The Connection Between Media And Globalization

The Connection Between Media And Globalization The mass media play an important to enhance globalization, facilities cultural exchanges and varied flows of information and image between countries through international news broadcasts, television, programming, new technologies, film, and music. Most communication media have become increasingly global going beyond the nation-state scope. During 1990’s, the mainstream media then were relatively only national or local in perspective. The deregulation policies of the various states in Europe and the US have allowed the proliferation of cable and the satellite channels. The development of capitalism, new technologies, and the increasing commercialization of global television have a huge impact in the international flows of information. The cultural dimensions of globalization have a profound influence on the whole globalization process. As far as the 21st century can be traced, there was a rapid development of the global communications with the introductions of the telegraph in 1837, the growth in the postal services, cross-border telephone, radio communications, and the creation of the modern mass circulation press in Europe. A very striking progress was the evolution of technologies capable of transmitting messages through electromagnetic waves. The birth of international news agencies during thee 19 th century lighted the path towards the global system of codification. Until the 1960’s, the launch of the first geo-satellite communication satellites through electromagnetic transmission became completely global in character. This later paved the way in the globalization of communications as a distinguished phenomenon in the 20 th century. Mass media is a deceptively simple term encompassing the countless array of institutions and individuals who differ in purpose, scope, method, and cultural context. Mass media include all forms of information communicated to large groups of people, from a handmade sign to an international news network. There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes mass communications. There are also no constraints on the type of information being presented. Globalization may result to cultural imperialism both within and between countries. The media in developing countries would import foreign news items, cultural and television genre formats and such values of capitalist consumerism and individualism. Unfortunately, the scenario led to a relationship of subordinations of the developing states in relation to the First World countries. The letter had an established relationship with the historical roots in European colonialism, which culminated in a core periphery relationship. Moreover, the development of the transnational corporation and the strategic planning of the US government as external factors further molded the historical evolution of the commercial broadcasting systems amon the Latin American countries. However, Oliver Boyd-Barrett (1977-1998) modified the concept of the media imperialism by showing relevance to media globalization. He contented that the merit of the cultural imperialism theory is based on the fact that it was more concerned with

inequalities between nations and how these reflected a wider political and economic conflicts or dependency. One limitations of the cultural imperialism theory is its tendency to result in a hypodermic needle, which is a model of American values being inculcated into the Third World countries. But, the theory did not recognize fully the intra-nation media relations through which the media contributed to oppression patterned class, gender, and race. The Western dominance of news broadcasting has reproduced the prejudice of colonialism. Specifically, the United Nations Educational, Scientific ad Cultural Organization or UNESCO conducted a debate about international communications. Hence the news agencies came under attack by the developing countries during the New World Information and Communication Order or NWICO. The cultural imperialism thesis declined with the rise of the post modernism theories. Here, there was the embrace of the neo-liberal discourse by the US and UK governments from the 1980’s onwards. This as the later followed by the decline of the grand narratives, which is regarded as part of the modernist discourse in the 1970’s. the criticism of this approach is based on its focus on the exclusive American cultural dominance and a historical context mainly attached to the Cold War paradigm. Hence the theory is no longer considered as appropriate to properly discuss the shifting economic and media environment and the growth of the Asian tigers. The restructuring of the European powers and the multiplication of media corporations are no longer regarded as exclusively American at the end. Thompson (1995,169) stressed on how symbolic power overlaps with the economic and the political aspects in the globalization process. This explained how the appropriation of globalized media products interacts with the localized practices, which can either serve to consolidate relations of the power or create new forms of dependency. Moreover, Schiller 1960s had changed. But highlighted that cultural domination remained American in form and contenct while the economic basis had become globalized. Herman and McChesney (2004) presupposed that the active audience perspective will be beneficial to the resistance against media globalization and commercialization. But this tends to undermine the perspectives concomitant with the grand narrative using the micro textual analysis. The audience is always a co-producer and dismissed the consequences of de-politicization as a result of a media entertainment-led diet. It is a misnomer though that every American programme or cultural product is necessarily packaged with the consumerist capitalist values. Such that there is no diversity and complexity in the form of American cultural production and the ways in which it is accepted by audiences in the different states. Tomlinson (1999) highlighted reasons in favour of the cultural imperialism approach, stating the real nature of global culture and growing paradigm of capitalism. Neverdeem Pieterse (2004) discussed the concept of hybridization as more appropriate to understand the complexity of flows and cultural mixing of current globalization processes. Some critics defend that a global media system is not really

