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A very common fact: people, from birth, want to communicate. They
also want to develop and utilitize things -- technologies -- that make
their lives easier. These 2 driving desires within most humans are
the impetuses behind many communication technologies that have
developed over the years. People create technologies to communicate,
and communicate to create technologies. Technology empowers people to
more quickly and easily communicate with others to learn about and
transfer knowedge regarding their surroundings. It's a very natural,
indigenous quality to most humans.
Many such technologies are created to overcome barriers to
communicate, such as geographical and cultural ones. This is
especially true in the world of the media. The "media", particularly
"mass media," is a collective entity that represents a very good
example of where technology and communication complement each other
extensively to overcome those barriers. Because the driving desire to
both communicate and create technology exist within the same people
that are creating media systems and methodologies, the globalization
of the media is a natural result.
"For 50 years Rupert Murdoch has been preaching the gospel of
globalized media, paying dearly in many cases to get a hold of the
assets to make it possible. (1)
But what specifically are the major technologies driving this
globalization? It started with print. Then it moved to radio. Then
TV/film. Then the Internet. These are the 4 most substantial
contributors to the international pervasion of the media. Budding
technologies, including news via cell phones, PDA's, and other such
personal devices are also playing a role. The Internet in particular
has even expanded and harnessed these technologies, such as radio, TV,
and print, offering "cyber-delivery" versions of these first
generation media.
Television, for instance, has brought western influence and values --
however decadent at times -- to the east:
"Further globalization of television has brought scores of additional
channels to Indian viewers, especially since Indian laws do not bar
people from setting up their own satellite dishes. Even in countries
where satellite receiving dishes are illegal (e.g., Iran and Saudi
Arabia), millions of people disguise their satellite receiving dishes
so that they can view Western and non-Western satellite television
channels, including STAR TV, Z-TV, MTV, CNN, SKY-TV, and others."
Practically overnight, millions of Indian television viewers, long
used to the government-run TV stations' staid educational programming
and dramas based on tiresome Indian mythology, found themselves tuning
in to the likes of "Baywatch," "Dallas" and "Dynasty." In a land where
kissing has never been allowed in Indian movies or television
programming, TV viewers could now experience the "sex and violence"
culture long decried even in the West.(2)
Radio, particularly of the satellite variety, broadcasts international
news, music and the like -- from a car driver on Jay street to the
bicyclist on a london road. "For the international listener, both
offer BBC World Service, and in addition Sirius carries World Radio
Network. The latter includes Radio Netherlands in its North American
stream." (3)
The Internet, of course, has been a major leader in media
globalization:
"The fastest growing communications medium in history, the Internet --
with 78,332 new domain registrations per week and a current total of
4,772,674 domains (domainstats.com) -- has shifted global
communication onto a new level. Whereas television allowed a first
glimpse into the new global communication era with worldwide satellite
distribution and innovative global programming pioneered by CNN and
MTV, the Internet seems to finally have lifted the curtain for the
full vision of the truly global community. State borders decrease in
terms of political communication - news junkies in New York, Mexico
City, Cape Town, Beijing, Tokyo, Helsinki and Berlin eyewitness the
same breaking news events, not only through "Around the World in
Thirty Minutes" (as CNN's promotion stated) but instantanously via the
worldwide web." (4)
Physical print -- newspapers and magazines -- since their inception,
have relied on physical transportation technologies as the mechanism
for distribution. This represents one of the still thriving
industries that is not exclusively "0's and 1's" in terms of its
delivery. Every day, magazines and newspapers from Newsweek to Car
and Driver, and everything in between, rely on international couriers
to deliver their products to Baghdad, Beijing, and beyond.
"Technological change in these industries is proceeding at a dizzy
pace, such that the previous demarcation lines between publishing,
printing, broadcasting and entertainment have become increasingly
indistinct. At the same time, these knowledge-based industries are
linking with the computer and telecommunications industries in the
process of multimedia convergence. The kinds of jobs found in
printing, publishing, journalism, film, broadcasting and the
performing arts are often unlike those of a decade ago, requiring
different skills and changing the status of many workers -- an
evolution that will continue in the coming years. Employers in this
sector are increasingly likely to be multinational, multimedia
conglomerates, while the role of governments has often moved away from
direct involvement as an employer in broadcasting, publishing and
other areas towards a more distant, regulatory role, and workers are
more likely to be in atypical employment and less covered by
collective bargaining. Vastly increased consumption of media and
entertainment products and services has been a global phenomenon,
affecting even some of the poorest countries, while it is a hallmark
of the post-industrial, information-based economy in developed
countries. This growth has been tightly interwoven with the
introduction and use of ICTs, which have fostered a vast increase in
the size of media and entertainment markets by increasing the number
and geographical coverage of broadcast TV and radio channels, and by
rapidly improving the quality and affordability of equipment ranging
from radios, TVs and cassette recorders through to state-of-the-art
recording and film studios and digital media of all kinds. These
industries have been very dynamic, often among those at the forefront
of the economy in terms of corporate earnings and growth. Indeed, many
media and entertainment conglomerates have been able to spread their
messages worldwide with great success and speed, in ways which were
unthinkable a few years ago. (5)
I encourage you to read these articles, and use some of these search
terms in the Search Terms section of this answer, to find many more
articles on the subject.
(1) Media
http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue80/mag-media-80.html
(2) Yahya Kamalipour
http://www.iranian.com/YahyaKamalipour/2001/November/Media/
(3) XM and Sirius go Head to Head
http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/satellite011018.html
(4) Journalism in Cyberspace: An International Perspective
http://web.mit.edu/m-i-t/articles/volkmer.html
(5)Symposium on Information Technologies in the Media
and Entertainment Industries:
Their Impact on Employment, Working Conditions
and Labour-management Relations
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/techmeet/smei00/smeir.htm
Search Terms:
"globalization +of +the media"
"Globalized media"
"media globalization"
"mass media globalization"
"television +has" media globalization
"radio +has" media globalization
"<x> +has" media globalization [where x is a technology] |
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