Tom McPhail is a Canadian professor of media studies and a fellow in the Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis

University of Missouri–St. Louis

The University of Missouri–St. Louis is one of four universities in the University of Missouri System. Established in 1963, it is the newest university in the UM System. , it is the largest university by enrollment in the St. Louis area with 16,548 students...

. He began his academic career with Marshall McLuhan and taught several seminars with McLuhan at the University of Toronto. He also serves as a media and internet analyst for many media outlets including AP, UPI, USAToday, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, NPR/PBS, Financial Post, and the New York Times. Previously he taught at the University of Calgary

University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...

, and Carleton University (Canada), the University of Hawaii

University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...

, Catholic University, and worked with UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 (Paris). He has published over 90 articles and several books, including GLOBAL COMMUNICATION: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends (Blackwell Publishers, 2006) second edition. It is the widest selling book in the world dealing with international communication and has been translated into Arabic, Chinese and Spanish. The book details McPhail's electronic colonialism

Electronic colonialism

Electronic colonialism theory was first started by Tom McPhail, a Canadian who began his career with Marshall McLuhan. Following a posting with UNESCO in Paris, McPhail wrote a book for SAGE entitled Electronic Colonialism: the Future of International Broadcasting and Communication in 1981. The...

 theory, which describes the impact of media (Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

, Viacom

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

, Disney, Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 etc.) and communication conglomerates (Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

, Yahoo!

Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

etc.) on individuals across the globe. The theory covers the American hegemony with reference to cultural industries. He also did a public policy study for a Montreal based think-tank in the mid-1980s which predicted the negative impact of the internet on the daily newspaper and other print publications/industries. It predicted the current demise of the daily newspaper some 30 years ago. In 2009 he published with Wiley-Blackwell a book on DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION which basically redefined the field.

Selected publications

1. McPhail, T. (1981) Electronic Colonialism: The Future of International Broadcasting and Communication. Newbury Park: Sage.
2. McPhail, T. & McPhail, B. (1990) Communication: The Canadian Experience. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman.
3. McPhail, T. (2002) Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
4. McPhail, T. (2006) Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends. (2nd ed.) London: Blackwell.
5. McPhail, T. (2010) Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends. (3rd ed.) London: Wiley-Blackwell.
6. McPhail, T. (2010) Development Communication: Reframing the Role of the Media. London: Wiley-Blackwell.