Media and Communication Globalization - Article Example

Title: Media and Communication Globalization (Name) (Instructor) (Institution) (Course code) (Date) This article explores the globalization of communication and media. The main driver of the globalization of media and communication is the multinational corporations. The globalization of the communication and media has helped a lot in the creation, production and the distribution of the content. As observed, the creation and production of the media and communication information doubles after every eight years. As if that is not enough, the rate of production of these contents is four times faster as compared to its consumption rate The context of media globalization and the increase in the production of text production has had diverse impacts which are being researched by experts and scholars in the communication industry. The globalization of communication is a wide area which involves music, television, film, internet, radio and other contents of digital media Globalization is a process with which diverse economies, societies and cultures become integrated with the support of world network of communication and trade. Globalization primarily symbolizes paradigm shift in economic thinking. Two decades ago, people across the globe called it Americanization of media. Despite American media play a key role in the world media scene, other countries across the world media industry contribute immensely, the Americanization concept has changed to globalization. Despite the entry of many players into the industry, a few firms still take the lion share in the globalized part of the communication and media industry Media globalization is one of the widespread developments in the media and communication industry. This is clearly observed in the organization and creation of media. This process is facilitated when the world is becoming an integrated for marketplace for economics as well as for capitalists. Many of the countries face pressure from the influential member and groups makes the globalization process a dream come true. These influential groups include commercial advertising targeting their clients. Competition by companies to venture into the market is also promotes the globalization of media as it is the tool to support their advertising. International communication technologies like satellites, internet and cell phones have led to the deterritorialization of space over the last few years. Multiational media houses and networks like AlJazeera, BBC World News, CNN and Fox News have entered and changed the media industry. In a conflicting situation, these multinational media are perceived to constitute and constituted by globalization, changing the understanding of space and time. It is with international broadcasting corporations that people are able to get better glimpse of international politics. Apart from better understanding, they also provide modern journalistic formats and styles change the country’s outlook. It is with this reasoning and argument that the association with the national new angles, that it brings perspectives for citizenship and political identity. Accordingly, the multinational media have been accredited the possibility to create global or international public space leading to the globalization of media and communication The globalization process of the media and communication has been contributed immensely by the factors discussed below Internet role Internet has contributed a lot to the growth and development of the media and communication industry. The internet role has seen the growth in the few years. Media is one of the contributing factors of consumer behaviour in the society. This media bringing in the change is the digital one. The media uses internet to spread the content they want the society and public at large to highlight. A case example is the Asian continent contributing 42 per cent of the global internet users from its 56 per cent of the mankind population As the world has become a global village, many people across the world are interested to what is happening in every corner of our planet even to the grandest villages worldwide. Political arena not interest the political players but also common citizens who what to get political events and development across the world. The media uses internet to a medium to connect with the consumers who are not only readers but also viewers as well. As people go through busy schedule in their everyday life, many of them may not have adequate time to go through newspapers. The connection through internet has become a solution of coming across the political development. The connection can easily be accessed through simple devices like cell phone handsets. Almost all the generation of people are connected with the internet. As a result, people across the globe come across many of the political issues and development through the internet leading to the globalization of the media. Every news update is accessible instantly on the internet as updates takes place giving consumers exclusive information earlier as compared to newspaper which gets circulated a day after the events. Is this reason therefore that internet has led to globalization of media and communication Technological change The process of media globalization has been facilitated by continuous advancement in information and communication technology. Direct broadcast satellites, ISDN, internet, cable alongside digitalization have led to a phenomenon where large amounts of information can be shared around the world in a matter of seconds. The recent developments like the television and personal computer merger in tandem with on-going digitalization of radio and television has created more opportunities for those who can access and afford new media technologies and development. WAP enabled Cell phones and other wireless technologies that allows internet access has also greatly contributed immensely to globalization of communication and media Many companies producing cell phones like Samsung and Nokia among others have developed mobile phone applications that make it possible to send digital pictures, video and audio clips and also deliver text messages via the handsets. These applications can send these contents every corner of the earth. Other companies have also developed applications that facilitate communications and send of media contents across the globe among its users UNSCO is a united nation’s body established in the year 1945. Its main office is located in Paris, France. It acts as a global cultural think tank responsible for the sharing and dissemination of information among its members. UNESCO member countries currently stand at 190. The content shared and disseminated by UNESCO cover areas of communication, science, education and culture After adoption of UNESCO constitution in the year 1946, has tackled the sharing, spread of global information by allowing the agency (UNESCO) to team up with other partners to enlighten the world through not only thorough sharing and dissemination of information but also to create an environment where the same would thrive. As a result, the free flow ideas and information was facilitated by the mass