replacing the national communication media. There are indeed dsitictive differences between political systems and cultural particularities, which prevent complete homogenization. There is a need to recognize the blending of local cultures with global foreign influences switching then to global culture as a ground of hybridization and not homogenization or just mere cultural diffusion of the American values. Thus Nederveen Pieterse (2004) considered hybridity as being part of a certain postmodern sensibility. This is a liberation from the West’s historical legacy of Eurocentric thinking and colonialism. According to the hybridization view, the impact of global culture does not necessarily lead to the extinction of the local. Hence the hybrid styles are in the essence the consequence of the combination of modern styles with national and political traditions or regional identities. Curran (2002) mentioned one criticism to hybridity reflecting on the reluctance in looking at economic power and the impact of giant media corporations in influencing the cultural preferences. Moreover, the effect of the blending of the global with national influence does not in the end comprise ‘authentic’ cultural practice, but rather the commodification and appropriation of the ‘exotic’ by the capitalist media corporation. The latter can sell these multicultural product in a global market. These can include world music to Bollywood films and tourism paraphernalia. Consequently, these difference and diversity are exploited by the global market to earn profits. Such a genuine recognition of the other non-Western or Third World cultures became too ideal. The Western self- identities have become more in contact with the post-colonial ‘other’ as a result of the increasing media globalization and the growing multiculturalism in the West. This situation challenges the rigid cultural assumptions about the West’s cultural superiority in relation to the rest of the World. But given the decline of Western imperialism and the intricacies of the flows between people, trade, and culture across the world, this has made the image of globalization as one of a decentered network of unstable and shifting patterns of power distribution. Both have undermined the coreperiphery model. The relationship between localities and the social circumstances became changed with the global communication systems. Held(1999) noted how the global communication media facilitated the birth of cultural cosmopolitanism, or a cosmopolitan sensibility caused by the increasing speed and intensity of its functioning. Thus the image brought about by the media of distant events and on how people from the different parts of the world live resulted in the celebration of difference. But this further stimulated a cosmopolitan orientation in the public sectors, the creation of a global civil society, global public sphere or international community. It is worth knowing though that a global media and the increasing global flow of people and goods across borders have not completely destroyed the local ties. Globalization as an aggregation of cultural flows or networks is a less coherent and unitary process than cultural imperialism and one is which cultural influences move in many different directions.

Analysis of both media power and media markets draws attention to the nature of media institutions or what occurs within the institutions that solicit, produce, manage and distribute media content. It also points to the importance of media policy as a sytems of institutionalized governance mechanisms over the structure, conduct and performance of media organizations by, for the most part, national governments. Largescale corporate organizations came to dominate the media and related industries in the 20th century, as they did in most sectors of the economy, as there was both greater concentration of media ownership and the absorption of small-scale commercial media producers and distributors by larger corporate conglomerates.

Globalization Of Media Sparks (2000) argued that no media is genuinely global in nature. Hence globalization of media is not a term of global character. The concept of global media’s audience is broad to be understood as too small, too rich, and too English-speaking to be inclusive. The existence of a global public sphere is largely state-oriented. However there is no dispute that all these globalizing forces are made possible with the aid of mass media at both domestic and global level. Globalization is looked at as a positive force unifying widely different societies and integrating them into a global village. The said concept is described as an inevitable product of human evolution and progress; as if it were an organic developmental process ruled by the natural laws. But it must be noted that globalization is not necessarily a natural progression coming out from the regular communication and interaction of people and cultures worldwide. But rather it should be treated as a result of international human decision by the influential group of nations, transnational corporations, and international organizations, and international organizations. With the help of the modern communications and infromations technologies, these large firms and businesses maximize profits by associating themselves in the global foreign markets. To reiterate, globalization is not a new phenomenon as a buzzword in the 1990s. At the turn of the millennium the characterization of interdependence more than 20 years ago also now becomes applicable to globalization. The same widespread feeling that the very nature of politics keeps on changing. It is meant to cover different phenomena with globalization and interdependence encompassing various meaning Grieco and Holmes (1999) said that globalization has been driven by the interests and needs of the world. This is related to the fact that global developments are characterized not by their growth dynamics but their linkages to globalization itself. Hence it cannot be avoided to tackle the huge aspects of global economy as units of the analysis (Woods, 1988, Tussie, 1994, Cerry, 1994, Krugman and Venables 1995, Tebin and Estabrooks, 1995, Biersteker, 1998, De Vet, 1993, Kahler, 1993, Dunning 1998, Obadina, 1998, Madungu 1999, Colle, 2000, Ohuabunwa, 1999, And Otokhine, 2000).

