Globalization of Media Essay
The globalization of the media is increasingly bringing about the instantaneous delivery of the media content and this has led to easy and wide access of uniformly formatted information in textual, sound, pectoral and database form. The media information is now stored in these various formats, can be copied and shared through furious media platforms globally, and can also be manipulated to suit the end user needs. Most of media products which are created, controlled and distributed by the international media industries are like television news, surfing through google, google books, video games and international songs. Media globalization has occasioned a profoundly transformed media model for media consumers. In this milieu of hastily changing global setting of the media, we are left to address issues encompassing media rights of ownership, media creation, content characteristics and reception. This paper is intended to examine whether the media globalization is becoming more similar or dissimilar while extensively looking into globalization and glocalization from a media perspective view. In order to succeed in coming up with viable findings, a review on some of examples in which global media is becoming similar- Big Brother television series, the global jukebox and Similarity in global news coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The easy also explores some of media global theories in quest to support that the global media has surely become similar.
Looking at the media globalization theories by McLuhan, he claimed that the media globalization will bring about the devolution of supremacy while permitting high control. He provided the following imperative concepts: That the medium is the message and the global village, (Marchessault, 2005).The phrase, global village, highlighted that the similar events in a single part of the globe could be underwent from some other countries instantaneous. These similarities imply the human’s experience that could be witnessed when living in small villages. Giddens on other hand, draws attention to the anxieties which is found in globalization and localization. He argued that the globalization is strengthening of international social relationships that provides a link to far-off locations so that the home-grown happenings are molded by far apart events. This shows that people are meant to mind about the common opportunities and problems. The two discussed theories show that media technology has allowed for the media globalization hence relocating and familiarizing the media information. Using the common global data and information, the international citizens can now share the cultural activities and further benefit from glocalization. Globalization remains the next big step, move, and secret to media’s expansion into all world markets and areas. Showing concern over the similarities and differences that different people have is a unique attribute of world media, and this is set to unravel the actual essence of globalization.
One of suitable example to show that the world media has become more similar is the case of the Big Brother television series. It is one of the famous media events which attracted powerful active viewers internationally. This program is a good demonstration of globalization in media. The program has been produced in almost all the seven continents around the word. The program was a multimedia form, just to mention, televisions, telephones and Internet based platforms. The first series of Big Brother in United Kingdom was on Channel four and it attracted more than ten million viewers. It also recorded over 200 million-page imprints in its associated web page. Since from then, its popularity grew exponentially and nearly all the television, radios and internet through YouTube has aired the program making it familiar and similar in global media. The Big Brother brand is owned by Endemol Entertainment, a European cosmopolitan television manufacturing company which is a hundred per cent possessed by the Spanish-telecommunications media producer-Telefonica. It has also a controlling power to the Terra Lycos cooperation. This program series is so transcontinental that its presentation has been efficaciously Purchased by television-networks at most of areas globally. It has also been localized in different countries where it has been aired locally in different media platforms across the continent hence making it similar globally.
Another good example to illustrate how the world media has become more similar is in looking at similarity in global news coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian case. Over almost ten years, there has been conflict in news presentation evident in 13 leading Israelite, Palestinian, and intercontinental media leading to similarities in global media content. According to research by, (Baden, 2016), the news coverage of thirteen opinion leading news channels, both within Israel, Palestine and overseas were compared after the 2nd Intifada and the Israel disconnection from the Gaza Strip. Some of the media channels selected locally and internationally were; Haaretz, Ynet, Israel Hayom, Alquds, Alhaj, et cetera. The similarities in news assortment arrangements across these media channels were compared and it was noted that, the news selections within the most nations was almost identical. There was highest similarity between the center of Israeli and left channels with a typical correlation-coefficient of “Haaretz (1), Ynet (1)” = 0.97 over all the total points taken into account. There was also a significant high correlation between Guardian and The New York Times, which amounted to 0.95. For the case of Palestinian’s AlQuds (1) and the Arabic’s Al-Jazeera, the average similarity correlations were 0.93. This research indicated clearly that there were correlations points to actual nearby similarities in placement of events within the same language society. Generally, the similarities in news selection channels are dependent principally on social and linguistic resemblance, suggesting the effects of proficient and communal norms. The aspect of linguistic diversity dates back to the Asian countries old history, as people speak differently. All known and spoken languages across the globe are available in all media programs, channels, and platforms; this makes the world of media similar.
The global jukebox, a music recording industry is another imperative example of how the world media has become more similar. This industry is dominated by a trivial number of multimedia corporations. Although the development in musical technology like Internet based MP3 files has challenged this recording business, the Napster shut down can illustrate that the conglomerates remain in a leading position. The research by Burnett in 1996 where examined the global recording industry dominance among the Big-six oligopoly market of Time-warner, Sony company, Philips, Bertelsmann’, Matusushita and Thorn EMI, he was able to find that these organizations controlled the recording production and other related products. For Burnett to give their dominance evidence, he noted that:
The conglomerates were found to overshadow the marketplace in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia, Sweden, Japan, France and the Netherlands. After the total market-share of establishments was taken into account, there were 5 countries, namely; UK, Italy, Japan, Sweden, France, where the multinationals had between sixty and eighty per cent of the total market-shares. The remaining sample, the conglomerates controlled over eighty per cent of the market-shares.
Surplus of ninety (90) per cent of the gross-sales of music creations international were witnessed globally and supplied by those six groups. There was cumulative implication of transcontinental markets for these global media dealers creating a significant media similarity internationally. Some of media content like in case of movies produced by the Sony company are being watched internationally hence this is a good illustration that the world media has become more similar. Thus, the media world and industry is increasingly becoming similar day after day. On the same note, cultures of people are together being integrated through media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others. Embracing cultural diversity and norms of different people across the globe is done in similar approaches, approaches of bonding people together and ensuring that the right content that respects diversity of culture is uphold.
The international media is shaped to a great degree by forces toward similarities during this twenty-first century. Through reviewing some of examples in which global media is becoming similar, for instance Big Brother television series, the global jukebox and Similarity in global news coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the easy has clearly demonstrated that global media has become familiar and similar everywhere around the globe. By looking at some of the current theories of the global media which has extensively addressed media globalization, similarities in the media content over the intercontinental has been presented and well assessed. The analysis reinforces the claim that, even during this globalized informative setting, the media systems has communally continued to shape the media content enabling the countries to share cultural ideas internationally. Lastly, this easy has seen that there is a need to come up with extra global media theories which explicitly address media-globalization from a collaborative many to many models. More research is needed to be done so as to validate and supplementary examine the particular practices and circumstances driving the changing models of similarities in media content. It is my hopes that this attempt will interpose to an extra systematic proportional investigation of media contents as time goes by, and of the structures shaping their assortment and understanding.
References
Baden, C., 2016. Convergent News? A Longitudinal Study of Similarity and Dissimilarity in the Domestic and Global Coverage of the Israeli‐Palestinian Conflict. Journal of Communication, 67(1), pp. 1-27.
Marchessault, J., 2005. Marshall McLuhan: Cosmic media. New Dehi: Sage Publications.