Globalization is one of those words that can mean very different things to different people. To some it describes multiple ongoing processes that have shortened time and space; to others it is simply the cause of many of today's societal ills. For years, mass communication scholars have tried to make sense of these competing discourses and to explore the role of the media in bringing about some of the political, economic and social transformations associated with globalization.

The disruptive force of these processes has provoked multiple waves of social and political resistance, from the anti-globalization movement of the 1990s to the rise of ‘nativist populism’ in the 2010s. As different as these forms of resistance are, one thing binds them together: the significant role of the media in their formation, popularisation and, in some cases, demise.