Based on the ideas of Wildman and Siwek (1998), language is regarded as the delicate divider of media markets, which provides a strong barrier to media imports. The trade relations on television among countries become highly influenced by language. In the case of the United States most of what little imported television and films Americans watch derives from the Great Britain, New Zealand or Australia. The same is true with the British pop music, which is widely accepted; other musicians like the Icelander Björk have to sing in English to engage into the US market. There are several aspects of culture which are important in defining the kind of audiences, apart from language. These include jokes, slang, historical and political references, gossip about stars, and remarks on the current people and events that are culture-oriented and even nation-specific. These are shared across borders but are helpful in building cross-national markets. These cultural-linguistic markets emerge at a smaller level than global but definitely larger than national. These markets are based on common cultures that span borders. This is happening in America as it grows beyond its own market to export in the global field. A number of companies have grown beyond their original local markets to serve this cultural-linguistic world. Examples include Mexico, Brazil, and Valenzuela, which dominate more of the intra-Latin America trade in music, film, and television. This is also evident in Hong Kong, which originally dominated much of the Asian Market when it comes to the material arts and gangster films and pop music. There are economic and organizational forces behind cultural globalization. Hence the latter requires an organizational infrastructure. The numerus activities in the advanced state on news and entertainment media is a form of globalization, which are distributed to countries all over the world. Hence it can be gleaned that the dominance of a specific country in the global media marketplace is more of an economic functions rather than cultural. In reality though, a small number of media conglomerates dominate the production of global distribution of film, television, music, and even book publication. The globalization of communications media is a challenge due to several factors like the trans border date flow, cultural imperialism, media and information flows, the flows of information, media trade, and the effects of national developments. Hence the media imperialism during the 1980s and 1990s became attacked. The global flows are considered multi-directional. This is contradictory to the idea of one-way flow of communication and influence from the West. The increasingly hybridized western and eastern cultures can complicate the Western image of domination. Giddens (1999) pointed to the reverse colonization like the case of the export of Brazilian television programs to Portugal and the Hispanization of the South California. For the global media enterprise to sustain their expansion, it must adapt to the local cultures and link up the with local partners. Cultural imperialism is a big international issue in communication due to the unequal flows of film, television, music, news and information. This situation appears alarming to many nations. First, this scenario is regarded as one cause of the cultural

erosion and change. Some fear the American ideas, image, and values as replacement to the traditionalists perspectives. But some French authorities kept American words such as drugstore and weekend from creeping into the common use by the French people. Wood(1998); Straubhaar & LaRose(2004) disclosedthe serious consequences of this media flow. According to the cultural imperialism theory, the global economic system dominated by a core of advanced countries while Third World countries remain at the periphery of the system with little control over their economic and political progress. The key actors of the system include the multinational or transnational corporation, which produce goods, control markets, and disseminate products by using similar techniques and strategies. Hence this cultural imperialism is the kind of cultural domination by the powerful nations over weaker nations. It is regarded as purposeful and deliberate as it corresponds to the political interests of the United States and the other powerful capitalist societies. The effects of this paradigm are viewed as extremely pervasive and leading to the homogenization of the global culture.

Media And Economic Globalization The media have made economic globalization possible by creating the conditions for global capitalism and by promoting the conceptual foundation of the world’s market economy. Media makes capitalism seem not only natural but necessary to modern life. Media scholar Robert McChesney(2001) reminds us, Economic and cultural globalization arguably would be impossible without a global commercial media system to promote global markets and to encourage consumers values. Together with Edward Herman (1997) call global media the new missionaries of global capitalism. Media now are huge transnational global corporations that embody globalizations even as they celebrate globalization. Modern media are the epitome of economic globalization. MchChesney in his study contends that the media oligopoly of the global village or the evangelizing of the cultural values. It is only interested in on thing profit. Katharine Sarikakis (2008) in her study of the European Unions says, the normative framework, necessary for the legitimization of policies that transformed the media across Europe, redefined the public in its relation to the media, as consumers of media services and accumulators of cultural goods, rather than as members of an informed and active citizenry. Adorno and Horkeimer (2002) a critical theorist, argued that a culture industry which produced mindless entertainment, had great social, political, and economic importance. Such entertainment, can distract audience from critical thinking, sapping time and energy from social and political action. Transnational conglomerates encouraged people to think of products not politics. They are consumers not citizens.