media. UNESCO contributed a lot in the globalization of communication and media by creating an environment that facilitated the growth With the growth and expansion of corporate world at the global scale, has had a naturel expansion of the media globalization. The reconstruction after the end of the Second World War with the help of International Monetary Fund and World Bank helped a lot in the globalization of the media. According to the research done both MacBride and Roach in the year 2000 show that the Western developed nations like United Kingdom, Germany, United States and France took the lion share in the industry. The research further reveals that the process of globalization intensified in the year 1980s as a result of the change policy regarding the deregulation of media in most of the third world countries together with the private investment. Cable and digital satellite system advancement and used in 1980s and 1990s also contributed to the globalization of media and communication In Europe, telephone and cable industries intensified as a result of foreign investment from the companies like Bell Atlantic, U.S. West, Deutsche Telecom and Ameritech International. However such investment was not allowed in some countries until recently. An example of such countries includes China. The reason for the change in China’s policy is to join World Trade Organization which is part of the condition to be admitted into WTO. It is important to note that the benefits of joining World Trade Organization outweighs the refusal to allow foreign media investment in China Since the beginning, human beings have all along communicated with one another. Raimund Popper, a philosopher, argued that it is communication among human beings is the basis of being human. This communication among human beings is not only basic, but also rich. Human beings are in a position to use diverse senses to share their thoughts, feeling, emotions, etc. with one another. Media has contributed a lot extension of human communicative reach in time and space enabling sharing of ideas globally. Type of human interchange or to a It is therefore very important to note that communication is not restricted to specific medium. It entails channels of information transmission which can be in the form of word of mouth, performance and writing. Communication disregards the mode of relay of either through digital or analogue. Communication can be done through the following transmissions form; tradition forms (books and letters), telephone computer and any other appliance which support the same The development of mediated communication started with writing and writing. The forms became a very important channel to show human beings temporal and spatial limits. Books coming into existence have been viewed as revolution just like the adoption of television and radio. The three (radio, television and books) have had great impacts, leading to the drawing of the national boundaries. Towards the end of fifteenth century, printing revolution became very popular in the European continent, affecting every society and countries as a whole Various forms of governments including monarchs adopted the new developments in the media and communication industry and attempted to regulate and managed it. Anderson Benedict, books and newspapers were the main tools for consolidating monarchies and thus led to formation of nation states. These tools provided information and platform which not only enabled citizens to communicate, but also led to the development of community and commonality Television and radio has been noted as mechanism that led to the globalization as described by McLuhan’s ‘global village’ with no restrictions by boundaries and borders. It is with this advancement in the information and communication technology that show great strides in the globalization media and communications. It is sometimes referred to as, internationalization or communication revolution. This is because of the ease and faster exchange of information and ideas in a similar way the television, radio, books and other communication forms as it has been done previously. However, the uniqueness of this advancement in the information and communication technology is that it is not like the earlier developments as it is more linked to the phenomenon of globalization Some of the evidence of globalization of communication and media are as discussed; Network Reach One of the drivers of communication revolution is digital communication network. The digital communication network is not only replacing the old analogue one but also give room for the ever changing and consumer needs. For example, the television for a long period of time has been transmitting through airwaves. The transmission through the airwaves was analogue and centrally controlled. As time progressed, cable transmission made more channels to be transmitted to homes. The analogue setup changed tremendously in the 1990s due to the introduction of digital technology. Over hundreds digitally coded TV channels has been brought to millions of homes due to Direct-to home (DTH) broadcasting satellites. The Direct-to-home satellite transmissions were not only delivered to the developed world alone but also to third world countries as well like China, South East Asia and India. Another indicator of the globalization of media and communication is the increase in the number of DHT satellite users worldwide. The number rose from 4.4 million home users to 33.4 million between the years 1988 to 1995. As the growth kept going the number of digital television satellite users outnumbered the cable subscribers by the year 2003. Cable television companies reacted by upgrading their networks. They upgraded to an all-digital fiber-optic from a centralized analogue topology. They did so by use of IP/TCP network standards. The completion between the cable and DHT satellite took the communication and media to global level enabling globalization of the same. The digital networks did not stopped at the television devices. They also took over the mobile telephony to enhance globalization of communication and media. One of its successes all over the world is the all-digital cellular communication, GSM. GSM is a standard that was developed and branded in Europe. Its structure allowed its users to use their cell phones in many countries across the globe by ‘roaming’ using the local network in other countries. This network work by interconnection through the formation networks offering inter-border and inter-continental seamless communication As a result of this development, the number of mobile telephony greatly rose from 4.2 to 137 million from 1988 to 1996. The number increased dramatically to 400 million by the year 1999 and hit 1 billion mark by the year 2004 overtaking the fixed phone lines. The trend since been rising tremendously since then. Scandinavian region of the world was first place to achieved 100% ownership and use of mobile phones for certain age groups with some owning more than one cell phone. Other regions of the globe has followed suit. This success was not observed in the developed countries alone. The same trend was observed in the Asia tigers, Saudi Arabia (conservative