© Learning Outcomes [Atthe end ofthis lesson, you shouldbe able tor 1. analyze how various media dive diferent forms of global integration; 2. compare the socal impacts of diferent media onthe processes of lobalzation, 3, explain the dynamic between local and global cultural production: and 4, define responsible media consumption chub dell odtat deal leah A chess Wail Sa Bic entails the spread of various cultures. When in Hollywood, it is shown not only in the United across the globe. South Korean rapper Psy's song “Gangnam Style” may have been about a wealthy suburb in Seoul, but its listeners included millions who have never been or may never go to Gangnam. Some of them may not even now what Gangnam is, Globalization also involves the spread of ideas. For example, the notion of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities is spreading ‘across the world and becoming more widely accepted. Similarly, the conservative Christian Church that opposes these rights moves from places like South America to Korea and to Burundi in Africa, Koreen rapper sy was catapulted o fe by his song “Gangnam Style* People who travel the globe teaching and preaching their bolic t uatverities, carte public Pe ae oe as guests of a family play a maj {deas. But today, television programs, movies, magazines, and the like have to reach larger audiences. Globali conduit for the spread of glob then right to ask, “Could global trade have evol of information on markets, prices, commodities, and more? Could empires have stretched across the world without communication throughout their borders? Could religion, music, poetry, film, fiction, cuisine, and fashion develop as they have without the intermingling of media and cultures?” There is an intimate relationship between globalization and media which must be unraveled to further understand the contemporary world. Media and Its Functions Lule describes media as “a means of conveying something, such as a channel of communication.” ‘Technically speaking,person's voice is a medium. However, when commentators refer -al of medium), they mean the technologies of ‘mass communication, Print media include books, magazines, and rapers, Broadcast media involve radio, film, and television ly, digital media cover the internet and mobile mass mn. Within the category of internet media, there are internet sites, social media, and internet-based video is relatively easy to define the term “media,” itis more difficult to determine what media do and how they affect societies ‘Media theorist Marshall McLuhan once declared that “the medium is the message.” He did not mean that ideas (“messages”) are useless and do not affect people. Rather, his statement was an attempt to draw attention to how media, as a form of technology, reshape societies. ‘Thus, television is not a simple bearer of messages, it also shapes the social behavior of users and reorient family behavior. Since it was introduced in the 1960s, television has steered people from the dining table where they eat and tell stories to each other, tothe living room where they silently munch on their food while watching primetime shows. Television has also drawn people away from other meaningful activities such as playing games or reading books. Today, the smart phone allows ‘users to keep in touch instantly with multiple people at the same time. Consider the effect of the internet on relationships. Prior to the cellphone, there was no way for couples to keep constantly in touch, or to be updated on what the other does all the time. The technology (medium), and not the message, makes for this social ‘change possible. McLuhan added that different media simultaneously extend amputate human senses. New media may expand the reach communication, but they also dull the users’ communicative ies. Think about the medium of writing. Before people ote things down on parchment, exchanging stories was mainly be able pass stories verbally from one person to ‘torytellers had to have retentive memories. However, papyrus started becoming more common in Egypt after the fourth century BCE, which increasingly meant that more people write down their stories. As a result, storytellers no longer hi rely completely on their memories. This development, according jophers at the time, dulled the people's capacity to remember. Something similar can be said about cellphones. On the one hand, they expand people's senses because they provide the capability to talk to more people instantaneously and simultaneously. On the other hand, the it the senses because they make users easily distractible and more prone to multitasking. ‘This is not necessarily a bad thing; it is merely change with a trade-off. ‘The question of what new media enhance and what they amputate was not a moral or ethical one, according to McLuhan. New media are neither inherently good nor bad. The famous ‘writer was merely drawing attention to the historically and technologically specific attributes of various media. The Global Village and Cultural Imperialism McLuhan used his analysis of technology to examine the impact of electronic media. Since he was writing around the 1960s, he mainly analyzed the social changes brought about by television. McLuhan declared that television was turning the world into a “global village.” By this, he meant that, as more and more people sat down in front of their television sets and listened to the same stories, their perception of the world would contract. If ‘tribal villages once sat in front of fires to listen to collective stories, the members of the new global village would sit in front of bright boxes in their living rooms. In the years after McLuhan, media scholars further grappled with the challenges of a global media culture. A lot of these earl thinkers assumed that global media had a tendency to homogeni culture, They argued that as global media spread, people from al76 | AWorld of Ideas: Curtures oF wivvancavn s jing the Material For example, the regionalization of. rom 2000 to 2002, ABS-CBN aired Pangako sa Southeast Asia over the world would begin to watch, listen to, and read the same things. This thinking arose at a time when America’s power had turned it into the world’s cultural heavyweight. Comment ‘American hegemony would create a form of cultural imperialism whereby American values and culture would overwhelm all others. In 1976, media critic Herbert Schiller argued that not only euphemism for “Wes “homogenized, Westernized, consumer culture. ‘These scholars who decry cultural imperialism, however, have top-down view of the media, since they are more concerned with the