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- Contemporary Media
- Media and Globalization
- Global Media
- cultural imperialism
- domination of national culture through media
- US media products dominate popular culture worldwide
- US media companies are global
- The Simpsons produced by animators in South Korea
- Hollywood films are co-financed by Chinese companies
- media companies are owned by Japanese or Canadian companies
- Mexican and Brazilian soap operas proliferate on North American television screens
- Facebook has local competition for social networking in many markets
- AT&T competes with British Telecom, Telefonica, and Deutsch Telekom across the world and at home
- Globalization of Media
- reduces the differences that existed between nations in time, space, and culture
- world is becoming a more integrated market based in capitalist economics
- media are more commercial
- supported by advertising
- aimed at consumers
- privatizing once state-owned telecommunications companies
- Glocal
- local people borrowing or adapting genre ideas
- national media productions draw on foreign models and genre formats
- local productions done with global forms and ideas
- Media Technology and Globalization
- International Telecommunications Union standardized telegraph transmissions across nations, 1865
- all nations now have some access to Internet and satellite television
- increased global reach and access to media
- globalized digital divide
- Regionalization
- linking together of nations based on geographic, cultural, linguistic, and historical commonalities
- European Union’s “television without frontiers”
- North America Free Trade Agreement
- Middle East and East African region
- common linguistic regions
- US-Canada
- Latin America
- Australia-New Zealand
- Cultural Proximity
- desire for cultural products in one’s own language and culture
- language is a cultural divider
- local cultural references are important dividers
- geolingustic regions import media products between member nations
- localization allows a global media company to adapt its programs to local markets
- National Media Production
- media companies first serve own national markets
- companies in larger, richer nations create more media than smaller, poorer nations
- national governments control media
- station licensing
- technology controls
- economic controls
- subsidies
- import quotas
- national governments can help or hinder growth
- Global Media
- Americanization of media was a significant concern
- globalization of media is more prominent
- American companies
- European companies
- East Asia
- Latin America
- Globalization of Recording Industry
- US owns no major recording company
- Warner-EMI
- Sony-BMG
- Vivendi-Universal
- News Agencies
- international news agencies emerged with the telegraph, 1840s
- Associated Press (US)
- Reuters (Great Britain)
- Agence France Presse (France)
- international news media technologies
- newspapers
- radio
- television
- Internet
- International Radio
- radio remains a mass medium in the poorest countries
- international radio carried on long-distance, shortwave
- Africa One
- Voice of America
- Radio France
- BBC World
- these are now transmitted over medium wave and streamed over the Internet
- Music
- music seems to be the most globalized and the most localized of all media
- American and European music
- variety of local music
- globalized youth culture prefers American and European music
- global flow of music files over the Internet
- regional music spread on global platforms like Internet radio, digital downloads, and YouTube
- governments can require certain portion of nationally produced music played on radio stations to protect local music
- Canadian content laws, i.e., “Can-con”
- piracy is a threat to commercial viability of both global and local music
- Film
- most globalized and most difficult to sustain on a local basis
- Hollywood film emerged after World War I as the dominant form
- high cost of filmmaking is a high barrier to entry
- filmmaking is financially risky and requires vast resources to absorb losses
- distribution channels are globalized and are controlled by MPAA
- filmmaking across the globe
- Nigerian “Nollywood” relies on quick, low-cost filmmaking techniques
- European and East Asian films distributed throughout the world, including the US
- some countries subsidize filmmaking to sustain industry
- Hollywood has been drawing money and talent from around the world to sustain its own dominance
- Television
- ownership
- government
- non-profit public corporations
- increasingly privatized, selling public assets to private owners
- relatively few channels are available
- broadcast on scarce VHF frequencies
- expensive to produce
- government-controlled to develop own society and control domestic politics
- satellite television brought new competition
- American programming dominates but faces challenges
- countries produce their own local programming
- countries establish quotas to limit imports
- Cable and Satellite TV
- cable has been expanding throughout the world
- direct broadcast satellite provide new channels in many countries throughout the world
- expanded dramatically in Latin America and Middle East
- digital television came to Europe and Japan, before the US, 1998
- Telecommunications Systems
- transoceanic worldwide satellite networks
- regional satellite systems
- Arab League’s Arabsat
- European Union’s Eutelsat
- regulatory bodies
- International Telecommunications Union regulates radio frequencies, telephone/mobile phone standards
- United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization promotes exchanges of knowledge, education, and media
- telecommunications companies are going international
- cellular and mobile telephony adopted in many countries where wireline networks did not proliferate
- text messaging applications
- limited wireless Internet access
- Computer and Tablet Access
- use of computers concentrated in industrialized nations
- tablet sales overtaking computer sales throughout the world
- purchase and use of computers has been spreading globally, albeit unequally
- limited access to computers will keep business and professionals from competing in a globalized marketplace
- tablets and smartphones may help close that gap
- Internet Access
- grew out of the United States
- proved attractive elsewhere
- cellular infrastructure make up for the lack of wireline phone, cable TV infrastructure
- South Korea and Singapore superior broadband access compared to US
- offers prospects for communication across borders
- national governments seek to control political, sexual, or religious content on the Internet
- International Regulation
- treaties between countries, multinational agreements, and rules established by international organizations
- International Telecommunications Union has power to enforce technical standards
- Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers create URLs in all languages
- allocates radio spectrum frequencies to prevent interference
- governs international agreements on satellite footprints
- Political Economy of Cultural Imperialism
- uneven flows of film, television, music, news, and information from the United States and Europe
- cause for cultural erosion and change
- increasingly global economics underlying the structures of media
- cultural imperialism argument lost force as other countries increase own media production
- Cultural Impact of Media and Information
- extensive flow of a variety of media contents between countries
- cultures have never been truly isolated
- McLuhan posited a “global village” in light of electronic media
- media and information technologies might decentralize the global village
- Flow of Information
- media flows could diminish national sovereignty, supplanting domestic forces in control of a nation’s economy, politics, and culture
- free flow of information reflects the basic concept of freedom of speech
- people can both send and receive information across borders
- UNESCO promoted a free and balanced flow of information by aiding development of information to produce and export media
- US rejected UNESCO proposal, 1980
- US withdrew from UNESCO, 1983
- International Trade
- governed by regional and global trade organizations
- European Union
- NAFTA
- World Trade Organization
- tarriffs
- taxes imposed by governments on goods imported from other countries
- United States opposes protectionist measures on international trade
- WTO strengthened copyright and intellectual property protections of digital media
- World Intellectual Property Organization created in 1974 to safeguard copyright and related interests
- MPAA pushes hard for international enforcement of copyright protection
- Hacking and Cyber Warfare
- countries try to stealing economic, technological, military, and political secrets from each other
- United States has denounced China military for stealing secrets
- National Security Agency engaged in extensive cyber-espionage
- US and Israel tried to damage Iranian nuclear capabilities through cyber attacks
- Global Media and Development
- can media serve national or local development?
- developing nations need media to close the gap
- UNESCO uses media to promote education, health, agriculture, local values
- focus of development
- address health issues in Africa
- provide computers to students in developing countries
- close the gap between the information haves and have-nots