Words: 2097
How have media institutions been impacted by globalization ? Answer through the presentation of two case studies with reference to the course readings. In 1 969 Mclean and Powers analyses the process of integration of different countries and described globalization as all nations contributing toward a ‘Global Village’. If we see this as truth this rather simplistic ideology which has been applied to many areas of our cultures including the media has of course had its impact upon the infrastructure of media institutes, including how they operate and how they are governed, but also how they evolved.
The journey of globalization began from developments such as the printing press in 1450 and the invention of the internet in 1989, it also includes such factors as the industrial revolution and the development of the transportation system. All systems that have contributed in the networking and integration of different countries through economic, political and cultural aspects of society.
German and Mclean understood how wide the spectrum was when realizing how globalization has developed, “Recent developments have not occurred in isolation, and late nineteenth and early twentieth-century innovations were important for the emergence of global communications networks. One such development was the extension of underwater cable systems by the European great powers beginning in the (German et al Mclean; 2009; pig 266) This suggests that innovations of the past, laid the foundations for the future of globalization and seems to possess an element of evolution.
This is true for media institutes, which over time have seen developments from the printing press to TV and radio, all of which happened at different points in history, and furthered the ideology of globalization. When we now consider the validity of the theory of convergence put forward by Henry Jenkins, there is no question how this has developed our world.
Oneness, Henry; 2006) The contributing factors that constitute globalization have collectively remitted the flow of information in terms of media and nothing has had a more profound effect on media then recent developments such as the digital era, which is widely known as the paramount explanation behind the acceleration of globalization. These factors such as the internet that constitute globalization can have a profound impact upon media institutes as he media world learns to adapt to the current technological advancements which we blindly test and trial.
The institutes must adapt, but also lead the way through these changes, and fast. For me to further portray the impacts of globalization on media institutes I have chosen to study, CNN the American news Corporation, I will also look at the impact that the internet had on the globalization of media institutes. CASE STUDY 1 CNN – American News corporation CNN is an American news programmer watched by a global audience of over one billion. Launched on 1st June 1980, they have gone on to become one of he biggest news networks in America.
CNN have endorsed the ideology of globalization and is available in 212 countries, with news branches including CNN international, . The company is owned by media conglomerate Time- Warner TABS-AOL who currently own a large percentage of the world media content. With the sheer numbers that watch CNN its important to recognize the consequences of this empowerment, as terms such as the ‘CNN’ effect do not derive from nowhere. Professor Steven Livingston identified 3 aspects to the CNN effect, (1) a policy agenda-setting agent, (2) an impediment to the achievement of sired policy goals, and (3) an accelerate to policy decision making. Livingston, Steven; 1997) This notion that 24 hour news coverage to a mass audience influences political decisions and requires a faster degree of emergency was demonstrated in a catalogue of events over the past 30 years including the Gulf war (where the term derives from) and 9/1 1 . This has impacted the political system greatly and the link between what is broadcast on the news becoming the subject for politicians is ever present paradigm, but is also highly seductions with the emergence of global 24 hour news media.
This suggests that mass media on a global scale forces media institute to take a immediate political stance on a particular issues with camera’s waiting. This political power that commercial media institutes gain through globalization their media, has become difficult to control as well as regulate, something they can only really control by censorship. Chorus recognized a cultural problem with the globalization of media, “awhile new global media can cross cultural boundaries, this does not always bring people closer together.
In truth it can deteriorate foreign relations as cultural barriers are broken down by American media” Chorus, 2004). Chorus suggested that the globalization of America has an adverse effect, perhaps Chorus could be alluding to the theoretical reasoning behind campaigns such as the propaganda of the 9/1 1 incidents where a ‘War on Terror was the slogan that was heavily incorporated by CNN in their news reports, and the blame quickly turned towards the eastern world and a self detrimental war was created by America.
Such events would validate the propaganda model suggested by Chomsky and Herman (1988). We can see here that the impacts of globalization leaves margins for media institutes to make grave errors that effect humanity in all kinds of cultural and societal ways, which begs the question, how do we control these new technologies to ensure that these paste empowerment to media institutes to ensure they do not execute the use of theories as the Hypodermic Needle Theory or the Magic Bullet Theory ?
CASE STUDY 2 Introduction of the World Wide Web When Sir Tim John Burners Lee completed his invention of the World Wide Web in March 1989, it had a profound effect on media institutes and how they mediated their content. We were able to search websites, communicate ND ask questions when Google developed in 1998. The primary way in which the internet impacted the media institutes was of course the ennoblement to immediate transfer information in real time, giving the media corporations the abilities to speed up the sourcing of information, enabling them to reach further, faster.