broad structures that determine media content. Moreover, their focus on America has led them to neglect other global et ru ‘mation that the media can enable, This medi theory has, therefore, been subject to si Critiques of Cultural Imperialism Proponents of the idea of cultural imperialism ign fact that media messages are not just made by producers, are also consumed by audiences. In the 1980s, media sch began to pay attention to the ways in which audiences understood and interpreted media messages. The field of audience studies media consumers are active participants in the imply refers to the content of any medi tural lenses. In 1985, Indonesian cultural lic Ien Ang studied the ways in which different viewers in the Netherlands experienced watching the American soap opera Dallas. Through letters from 42 viewers, she presented a detailed analysis of audience-viewing experiences. Rather than simply receiving American culture in “passive and resigned way.” she noted that viewers put “a lot of emotional energy” into the process and they experienced pleasure based on how the program resonated with them.” In 1990, Elihu Katz and Tamar Liebes decided to push Ang’ analysis further by examining how viewers from distinct cultural interpreted received differently by vari they derived different meanii Thus, people from diverse cul ‘ways of understanding the show. show’s content, believing not only that it was primarily about America, but that it contained American propaganda. American viewers believed that the show, though set in America, was primarily about the lives of the rich. Apart from the challenge of audience studies, the cultural imperialism thesis has been regional trends media. Japanese brands—from Hello Kitty to the Mario to Pokémon—are now an indelible part of global popular culture. The same can be said for Korean pop (K-pop) and Koreanregionally and globally. ‘The most obvious Given these patterns, it is no longer tenable to in globalization is aw mnal process of foreign overwhelming local ones. Global: s noted in Less ‘will remain an uneven process, and it will produce inequal Nevertheless, it leaves room for dy! ‘This is not a contradiction; it is merely a testament to the phenomenon’ complexity. Social Media and the Creation of Cyber Ghettoes By now, very few media scholars argue that the world 2 becoming culturally homogenous. Apart from the nature diverse audiences and regjonal trends in cultural production, the ‘met and social media are proving that the glo! culture and ideas can move in different directions. Culture remains powerful and media production is still controlled by a handful of powerful Western corporations, the internets particularly the social media, is challenging previous ideas about ‘media and globalization. As with all new media, social media have both beneficial and democratic potential of social media was most e ing the wave of uprisings known as the Arab Spring, yut access to traditional broadcast media like TV, activists opposing authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya used ‘Twitter to organize and to disseminate information. ‘Theis efforts toppled their respective governments. More recently, the “women’s march” against newly installed US President Donald ‘Trump began with a tweet from a Hawaii lawyer and became a national, even global, movement. “The massive protst ofthe Arab Spring wer lage enable by cal media However, social media also have their dark side. In the early 2000s, commentators began referring to the emergence of a “splinternet” and the phenomenon of “cyberbalkanization” to refer to the various bubbles people place themselves in when they are ‘online. In the United States, voters of the Democratic Party largely read liberal websites, and voters of the Republican read conservative websites. This segmentation, n the journal Science, has been exacerbated by the nature media feeds, which leads users to read articles, meJiefs and opinions. ‘This echo chamber precludes users from ing to oF reading opinions and information that challenge viewpoints, thus, making them more partisan and closed- minded. ‘This segmentation has been used by people in power who are aware that the social media bubbles can produce a herd mentality. Tr ean be exploited by politicians with less than democratic intentions and demagogues wanting to whip up popular anger. The allows social media to be a democratic force likewise makes it a cheap tool of government propaganda. Reselan dictator Vladimir Putin has hired armies of social media “trolls” (pai ‘who harass political opponents) to manipulate ‘on through intimidation and the spreading of fake i cence agencies established ‘that Putin used trolls and onl formation to help Donald ‘Trump win the presidency—a tactic the Russian autocrat i likely to repeat in European elections he seeks to influence.” ‘the world, Putin imitators replicate his ling and disinformation to clamp down on ie critical media, Critics of the increasingly regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdojn are by ‘mobs of pro-government trolls, who hack accounts and threaten violence. Some of their responses have included threats of sexual violence against women?" In places across newspapers, Facebook does not have a team of editors who are trained to sift through and filter information. If a news article crea fake one, gets a Tot of shares, it will reach many people with ebook accour is dark side of social media shows that even a seemingly ope may be co-opted towards “Uhdemocratic means. Global online propaganda will be the biggest {threat to face as the globalization of media deepens. Internet media hhave made the world so interconnected that a Russian dictator can, for example, influence American elections on the cheap. As consumers of media, users must remain vi how to distinguish fact from falsehood in a global rae that allows politicians to peddle what President Trump's advisers now call “alternative facts.” T! critical of mainstream media and ae! ee and vetted by professional ly to be more credible than a viral video re by someone in his/her bedroom, even if both will have i biases. People must be able to tell the difference. Conclusion showed that different media have diverse effects ala eet gl : jonoculture, Now, it seem: corre ra of people who do not interact. Societies can never be completely Prepare forthe rapid changes inthe systems eile ivery technological change, after all, creates multiple unin consequences. Consumers and users of media will have a hi time turning back the clock. Though people may individual ; for example, these med ethically.