IMPACT OF NEW MEDIA ON GLOBALIZATION

Prepared for: Dr. Abu Yousuf Md. Abdullah Professor Institute of Business Administration University of Dhaka

Prepared by: Utal Antor Roll No. 95 BBA 19th

Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka

September 24, 2013

Introduction
The rise of new media has increased communication between people all over the world and the Internet. It has allowed people to express themselves through blogs, websites, pictures, and other user-generated media. Through the process of globalization, the political, economic, and sociocultural activities of one region of the world can have significant effects on people or communities in regions far away. Today's globalized world is characterized by extensive connectivity and global consciousness. The media play an essential role in globalization and have both positive and negative influences on children and adolescents. The trend of globalization has led many news organizations to go global. Global media are usually transnational organizations that generate messages or programs for dissemination to a large number of people around the world, which in turn quickens the globalization process and changes the social environment in which children and adolescents live. Globalization is part of the daily life of youth, affecting their work, leisure, entertainment, language, food, and so forth. In recent decades, technological advancements in cable, satellite, digital media, and the Internet have strengthened the impact of these media on globalization.

The New Media

We use the term new media to describe a media ecology where more traditional media, such as books, television, and radio, are converging with digital media, specifically interactive media and media for social communication. We have used the term new media rather than terms such as digital media or interactive media because we are examining a constellatio n of changes to media technology that cant be reduced to a single technical characteristic. Current media ecologies often rely on a convergence of digital and online media with print, analog, and non-interactive media types. New media is essentially a cyber-culture with modern computer technology, digital data controlled by software and the latest fast developing communication technology. Most technologies described as new media are digital, and often have characteristics of being networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and impartial. Examples are the internet, websites, computer multimedia, games, CD-ROMs and DVDs. Young people are attracted to the easy means of getting information with internet based terminals or hand phones which provide them information of their choice anytime, anywhere. They need not have to wait for any broadcasting schedule to be connected to get the information. Internet blogs, news portals and online news, Facebook, You Tube, podcast and webcast, and even the short messaging system (SMS), are all new media. The modern revolution enables everybody to become a journalist at little cost and with global reach. Nothing like this has ever 1

been possible before. The impact of new media was noticed by the Malaysian government which lost its two thirds majority in Parliament during the 2008 general elections. The government then depended on the mainstream media which it controlled to give information to the electorate while the opposition used new media which was faster, cheaper and reached a bigger audience. Ironically it was the government which spent billions of ringgit to foster the growth of new technology. New media refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation. Another aspect of new media is the real-time generation of new, unregulated content

Globalization and its Forces

Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, peopleand, later, corporations have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The member-states remain sovereign, but through their obligations and commitments, they have, to some extent, integrated themselves to the concerned international organizations and groupings. But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred increases in cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development. Since 1950, for example, the volume of world trade has increased by 20 times, and from just 1997 to 1999 flows of foreign investment nearly doubled, from $468 billion to $827 billion. Distinguishing this current wave of globalization from earlier ones, author Thomas Friedman has said that today globalization is farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper. This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies domestically and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and especially 2

during the past two decades, many governments have adopted free-market economic systems, vastly increasing their own productive potential and creating myriad new opportunities for international trade and investment. Governments also have negotiated dramatic reductions in barriers to commerce and have established international agreements to promote trade in goods, services, and investment. Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, corporations have built foreign factories and established production and marketing arrangements with foreign partners. A defining feature of globalization, therefore, is an international industrial and financial business structure. Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Information technologies have given all sorts of individual economic actorsconsumers, investors, businessesvaluable new tools for identifying and pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.

Types of Globalization
Economic Globalization
Economic globalization is the increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology, and capital. Whereas globalization is centered on the rapid development of science and technology and increasing cross-border division of labor, economic globalization is propelled by the rapid growing significance of information in all types of productive activities and marketization, and the advance of science and technologies. Depending on the paradigm, economic globalization can be viewed as either a positive or a negative phenomenon. Economic globalization comprises the globalization of production, markets, competition, technology, and corporations and industries. While economic globalization has been occurring for the last several hundred years, it has begun to occur at an increased rate over the last 2030 years under the framework of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and World Trade Organization which made countries to gradually cut down trade barriers and open up their current accounts and capital accounts.[3] This recent boom has been largely accounted by developed economies integrating with less developed economies, by means of foreign direct investment, the reduction of trade barriers, and in many cases cross border immigration. It can be argued that economic globalization may or may not be an irreversible trend. There are several significant effects of economic globalization. There is statistical evidence for positive financial effects as well as proposals that there is a power imbalance between developing and

developed countries in the global economy. Furthermore, economic globalization has an impact on world cultures.

Political Globalization
Traditionally politics has been undertaken within national political systems. National governments have been ultimately responsible for maintaining the security and economic welfare of their citizens, as well as the protection of human rights and the environment within their borders. With global ecological changes, an ever more integrated global economy, and other global trends, political activity increasingly takes place at the global level. Under globalization, politics can take place above the state through political integration schemes such as the European Union and through intergovernmental organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Political activity can also transcend national borders through global movements and NGOs. Civil society organizations act globally by forming alliances with organizations in other countries, using global communications systems, and lobbying international organizations and other actors directly, instead of working through their national governments. In general, globalization may ultimately reduce the importance of nation states. Supranational institutions such as the European Union, the WTO, the G8 or the International Criminal Court replace or extend national functions to facilitate international agreement. Some observers attribute the relative decline in US power to globalization, particularly due to the country's high trade deficit. This led to a global power shift towards Asian states, particularly China, which unleashed market forces and achieved tremendous growth rates. As of 2011, the Chinese economy was on track to overtake the United States by 2025. As a response to globalization, some countries have embraced isolationist policies. For example, the North Korean government makes it very difficult for foreigners to enter the country and strictly monitors their activities when they do. Aid workers are subject to considerable scrutiny and excluded from places and regions the government does not wish them to enter. Citizens cannot freely leave the country.

