion you arrived at, however. That conclusion is much too vague. In truth, I believe that it is America colonizing the rest of the world. I recently visited London, where I ate at McDonald's and KFC, drank Coke and Pepsi and watched television shows, including, MTV, the Simpsons, and American Football. On the streets of London I passed a cinema, of nine titles, all but one were American movies.
USA