Media and Globalization

Objectives

• At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

• 1. define media
• 2. identify the functions of media
• 3. explain the role of media in the processes of globalization
• 4. give strategies/recommendations to become a responsible
media user
Media

• Could global trade have

evolved without a flow of
information on markets, prices,
commodities, and more?
Media

• Lule describes media as “a

means of conveying
something, such as a channel
of communication”
Functions of Media
What are the functions of Media
What are examples of print media?
Broadcast media Internet Media
• What media do?

• How do they shape

societies?
 The philosopher foresaw the
tremendous, transformative nature of
the web. But he had a chilling warning
about how it might be abused

"the medium is the message"

"the medium is the message"

• way someone receives information

that mattered as much as or more
than the actual information itself
• demonstrated both the power of and
the problems with the way the media
can shape our understanding.
 "Once we have surrendered our
senses and nervous systems to the
private manipulation of those who
would try to benefit by taking a lease
on our eyes and ears and nerves,
we don't really have any rights left,"
 • controls much of both the medium and the message in the modern
world
• The Google doodle depicts the progress of humanity through the
four ages that Professor McLuhan saw. That began with us sitting
around a fire in the Acoustic Age, and we progressed through the
Written Age, the age of Mass Production, and into the Global
Village or Electronic Age that we live in now.
independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/marshall-mcluhan-who-internet-predict-google-doodle-media-theory-
philosopher-canada-a7852276.html
• Television is not a simple bearer of
messages, it also shapes the social
behavior of users and reorient family
behavior.
 Smart phone allows users to keep
in touch instantly with multiple
people at the same time.

• 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 and amputate human
senses.
• New media may expand the reach of
communication, but they also dull the user’s
communicative capacities
New media may expand the But they also dull the user’s
reach of communication communicative capacities
Pair activity!
1/2cw

•In what way global media has

the tendency to homogenize
culture?
The
The Global Village and
Cultural Imperialism

• Mcluhan declared
that television was
turning the world
into a
• “global village”
Global Village

• 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.
• Global media had a tendency to homogenize
culture in a way that global media spread,
people from all over the world would begin
to watch, listen to, and read the same things.
Herbert Schiller argued that not only was
the world being Americanized, but this
process also led to the spread of
“American "capitalist values like
consumerism
Consumerism is the idea that increasing
consumption of goods and services purchased
in the market is always a desirable goal and
that a person's wellbeing and happiness
depends fundamentally on obtaining consumer
goods and material possessions.
Source: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumerism.asp
Cultural globalization is
simply a euphemism for
Western cultural
imperialism”
Critiques of Cultural
Imperialism
• Proponents of the idea of cultural
imperialism ignored the fact that media
messages are not just made by producers,
they are also consumed by audiences.
 Analysis of audience-
viewing experiences

She noted that viewers put “a

lot of emotional energy” into
the process and they
experienced pleasure based
on the program resonated
with them
 They argued that texts(content of any medium) are
received differently by varied interpretive communities
because they derived different meanings and pleasures
from the texts.

Russians were suspicious of the 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
Global Popular Culture
 Social Media and the
Creation of Cyber Ghettoes
Cyber Ghettoes

• A place on the Internet where a social group is

marginalized.

• Source: www.yourdictionary.com
• Supporters tout blogs as superior to traditional media in
promoting democracy because blog fosters a sense of
community among users who can share their viewpoints
with likeminded individuals (Papacharissi, et al. 2004,
2006)
• Source: academic.oup.com
• Critics however, contend that because of the strong
ideological perspectives of blogs, they are creating
communication ghettos where people go to support their
own opinions and attack opposing ones, leading to increase
polarization of political views. (Stroud 2006, 2008)

• Source: academic.oup.com
• very few media scholars argue that the world is becoming
culturally homogenous
• the internet and social media are proving that the globalization
of culture and ideas can move in different directions
• media production is still controlled by a handful of powerful
Western corporations, the internet, particularly the social media
• Social Media have both beneficial and negative effects.
• These forms of communication have democratized access .
• Anyone with an internet connections or smartphone can use
Facebook and Twitter for free.
• The media enabled users to be consumers and
producers of information
Arab Spring in 2011 used Twitter to organize
and disseminate information
Women’s march against the newly installed
US President Donald Trump
 “cyberbalkanization”

• various bubbles people place themselves in

when they are online.
• The division of the Internet into narrowly focused
groups of like-minded individuals who dislike or
have little patience for outsiders.
• The Internet became the ultimate tool for finding like
minds and blocking out others long before supporters
of candidates began seeking one another out on
Meetup.com. With online dating sites where searches
can be tailored by age and income, e-mail forums for
the most narrow band of subjects, bookmarked sites
and even spam filters, the Web allows users to tailor the
information they consume more than any other
medium. Social scientists even have a term for it:
cyberbalkanization.
• Fake information can spread easily on social media since
they have few content filters.

• Unlike newspapers, Facebook does not have a team of

editors who are trained to sift through and filter information.

• If a news article, even a fake one, gets a lot of shares, it will

reach many people with Facebook accounts.