Cultural Globalization
Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values across national borders. This process is marked by the common consumption of cultures that have been diffused by the Internet, popular culture, and international travel. The circulation of cultures enables individuals to partake in extended social relations outside the borders. The creation and expansion of such social relations is not merely observed on a material level. Cultural globalization involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people

associate their individual and collective cultural identities, and increasing interconnectedness among different populations and cultures. Cultural globalization has increased cross-cultural contacts but may be accompanied by a decrease in the uniqueness of once-isolated communities. For example, sushi is available in Germany as well as Japan but Euro-Disney outdraws the city of Paris, potentially reducing demand for "authentic" French pastry. Globalizations contribution to the alienation of individuals from their traditions may be modest compared to the impact of modernity itself, as alleged by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Globalization has expanded recreational opportunities by spreading pop culture, particularly via the Internet and satellite television.

Importance of New Media

It is no secret that we believe the new media plays an important role in our political and civic future. What we are witnessing today is the emergence of a global culture in which information and access to information will be the factor that determines which way power and prosperity will go. It is a global system that transcends national borders and institutions and allows people to gain knowledge at the press of a few buttons on their computers. The emergence of blog streams is a reflection on societys awareness of the importance of information dissemination. Unfortunately this leeway has provided room for manipulation by irresponsible users. Such a situation gives rise to a poser. The trials and tribulations created by new media have impacted on society and nation. Repercussions are reflected in peoples thinking. New media wields great influence over the younger generation as they are IT-savvy and have an urge to know.

Impacts of New Media on Globalization

The concept of culture and new media is relatively new in the scholarly debate, however the rate at which technology has moved into the contemporary social lives is historically unprecedented. Now computers, the Internet, mobile phones, television and other portable digital media are competing with one and other in the ever growing electronic arena. More recently as a result of considerable technological advances there has been the convergence of technologies and an example of this is the convergence of mobile phone technologies with that of the Internet, media player and GPS navigation. Nowadays people spend a lot of their media time on screens of mobile phones and laptops than that they used to spend earlier on television screen or cinema. Trends toward online activities and interactive media uses have also resulted in a dramatic decline in traditional media consumption such as newspaper readership. The Washington Post reported on May 3, 2005 that circulation of 814 US daily newspapers declined 5

by 1.9 percent over the six months ended March 31 compared with the same period of previous year. The tendencies illustrate that new media technologies are at the very cultural heart of the contemporary society. Firstly, technology, such as the Internet, mobile phones, MP3 players, PDAs and iPods provide people with unlimited opportunity to access news, entertainment and interaction. The way people communicate each other and at the same time their media consumption has been revolutionized. Technology generates opportunities: new things to explain; new ways of expression; new media of communications; and creates new forms of destruction. Secondly, new media have also influence the social relations by radically breaking the connection between physical place and social place, making physical location much less significant for our social relationships that apparently creates the virtual communities transcending geographical boundaries and eliminating social restrictions. Howard Rheingold (2000) describes these globalized societies as self-defined networks, which resemble what we do in real life. "People in virtual communities use words on screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk". The latest phenomenon in the virtual world is the growing popularity of social networking culture based on Internet provided social networking groups such as Facebook and MySpace. Started with e-mails and chat room, online social networking is redefining social relations and comes up with a new and extremely fast means of communication. Search engines, newsgroups, fan clubs, forums and discussion rooms are other web applications that link all kinds of people, no matter their age, sex, citizenship, and cultural background. Advancement of new digital technologies forces critics, like Andrew L. Shapiro, to argue that the emergence of new digital technologies signals a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources. People share texts, videos, photos, voices, and everything - from food recipes to developing computer operating system and planning terrorist attacks. The era now we are encountering can be described as the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that blurs the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication. Nations that are facing shortages of drinking water and food have been helped by the Internet. For these countries, the Internet provided them with vital and desperately needed information about health issues and farming to the people. The best example of this is HealthNet. HealthNet is a networked information service that supports health-care workers in more than 30 countries, 22 of which are in Africa (Marston 96). HealthNet was primarily used by doctor sin Central Africa to share information during the 1995 deadly Ebola outbreak. Currently, HealthNet is used by malaria researchers in the northern part of Ghana to communicate with 6

colleagues at the London School of Tropical Medicine. Even though there are many new forms of media technology, sometimes the older and simpler technology is the best. In many rural areas and developing countries where literacy rates are low, having access to the Internet would not be the best form of media. In these instances, radio, which has been proven to be cost effective instructional medium in developing countries, is more appropriate than something that would require being able to read. Similarly to radio, television has been proven to be an effective medium to the urban poor who have sometimes been taught literacy skills by watching soap operas or one of the many international forms of Sesame Street. By using one of these older technologies, there is no need for instruction or training while still providing information access within the developing country.

Conclusion
New media can be seen as information and communication technologies plus their social usage. This last context-related dimension involves a) The devices used to communicate or convey information; b) The activities and practices in which people engage to communicate or share information; and c) The social or organizational forms that surround these devices and practices. This means that the analysis of new media can involve at least three analytical levels, ranging from devices through social practices of individuals or groups to organizations and organizational communication.

References
Chomsky, Noam. (1996 July). Media and Globalization: An Interview with Noam Bruder Katherine. April, 2007. The Globalization of Media in Developing Countries Sean Aday, Henry Farrell, Marc Lynch, and John Sides. September 2010. Advancing New Media Research Kraidy, M.M. (2005). Hybridity or the cultural logic of globalization. Temple University Press, Philadelphia. M. Krishnasamy. 2010. New Media vs Traditional Medi