The conclusion of this book—a quartet of alternative scenarios for what might have been an international television news service originating in Japan—comes as both disconcerting and refreshing. Disconcerting because, after seventy-six roaming pages of omnivorous theory and another 150 pages jam-packed with factual material, all four scenarios are fanciful. Refreshing because it brings the reader back to what prompted James White to embark on this ambitious work—a bold idea that piqued his curiosity. At times, the wealth of information here obscures the reasons for trucking through such exhaustive detail, but we eventually get back to the central issue: the many permutations that broadcasting can take in the world, and even what might have been.

White was working in Japan in the late 1980s when he heard about NHK president Keiji Shima's plan to develop a 24-hour global television news operation as a kind of rival to CNN that would infuse...

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