nation) and the third world countries. The globalization of the communication was boosted due to the advantages offered by the digital phone network. Some of the advantages are that the digital phone network is cheaper compared to the tedious and expensive process of digging up the earth before putting the fixed lines in place. Another advantage is that it allows the building of own network on an incremental basis. It is also very easy to move into action swiftly to address the growing demands. Another advantage is that it brings in competition into the market unlike as previously controlled and dominated by state-controlled incumbent The digitalization of network of network has provided a lot of media richness. The demand has grown tremendously due to the contribution by World Wide Web’s smooth incorporation with diverse streams of information and communication. The providers have all along been working around the clock to add bandwidth network. The users have also been increasingly browsing into more media-rich information sites. This was evidenced by laying down of 4,000 miles of fiber optic cable per day to meet the user demand in the United States in the year 1999 alone Internet is no longer for developed nations and countries of North America. It is has now been embraced by not only the transition economies but also third world countries as well. Despite the development, there is still inequalities in the in the internet host and access to information. On the positive note, the entry into the 21st century, internet has shown that is an worldwide information and communication network Social media Politicians, writers, consumers, readers and businesses are caught in the social media these days. The magnetic pull and addiction of the social media is hard to ignore. The social media include twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube Google plus among other have taken our daily existence. Due to the ever growing growth of social media use, the relevance and significance the older channels of print, radio and television. The social media is inevitable due to the notion that the old one will give way to the new one making the world peaceful, better and prosperous Argument by a World Bank development economist, Charles Kenny that despite the television is fading, areas like Africa, Brazil and India has been thriving in the last few years. The growth is due to its penetration and impact. The television industry growth was boosted by introduction of digital cable and satellite television, and increasing number of choices and channels The amount of influence of the television is not all about the story; it is due to the qualitative impact of the content and the medium used. The television has become a radical agent for the better in the most part of the globe. By use of historical statistics in various countries, Kenny demonstrate a very high correlation between the regions receive and use television and better trends school enrollment, literacy, lower levels of drug use, health outcomes, increased prosperity, birth control and corruption A good example to demonstrate Kenny’s argument is about the soap operas. The genre of the same is widely attacked in the American cultural critics. In India, Brazil and other developing countries, the genre depicts prosperous and independent women. Watching such soap operas has been associated with increased social status, economic well-being and rights of women in the countries affected. The trend has spilled over to other countries and third world countries in Africa. As a result, the globalization of the media is being observed Internet cost Another factor that has boosted the globalization of communication and media is the billing structure and cost of internet service. From its inception, its traffic has been billed either based on time and volume or at a flat rate. The distance has never been factored in the design of cost structure. It is for this reason that consumers are fully unaware of the position of their information resource or their virtual communication partner. For the internet users, the distance does not matter whether the tens of thousands miles or a few yards away from one another. In comparison with telephony where the distance costs more in call rates to when the receiver is outside the country or the continent. Therefore, the communication partners and local information providers enjoy no advantage over others due to the long distance or their location. As a result of this, globalization of communication has been boosted Media and consumerism Some of other factors that have led to the globalization of the media are the media and communication industries. These industries have played key roles in the globalization of production strategies. Telecommunication has played a major role in the globalization of production strategies. It is unbelievable how globalization could have been achieved over the past decades without the usage of sophisticated telecommunication networking. In addition, the copyright input into the media production of television programs, films music, internet and video, primarily through promotions and advertising and indirectly through campaign of individualistic and consumerist lifestyles have continuously been in the lead of cultural preparation for consumerism, a basic necessity and a supplement of opening up of new markets. The market offers a wide variety of products that break down barriers like the cultural ones. The breaking of the barriers is copied and trends in the media industry leading to the consumers glued to the media industry looking for new trends, tastes and updates Another very important aspect in the globalization of communication and media industry is the role it plays as a powerful agent in the change of political, social and cultural structures. This is because it is one of the reasons that it is used for softening up cultures and opening of new markets for consumerism. The globalization of media and communication is part of the unintended result by evolving cumulative effect of steady commercialization of communication and media on key social events and functions like the development of community and individual identity, capacity to participate in processes, language and cultural diversity and the integrity of public space. It is for this reason that the availability of knowledge and information for public consumption and the utilization of the media for human rights, education and development purposes that have led to the globalization of media and communication Conclusion Globalization of media and communication depicts our identity and brings the globe to us by connection us to the rest of the world. It is the support of advancement of science and technology that plays a crucial role in the globalization of communication and media industry. It is for this reason that it reflects the theory convergence by upholding of cultural identity. The globalization of media and communication has brought the whole globe together and resulted in one global world. It is very important for one to note the shortcoming of this kind of globalization and utilize it for the betterment of not only oneself but also for the country as well Read More

