Culture’s exemption from free trade: A study of media’s autonomy in the World Trade Organization

In recent trade negotiations, such as those that have taken place in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks and the World Trade Organization (WTO), proponents of free trade have argued that there is nothing exceptional about the media that should compel one to treat them differently from any other commodity. Media products should be subject to market de-regulation like any other mass-produced item, be it cars, computers or toys. Against this position have stood critical commentary and popular protest that resist the tendency to treat the media as a commodity like any other. Proponents of exemption have maintained that they have a cultural function or value that should exempt them from trade liberalization. The controversy is fascinating because it speaks directly to capitalism’s historical expansion to cultural production and the extent to which notions of value outside the commodity form continue to inform recent international discussions… [read more at link above]