Global Media

1. 15 Global Media

2. Global Media • A Short History of Global Media • Global Media Today • The Debate over Cultural Imperialism • Developing Media Literacy Skills • Chapter Review

3. A Short History of Global Media • International Mass Media Before Satellites • Beginning in the mid-1900s, European colonial powers used shortwave radio to connect with colonies • Shortwave was (and still is) well suited for transmission over very long distances, because its high frequencies reflect—or skip—off the ionosphere, producing sky waves that can travel vast distances

4. A Short History of Global Media • Antigovernment (anti-regime) radio constituted important segment of international broadcasting • Clandestine stations emerged “from the darkest shadows of political conflict” • Few clandestine operations functioning inside the regions to which they transmit are classified as indigenous stations • Radio stations operating from outside are exogenous stations

5. A Short History of Global Media • Pirate Broadcasters—illegally operated stations broadcasted to British audiences from offshore or foreign facilities • 1940: U.S. established the Voice of America (VOA) to counter enemy propaganda and disseminate information about America • Britain augmented its colonial broadcast system with an external service called the BBC World Service

6. A Short History of Global Media • 1985: Success of surrogate services—broadcast operations established by one country to substitute for another’s own domestic service—prompted U.S. to establish special division of VOA, Radio Martí, to broadcast into Communist Cuba • 91 million listeners a day tune in to VOA broadcasts in 53 languages • Another 20 million people in 23 developing countries listen to surrogate operations

7. A Short History of Global Media • Satellites and Global Mass Media • 1957: satellite revolution began with successful launch and orbit of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik • 1962: U.S. placed second satellite, AT&T’s Telstar I, in orbit • Congress established the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) • President Kennedy convened a consortium of Western and nonaligned countries to establish the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT)

8. A Short History of Global Media • 1982: INTELSAT’s system became large and technologically sophisticated enough to begin offering its television customers full-time leases rather than the customary single-show service

9. Global Media Today • Comparative Analyses • Public service remit—British Independent Television Authority (ITA) must limit advertising and increase public affairs and documentary news programming in exchange for their broadcast licenses • Prior restraint can occur, but only when a committee of government officials and representatives of the media industry can agree on issuance of D-notice

10. Global Media Today • Development concept—government and media partnering to ensure that media assist in planned, beneficial development of the country • No country “officially” embraces revolutionary concept as a normative theory, but a nation’s media will never serve the goals of revolution

11. Global Media Today • Authoritarian systems and communist systems call for the subjugation of the media for the purpose of serving the government • Chinese broadcasting operates under direct government subsidy • In China there is wide distribution of wired radio, centrally located loudspeakers that deliver primarily political and educational broadcasts

12. Global Media Today • Programming • Radio and television programming throughout the world looks and sounds much like that found in the U.S. • U.S. a world leader in international distribution of broadcast fare • Early in the life of television, American producers flooded the world with their programming at very low prices

13. The Debate over Cultural Imperialism • The MacBride Report and the NWIO • 1980: UNESCO’s MacBride Report studied how to maintain national and cultural sovereignty in face of rapid globalization of mass media • Some countries saw Western-produced content as a form of colonialization • Cultural imperialism—invasion of indigenous people’s culture by powerful foreign countries through mass media • Even Western U.S. allies had quotas that limited U.S. media content in their counties

14. The Debate over Cultural Imperialism • The Case For the Global Village • Global village proponents see world community coming closer together as common culture is negotiated and as we become more economically interconnected • Individual cultures and national identities will not disappear, because the world’s great diversity ensures culture-specific, special interest fare remains in demand

15. The Debate over Cultural Imperialism • The Case Against the Global Village • Professor Richard Rosenberg predicts the erosion of national sovereignty • There is no simple answer to the debate over protecting the integrity of local cultures

16. Developing Media Literacy Skills • Making Our Way in the Global Village • Is harmony worth the loss of individual, idiosyncratic cultures? • The new communication technologies will connect us in ways that were unimaginable in pre-Internet times