7.3 globalisation and the media
The media and global culture
globalisation is the increasing interconnectedness of the world
Hyper globalists see globalisation as positive whereas pessimistic globalists see it as damaging
Lechner and boil argued there is now a global culture
Strinati argues that media today is a global industry with businesses operating worldwide. This creates a global culture as content can be instantly transmitted to anywhere in the world
McLuhan suggests there is a global village. We now have neighbours all over the world and have access to information instantly and from the source, so we don’t require professional media production
Flew suggests norms and values are becoming increasingly similar, offering a global outlook rather than just looking at national issues
Cultural imperialism
Fenton has suggested that the media has led to cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism = the western world dominating the rest of the world through the media, this happens through:
Global conglomerates. Companies that combine various business interests and operate on an international level (e.g Murdock owns newspapers and radio companies in several companies)
However they don’t need to do this. Through global communications and new media, companies do not need to own local businesses in order to reach global audiences. For example Disney make films that are viewed around the world, these are aggressively marketed and distributed, which allow these companies to dominate media production. McBride suggests this western-created media changes the cultures and values of countries, this stokes demand for western products
Advertising. Through the new media (e.g facebook) companies who pay for expensive marketing dominate what people see and read all over the world (e.g McDonalds). George Ritter suggests that globalisation is causing the world to become more like McDonald’s, standardised and low-skilled
Cultural homogenisation. The world becomes the same and local cultures are killed off
Cultural hybridisation
cultures merge together, for example Bollywood being incorporated in western films. This adds to our cultural options and enriches culture
Evaluation
Curran suggests that postmodernist and hyperglobalists fail to take into account economic inequalities. The western culture has greater economic power so dominates global culture and uses other cultures to exploit it for profit (Bollywood, or McDonald’s offering falafel in Egypt)