The competition within the media industry to deal with this technological revolution was fierce as companies such Blockbuster and mainstream record stores like HIM, struggled to keep their businesses as everything became digitalis. The internet was acting as a fast vehicle for globalization coming a profound force within the ideology. German and Mclean understood this and suggested an anomaly with the development of technology, “Tech analogical developments and the rise of new media have been fundamental to the changes in global communications.
The extension of finer-optic cable systems, of satellite links, of internet communication networks as well as the derogation of telecommunication systems, have made it possible to bypass the borders of nation states that traditionally exercised regulatory powers over the media institutes” Media inventions like the TV were easier mediums to regulate, however the internet with its unlimited size and endless possibilities meant that governments had less control over the media, as more people began using it.
The internet gave birth to all sorts of material, and accelerated the production of alternative, radical media as research and communication which became accessible, the internet was a platform for people to express any view they had. John Dowling agrees with this, “The internet represents a new era for the alternative media. As an inter- connected infrastructure for multiple forms of communications, it facilitates an era of convergence of media technologies. (Ion D. H. Dowling; 2001 ; pig 202) Dowling goes agrees that this theory of convergence has allowed for people to connect and share an “unprecedented distribution of knowledge” (Dowling;2001) to almost anywhere. This is supported by the recent shifts from mainstream commercial media toward radical media, as people turn to eyewitness, weightlessness and people who oppose the political system. Are we seeing the decline Of mainstream media ?
As the internet became global, so began the inevitable utilization of corporate entities as the popularity of this invention proved to become an interesting platform for online advertising which began in 1994. While interviewed on media globalization and the impacts, Chomsky raises an interesting point, “It will reflect the points of view of those who can amass the huge capital to run international media.
Diversity and information will decline, media will get more and more advertiser-oriented” (Chomsky, NOAA;1996) Chomsky was referring to the narrowing and concentration of media sources that would eventually cause a decline in the content. He suggests that the media institute will become more orientated toward the needs of the advertiser, and would be more inclined to producing media content that will e popular in the ratings, rather then reflecting the needs of their audience.
He also suggests that the points of view will be driven by profit for the capital gain. We have seen the corporate grip take its hold on media institutions such as popular websites such as You-Tube, who adopted a advert orientated system after being brought by Google for $1. 65 Billion in 2006. This capitalizing of our media has been recently and more directly been observed by the public, as our most recent societal development, the internet, was the fastest to develop and displayed quickly how the internet as a businesses adapted to his.
How can we stop the advertising industry from ruining our media industry when it is a driving force behind our economy? We begin what Ritzier meant when he said, “Everyday life has been Dignified, Nationalized and Coca-Colonized” (Ritzier, George;2004) This notion of media being driven by profit is also reiterated by Herman and Machines, “by their essential nature the commercial media will integrate well into the global market system and tend to serve its needs. This mean greater openness to foreign commerce in media products, channels and ownership” (Herman and Machines; 1997;pa)
This fear that the commercial global media is doomed to becoming a corporate business at the detriment of the artistic intentions of the concerned media institute is a topic of debate, and one that is made prominent and ever topical by the fact that only 6 companies own 90% of the worlds media. CONCLUSION There is a very wide and ambiguous spectrum of impacts upon media institutes when considering globalization, its an ever going process of evaluation that is hard to predict or measure, the only way which we can is to study the implication and ramifications of the current globalization vehicles that we use in the present day.
Friedman said that, “[Media globalization] will be seen in time as one of those fundamental shifts or inflection points, like Guttenberg invention of the printing press, the rise of the nation-state, or the Industrial Revolution-??each of which, in its day, noted Arthropod, produced changes in the role of individuals, the role and form Of government, the ways business was done and wars were fought, the role of women, the forms religion and art took, and the way science and research were conducted, not to mention the political labels that we as a civilization have assigned to ourselves and our enemies. Friedman, Thomas;2005) Friedman summaries some of the impacts of media globalization can be, and this in turn theorists the results of how media institutes are impacted by globalization and by the effect it has on society. The media institute can become, or be forced to take a political stance as discussed earlier with the CNN effect, we must also not rule out the corporate interests and how they direct the institutes away from their original ethos such as You Tube.
Through what we perceive as becoming a ‘Global Village’, has also had its impact on locally run media stations which is currently seeing a decline in dating. The globally commercial media with its ever expanding is therefore forced to represent public opinion as well as deciphering the status quo, cultural and societal attitudes.
The power placed upon media institutes can also however play an important role in correcting these attitudes such as the promotion of women’s rights and as a result of their mass audience are able to help provide aid to countries with aid in times of natural disasters or crisis. The competitive global media industry forces media institutes to learn to adapt to the ever changing communicative channels of our modern world, as without doing so hey could face the decline in what is essentially a corporate business.