Global Media Industries

1. Global Media Industries What on Earth is Globalization? Session 2 Lecture

2. Outcomes • To consider the meaning of the term `globalization’ which are fundamental to questions of media • Insights on key debates by academics, governments and other theorists

3. General Understanding/Misunderstanding • Circulated in every sector and industry • Blamed for all sorts of problems (job losses, economic downturn, inflation etc) • Corporate Australia: “ increasing globalization = stiffer competition and need for greater efficiency”; The Australian, quoted by Delloites • Businesses must be more open to competition.

4. Globalisation for Businesses Today • Can be increased/decreased (?) e.g. HSBC • Open to changes (competition) • Efficiency is a necessity!! • Embrace globalization or ship out! • Greater communication infrastructure needs to be met (.coms, reinventing)

5. Globalization (positive views) • Credited for lowering cost • Telecommunications (cheaper calls) • Information technology (broadband, wi-fi,skype) • air travel • more retail choices i.e. Cold Storage, Tesco etc • Goods get cheaper; we feel poorer because we are buying more than ever (petrol hike, gadget must-haves!)

6. United States of A • Conservative thoughts; globalization = domination of American goods. • Television/Reality TV-hood • American Idol, The Amazing Race, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - franchise mania • 95% films at cinema are from Hollywood • Birth of Bollywood (largest filmmaking cities in the world – 800 films a year!!)

7. The “Cultural Cringe” • In Asia and other less developed societies, elders argue nations are being too Westernized/Americanized • At the same time, implicit recognition/yearn to learn from Americans • “We haven’t made it until the Americans accept or willing to copy our ideas!”

8. Good News for Techies • Globalization allows us to “click – a – friend”, reach a person at a touch of a button • … “we are more interconnected than we could every imagine” • Most of us consume globalization without realizing it or fathom the concept • Wait for your First Assignment to unravel this!

9. Historical Perspective(Mass Communication) • Globalization did not just spontaneously develop in the late 20th century (political/econs/cultural contexts of past) • Origins traced to Middle Ages – trading routes/mass communication/world economy • Communication developments in the 19th century precursor to current globalization • Underwater cable systems – telegraph • International news agencies (France AFP, UK Reuters, USA AP) – nexus of market economies, political power info networks • Formation of international organizations concerned with electromagnetic spectrum (I’tnl Telecomm Union-ITU)

11. Historical Perspective(Mass Communication) • The 3 modern developments relate to media and communication concept as mediator of human beings • Coined “telecommunication” – passage or transfer of messages through mass media , later facilitating mass communication

12. “Globalization denotes both a journey and a destination: it signifies a historical process of becoming, as well as an economic and cultural result; that is arrival at the globalized state.” - Marjorie Ferguson

13. Why is globalization such a hot topic today?

14. Precursor of Globalization in 21st Century • Movement from International Economy to World Economy • International – movements in trade/investments/payments crossed national boundaries regulated by states • World – production and finance were organized in cross border networks to escape international regulatory powers • Important feature in development of `World Economy’ – collapse of Bretton Woods fixed exchange rates • Led to “floating exchange rates” for open trading – forex

15. Precursor of Globalization in 20th Century • Mid-70s: generalized economic crisis; capitalist societies able to exercise greater financial discipline and able to privilige economic matters over others • Weakening of trade union power, cutting of state budgets, privatization • Current: rise on ecological concern “sustainability” buzzword , Al Gore • Globalization is also related to terms such as “internationalization” and “transnationalization”

16. Precursor of Globalization Globalization only takes place when activities are organized, planned or coordinated on a global scale and when the activities involve some degree of reciprocity and interdependency – that is, when there is a real degree of inter-connectedness between different locales

17. Video clip – Commanding Heights: The Battle for Global Economy “A single market, in which everyone has a stake, but no one has control.”

18. Appadurai’s “Globalization” • Positioned under terms • Difference/disjuncture: world is fragmented, disjointed and cannot be simplified into East vs West (1st world vs 3rd world), globalization is a hybrid of both • Perth – referred to as the world’s most isolated capital city (?) • Kuala Lumpur and S’pore – not 1st nor 3rd world but with high standards of living comparable to 1st world countries

19. 1st, 2nd or 3rd? • 1st : The bloc of democratic-industrial countries within the American influence sphere • 2nd: The Eastern bloc of the communist-socialist states • 3rd: The remaining three-quarters of the world's population, states not aligned with either bloc .

20. Appadurai’s 5 “Scapes” • The world is becoming so irregular and sophisticated that it needs to be understood in 5 dimensions/`scapes’ • Ethnoscapes – construct of people We need to be aware, due to voluntary migration the world is multicultural/more diverse

21. Appadurai’s “Scapes” • Technoscapes – technology Technology is now more fluid, can be transferred and distributed across borders • Financescapes – finance and global capital Currencies move from one place to another in amazing speed, bypassing government and fiscal controls, government lose gatekeeping functions e.g. corporate world’s self-regulatory issues – Enron, 2001

22. Appadurai’s “Scapes” • Mediascapes – capability to produce and disseminate information via electronic means Private individuals/enterprises `empowered’ to distribute own images, versions of own reality • Ideascapes – ideology How images combine in our heads to form identities and “worldviews” Occur in our minds as we consume the media, i.e. reading