Globalization and Media

Globalization and Media

 Globalization- a set of multiple, uneven and

sometimes overlapping historical processes,
including economics, politics, and culture, that
have combined with the evolution of media
technology to create the conditions under which
the globe itself can now be understood as “an
imagined community”.
 -The two concepts have been partners throughout
the whole of human history.
 “Globalization and media have created the
conditions through which many people can now
imagine themselves as part of one world.”
Evolution of Media and
Globalization

 Tounderstand further the study

of globalization and media, it is
important to appreciate five
periods of the evolution of
media and globalization.
1. Oral Communication
 Language allowed human to
cooperate.
 It allowed sharing of
information.
 Language became the most
important tool as human being
explored the world and
experience different cultures.
 It helped them move and settle
down.
 It led to markets, trade and
cross-continental trade.
2. Script
 Language was important but
imperfect, distance became
a strain for oral
communication.
 Script allowed human to
communicate over a larger
space and much longer
times.
 It allowed for the written and
permanent codification of
economic, cultural, religious,
and political practice.
3. The Printing Press
 It started the “information
revolution”.
 It transformed social institutions
such as schools, churches,
governments and more.
 Elizabeth Eisenstein (1979)
surveyed the influences of the
printing press.
1. It changed the nature of
knowledge. It preserved and
standardized knowledge.
2. It encouraged the challenge
of political and religious authority
because of its ability to
circulate competing views.
4. Electronic Media
 The vast reach of these media continues to
open up new vistas in the economic,
political, and cultural processes of
globalization.
 Radio- quickly became a global medium,
reaching distant regions.
 Television- considered as the most
powerful and pervasive mass medium. It
brought together the visual and aural
power of the film with the accessibility of
radio.
 The electronic media and communication
sector, which ranges from
telecommunication networks and the
Internet, through to radio, television and
film, is itself among the most active in the
current drive for the globalization of
production, markets and trade
5. Digital Media

 Digital Media are often

electronic media that rely
on digital code.
 Many of our earlier media
such as phones and tv’s are
now considered digital
media.
 In the realm of computer it
allowed citizens to access
information from around the
world.
 Role of Media in Globalization
“Is it possible for globalization to occur
without media?”
 Mass media plays a
key role in extension
of globalization process.
The media components
such as television,
Internet, computers etc.
are considered to have a
paramount influence on
globalization. ... Radio is
one of the easiest and
cheapest media sources.
Global village

 The world viewed as

a community in
which distance and
isolation have been
dramatically
reduced by
electronic media
(such as television
and the Internet)
 Did You Know?
 The term global village is closely
associated with Herbert Marshall
McLuhan, the Canadian
communications theorist and
literature professor hailed by
many as a prophet for the 20th
century. McLuhan's mantra, "the
medium is the message,"
summarized his view of the
influence of television,
computers, and other electronic
information sources in shaping
society and modern life
 . By 1960, he had delineated his
concept of the "global village,"
and by 1970, the public had
embraced the term and
recognized the idea as both
exhilarating and frightening. As a
1970 Saturday Review article
noted, "There are no boundaries in
a global village. All problems will
become so intimate as to be one's
own...."
Media and Economic
Globalization
 Media fosters the conditions
for global capitalism.
 “Economic and cultural
globalization arguably would
be impossible without a
global commercial media
system to promote global
markets and to encourage
consumer values” – Robert
Mc Chesney
Media and Political Globalization

 Though media corporations

are themselves powerful
political actors, individual
journalists are subject to
intimidations as more actors
contend for power.
 In the age of political
globalization:
government shape and
manipulate the news.
Is this also true for
Philippines?
 Media complicate
politics…how?
Media and Cultural Globalization
 Media on one level are the
carriers of culture.
 It generates numerous and on-
going interactions
 Globalization will bring about
and increasing blending or
mixture of cultures. What is
the role of media in the
blending or mixture of culture?
Popular Music and
Globalization
 Technologies of transport, of
information and mediation,
including social media
platforms, have made possible
the circulation of cultural
commodities such as music.
 Circulation of cultural
commodities are consumed to
gain cultural capital and social
status.
 Goods and commodities became
a catalyst that set
globalization.
Globalization and the mass media.
Learning intention: Understand the
different interpretations of the role of
the mass media in globalisation.
Learning outcome: Produce a poster
outlining the arguments viewing the
mass media as either a positive or
negative driver of globalisation.
So where does the media fit into this?
Many people have argued
that globalisation and the
mass media go hand in
hand. How can we account
for the mass media in the
process of globalisation?

Boyle (2007) argues that the

mass media has changed the
way young people see
themselves. Young people
spend more and more time
online on social networks
with a global reach.
Is the mass media a positive force in
globalization?
• McLuhan (1962) used the term global
village. What does this mean?
The argument for….

• Mass media is a force for positive change in the

world.

• Mass media breaks down barriers of understanding.

• Can we now have ‘real world’ conversations in the

digital sphere that would have otherwise not taken
place?
• Flew (2002) suggests the media, through globalisation,
has created a global popular culture. What is this?

• Through TV, satellite, advertising and the

internet, global corporations such as Starbucks,
have spread a globally identifiable culture.

• Global culture or mass culture is everyday mass

media designed for mass consumption e.g.
tabloid newspapers, MTV, Hollywood films.
 • The Pluralist approach to the mass media.
What is this?
PLURALIST

• Argue that the media, like society, has become more

diverse; it offers greater variety and choice than
ever before.
• Consumers are in control and have the benefit of
huge choice in their media consumption – widening
their cultural horizons and giving them access to
high culture. What is this?

High culture is set apart from mass culture, often aimed at middle and
upper-class audiences. E.g. Intellectual literature, opera, documentaries.
Is the mass media a negative force in
globalisation?
• How could we be critical of the mass media’s role in
globalisation? Why does this matter?
MARXIST CRITIQUE, CULTURAL IMPERIALISM?
or
MEDIA IMPERIALISM? What is this?

• Fenton (1999) argues that global culture has led to

the westernisation of other cultures. The mass
media forces western cultural values (especially
American) on non-western countries.
• The mass media is damaging other cultures and
promoting cultural homogenisation, where
everything is the same.
 OTHER CRITICISMS OF THE MASS MEDIA AND
GLOBALIZATION

• Corporate entities a threat to democracy.

• Lack of regulation – the internet is the wild west of

information.

• Mass audiences has led to the ‘dumbing down’ of content,

there is actually less consumer choice.

• Increased social isolation. Virtuality and a loss of social

capital (real human networks of support in communities).

• Digital divide whereby those who don’t have access to the

mass media miss out, creating global inequalities.
 HOW ABOUT TO YOU?
Is media important?
How and Why ?