The global oligopoly of media thus helps create a passive apolitical populace that rises from the couch primarily for consumption. The oligopoly’s single-minded interest in profits results in mass content rather than local content. Media in economic globalization has disastrous influence on news and what used to be called public affairs reporting. Rather than producing homegrown programming on public affairs and issues, local media outlet carry the mass-produced content of their conglomerates owners. With this, one scholar call the results the mass production of ignorance. Daya Kishan Thussu decries the poverty of news and says that the issues concerning the worlds poor are being increasingly marginalized as a softer lifestyle variety of reporting appears to dominate global television news agendas Shahira Fahmy (2010) studied foreign affairs reporting after 9/11. She suggested that an events surrounding the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center, and the subsequent wars in Afganistan and Iraq, would combine with the expolosion of new media to produce a wealth of Coverage. “How Could So Much Produce So Little” is the title of her essay.

Effects Of Globalization On Mass Media Mass media defined as collectively all the media technologies that are intended to reach a lagre audience through mass communication. Broadcast media is also known as electronic media, which transmit the information electronically and comprise of television, film, and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs, and some other gadgets such as camera or video consoles. While print media utilize a physical object as a means to send information, inclusive of newspaper, magazine, brochures, etc. Photography is also communicated via visual representation (International Journal of Asian Social Science 2(1o): 1672-1693). The New-age Media include the mobile phones, computers, and internet. The term print media composes such organizations, which control technologies like TV stations or publishing companies. Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people, and economic activity. This has a strong impact in economics, which includes the global distribution of the production of goods and services through the reduction of barriers to international trade like tariffs, export fess, and import quotas. Undeniably globalization contributed to the economic development for both the developed and developing states. This also include the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, and popular culture. Anthony Mcgrew considered globalization as a multidimensional phenomena. There are components attached to this like communication, which regard globalization as the increasing mutual communication. Such that social, political, and economic activities influence and are influenced by the trans-national events. Globalization strengthens mutual interactions thus creating a new global system. The intensity growth and communications extent would result to the elimination of the distance between

domestic and international issues. The people on their local lives feel the global aspects of their existence when these communications become strengthened and depend. Through global cooperation, the growing communications establish some issues at the transnational level. The media has much impact in a world of increasing globalization. The past made it difficult to get diverse views but with the aid of globalization, the information has spread possibly to places. This contributes to democratic process and influences especially on countries, which are not democratic. But on the negative note, globalization has the ability to push the ideas and cultures of more dominant interest. Cultural imperialism becomes a skepticism to many countries since people become afraid that their culture will be lost or be in a back seat because of the growing demands and influence of globalization. The people around the world become transformed into model consumers, which is patterned after the Western standards while their local cultures become gradually eroded. The query now is on whether or not the local cultures and traditions will exert efforts to influence the local forms of globalization. The varied reactions and responses now become evident worldwide. In a general sense, globalization provides an adequate timely processing of information. Almost all people in the news organization are able to get a reach on the international news. However, this led to the costs of worldwide communication which had decreased. Nowadays, a broad coverage of international print media output can be accessed on the domestic or local grounds. What used to be suppressed as news and features have now become a worldwide knowledge. Street (2001; 173-74) explained that globalization promotes homogeneity, which means there are similar thoughts and principles, identical films and songs carried on worldwide. Everyone must take pleasure in equivalent advantage in a democratic state. Globalization develops ideas. It is plausible to communicate ideas and information from one area to other parts of the world because of the advent of the internet and mobile phone systems. Herman, et al. (2004: 133) gave Bangladesh as an example where people having an Internet connection can easily share ideas with other parts of the world. This enhances communication inequality within and between countries. Freedom of the press is signified for the successful operation of democracy. It becomes a conflict for every government to control media, as a consequence of globalization and global media. This globalization encourages competition among the different media sectors, which further facilitate the construction diversities of the neutral programmers. Particularly in Bangladesh, there are now 19 private TV channels and more than 10 are pending the government approval. The overall standard of this programme is growing. One of the important features of democracy is that the different political parties, ethnic, and religious groups can set up a website and enhance deliberations to raise their voices over a particular issue. Globalization helps to develop media and communication affecting the traditional patterns of social interaction.

This helps to build up good social relationship and strengthens democracy, Thompson (1995) enunciated that the development of new media and communications does not exist simply in the establishment of new networks for the transmission of the information between individuals whose basic social relationship remains untouched. The growing development of media and communications will create new forms of action and interaction. Globalization is inseparable in the outburst of such values as the rights of women and minority. These can aid human causes and agitate customary roles. Hence the poor woman in the society are also getting mobile phones and are doing their businesses. There has been changed of role from housewife to income generating functions. They are now in chare of making family decisions. To make people aware about any events immediately, convergence becomes the new dimension of media. Mass media are now used to encourage active political citizenship, even in the case of electronic voting (Tambini, 1999:306).