The internet role has seen the growth in the few years. Media is one of the contributing factors of consumer behaviour in the society. This media bringing in the change is the digital one. The media uses internet to spread the content they want the society and public at large to highlight. A case example is the Asian continent contributing 42 per cent of the global internet users from its 56 per cent of the mankind population As the world has become a global village, many people across the world are interested to what is happening in every corner of our planet even to the grandest villages worldwide.

Political arena not interest the political players but also common citizens who what to get political events and development across the world. The media uses internet to a medium to connect with the consumers who are not only readers but also viewers as well. As people go through busy schedule in their everyday life, many of them may not have adequate time to go through newspapers. The connection through internet has become a solution of coming across the political development. The connection can easily be accessed through simple devices like cell phone handsets.

Almost all the generation of people are connected with the internet. As a result, people across the globe come across many of the political issues and development through the internet leading to the globalization of the media. Every news update is accessible instantly on the internet as updates takes place giving consumers exclusive information earlier as compared to newspaper which gets circulated a day after the events. Is this reason therefore that internet has led to globalization of media and communication Technological change The process of media globalization has been facilitated by continuous advancement in information and communication technology.

Direct broadcast satellites, ISDN, internet, cable alongside digitalization have led to a phenomenon where large amounts of information can be shared around the world in a matter of seconds. The recent developments like the television and personal computer merger in tandem with on-going digitalization of radio and television has created more opportunities for those who can access and afford new media technologies and development. WAP enabled Cell phones and other wireless technologies that allows internet access has also greatly contributed immensely to globalization of communication and media Many companies producing cell phones like Samsung and Nokia among others have developed mobile phone applications that make it possible to send digital pictures, video and audio clips and also deliver text messages via the handsets.

These applications can send these contents every corner of the earth. Other companies have also developed applications that facilitate communications and send of media contents across the globe among its users UNSCO is a united nation’s body established in the year 1945. Its main office is located in Paris, France. It acts as a global cultural think tank responsible for the sharing and dissemination of information among its members. UNESCO member countries currently stand at 190. The content shared and disseminated by UNESCO cover areas of communication, science, education and culture After adoption of UNESCO constitution in the year 1946, has tackled the sharing, spread of global information by allowing the agency (UNESCO) to team up with other partners to enlighten the world through not only thorough sharing and dissemination of information but also to create an environment where the same would thrive.

As a result, the free flow ideas and information was facilitated by the mass media. UNESCO contributed a lot in the globalization of communication and media by creating an environment that facilitated the growth With the growth and expansion of corporate world at the global scale, has had a naturel expansion of the media globalization. The reconstruction after the end of the Second World War with the help of International Monetary Fund and World Bank helped a lot in the globalization of the media.

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