What is ‘global’ about Arab Media? – Tarik Sabry
Sabry argues that in order for media to be classified as global it has to be accessible in other countries, has to be able to overcome language barriers (usually by using English), and has to be consumed by people from all levels of society internationally.
He claims that Arab media will not be able to break into the Global market for a number of reasons. In part this is because there are very tight policies around the media content and so new media is mostly rejected by the state authorities. This is because the media is monopolized by the Government who have direct control over what can and cannot be broadcasted. He also states that, in comparison to other nations the access to media and information technologies are relatively limited and most electronic technology is imported from the Western market. In addition to this, a large proportion of television programs in the Middle East are created in a western style or are imported directly from the Western market. This is because there is a need to censor anti-imperialist ideologies and cultural and economic hegemony towards the West.
Sabry suggests that the majority of the media distributed in the Arab World is funded by the United States with the aim that they can promote positive ideas about the US to Arab citizens.
Europe: an exemplary landscape for comprehending globalization – Stylianos Papathanassopolous
Papathanassopolous claims that there are a number of issues that have meant that broadcasting and media within Europe have been continuously changing. He argues that this is the result of uncertainty regarding the future of technological innovations concerning new media; a rise in costs for struggling public broadcasters on program production and administration; licence fees; a demand for monopolies to be liberalised; political and economic pressure for broadcasting to be turned into a market place instead of a cultural entity and concerns over how broadcasting and communication systems will be impacted by internal and external investment.
Papathanassopolous states that there has been an outburst of ethic animosity and cultural conflicts juxtaposed by the emergence of a superficial international commercial culture. He argues that EU policies have been created to protect the media sector from Americanisation but also to make it continentally and globally competitive. These changes to the European media market have been imposed by policy makers in Brussel’s and by European citizens but these changes are making it difficult for media production companies within smaller countries. These countries lack the power, capital and market size to adapt to these changes and struggle as a result. Papathanassopolous concludes that the implementation of these policies do not benefit smaller European nations in anyway and as a result should be revised.
Up the Amazon without a paddle: developing nations and globalization – Antonio La Pastina
La Pastina states that, in Brazil, globalization makes many of the country’s citizens feel displaced, isolated and marginalized. Most of the broadcast media in Brazil is run by a family owned conglomerate called Globo Network. Globo also exports a lot of its programs to over 100 different countries. The majority of its program producers are upper-middle class which highlights the gap between the socioeconomic differences within different parts of the country.
Recently there has been a rise in the amount of Brazilian music that is being consumed by other countries as well as a rise in the levels of western music being consumed in Brazil. However, this can mostly be attributed to the countries elites who are more globalised. La Pastina argues that minority populations in the country are have no influence over Brazils place in the globalized market and are instead at the mercy of it.
The Taming of the Shrew” Global media in a Chinese perspective – Anbin Shi
Shi claims that there have been a lot of emphasis from Transnational Media Corporations about engaging China. China’s Government employs thousands of people whose role is to censor ‘inappropriate’ information. Shi suggest that heavy regulations would have to be implemented upon the global media market before China would allow them to invest with them. Global Media’s aim to achieve access to the country’s media market would consist of a long process. The system of global capitalism has created challenges for China regarding its regulations systems as it attempts to integrate. Additionally, a move towards more economic and market system liberalization has resulted in a call from the global media to China to reform its press and media in a way which makes it more diverse, competitive and more financially driven.
Around 60% of international news coverage in China is sourced from the United States. China has attempted to regulate the amount of Global media that is getting into its local marketplaces in an attempt to maintain a Nationalist ideology. On the other hand, Global media has been making every attempt to amalgamate ‘retrograde Chinses counterparts’ into a American let global system.
Exploring the African view of the Global – Winston Mano
Mano claims that the liberation of the media in Africa is undermined by the developing ‘global media condition’. He suggests that today’s global communication system upholds patterns within commercial and market imperative that reflect previous imperialist structures. The African media sector has begun to priorities profitability resulting in a fall in the amount of public-service content created.
Mano uses the practise of ‘kudyiswa’ as an analogy to describe the way in which Global (mostly Western) media infiltrate the African media market in a series of stages through powerful global institutions which ultimately leaves African media in a weak ‘zombie’ like state.
Mano states that most of the countries within Africa are wholly dependent on ‘terrestrial’ broadcasting although some have started to use ‘capital-intensive cable…formats’ as well. Many external broadcasting companies justify their practises within the African continental market by arguing that many of the countries cannot afford programs from abroad and are not capable of producing programming consistency.
There is an extreme imbalance between capitalist countries and third world countries regarding the flow of ‘communication materials and cultural commodities’ to the extent that it enables third world countries to be dominated by their developed counterparts. Furthermore, Transnational global media have implications for African media regarding ‘diversity, accountability and plurality’. Global media undermines many of the democratic processes within these countries and also works to disempower and silence the African people regarding the control they have over their own lives. Mano states that highlighting this disempowerment is important as it violates basic human rights.
Media globalization: an Indian perspective – Ravi Sundaram
Sundaram states that in the late 1990’s India started to move away from locally owned cable television channels to multiservice providers which created a conflict between local and international operators.
Sundaram claims that there are two levels within the modern Indian media landscape. At one level there are news media empires. These empires are corporate companies who broadcast satellite television and are often located in the more technologically developed cities. These companies have been highly profitable, employ large workforces and work alongside Western contractors. On the other level is a ‘large, dynamic, informal’ and often illegal media space. This space is made up of a wide range of cable TV networks run from neighbourhoods and consist of the production and sale of pirated and non-copyrighted media material as well as publicly accessable internet access points.