The monography by Sérgio Mattos serves as a model for communication research in the future. That future is increasingly international. At first glance, one might think the conclusions of the work show just the opposite, that Brazil is a case of a country that was both economically and culturally dependent before the military coup of 1964 and that by 1980 it had become independent in both its economy and its mass media content. At one level this is evident from both strong economic growth, industrialization and the increase of Brazilian made television programming by 1980. On the other hand, by this latter year Brazil was also more closely inserted into the world economic system of trade, both economically and culturally. Transnational corporations and especially transnational finance capital were still vital to continued economic growth, whatever the mix os state enterprise and private sector institutions within Brazil. The country continues (and must continue by the nature of the logic of the international economy into which it has become integrated) to push exports, whether industrial products, consumer goods or cultural items. By any of these standards, Brazil has followed a curious double path, that Mr. Mattos describes so clearly, of both nationallism and dependency.. Mr. Mattos has performed an important service to communication sholarship by carefully documenting the growth of Brazilian television and the influence of the military regime on it during the important years since 1964. He shows that the military were clear from early on about what to do with this important mass medium. Their goals for television, the author points out, were geared to accelerating order, progress, security and modernization, including strong state participation in the economy, friendliness to multinational investment, and development of basic conditions for national integration through the telecommunication system'".

Emile G. McAnany, in the preface of the book.