concept of media globalization

Media/ Globalisation
Review of the set reading
'Empires of the Senseless', New Internationalist, 333, April pp 9-12 18,20.

Who is the author?
New Internationalist is a left wing magazine that looks at social issues from the viewpoint of the disadvantaged. As an organisation it probably follows the recognitive model of social justice. Social justice is in fact the major theme of New Internationalist inquiries and reports.
Key issues:
Globalisation of culture through mass media results in suppression of diversity.
There is too much power in the hands of few over the distribution of cultural capital. Media giants also have power in commerce and the media is structured to influence our consumer habits.
Media is not only a result of but also a process in globalisation.

Key Debates.
As entertainment/ media organisations get larger and more powerful, culture becomes a commodity that gets bought, sold, rearranged. Instead of generating our own culture we become passive observers and turn into consumers of a media which portrays an artificial homogenous culture. (Sort of like the food you get at Maca's)
But the debate goes that people are more resilient than the media giants would hope. Media activism is on the rise as people rally to protect 'cultural ecosystems'.

Groups involved.
Media giants

• Murdoch: (news corporation)
• Messier (Vivendi Universal)
• Eiserner (Walt Disney)
• Redstone (Viacom)
• Middelhof (Bertelsmann)
• Levin (AOL Time Warner)
• Can you think of any others?

Motivation: Power, commercial interests, monopoly over viewers.
(United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.)UNSECO.
Role is to protect science, education and cultural diversity around the globe, but the organisation is in a bind because it needs support from government and non government organisations.
Government.
Moral obligation to support free speech and non biased media coverage but is vulnerable to exposure. Can be influenced by commercial media's financial power. Australian Government at present is being pressured into privatising ABC, which would put power into the owners hands and turn ABC into a commercial station.
Public
Receives the media. Has the choice or does not have the choice what to watch. Can be passively influenced, or an informed observer or contributor.

History of the event
Globalisation is resulting in less diverse media being presented and the media is a powerful player in globalisation aswell.
In the past before cable TV, satellite and even before TV. People generated their own culture. With the development of television, culture and news was generated within countries for the consumption of the local population. Now the media giants are getting bigger and buy out the smaller stations and fill the market with specific programs resulting in a monopoly over world wide cultural capital.
Media is also connected to industry ie through ownership, so media can be used to promote or give a biased view in the favour of industry. (One example: NIKE:selling the concept of health and fitness, while workers are under paid and exploited.)
Are any phenomena portrayed as beyond questioning?
UNSECO published a paper called "Many Voices, One World", which called for an independent international news agency to operate out of the South (in Australia the alternative would be out of the East, as an alternative to the Western Nations). This move was strongly opposed by Reagen and Thatcher, who condemned the proposal as an attack on 'free speech'. My interpretation of this is that the south has an unheard voice and news is monopolised by the more wealthy and powerful media organisations operating in the north and maintaining the interests of the Northern countries (Or in Australia's situation Western countries).
What strikes me as the greatest issue is the way media has taken our stories,homogenised them and sold them back to us. Take Disney for example. How many traditional tales has Walt Disney put into animation? Of all of these tales how many have retained the original meaning? This does not stop at movies but goes into literature aswell. The Little Golden Books is an example of traditional tales being homogenised for easy consumption. An example might be Little red riding hood, the traditional tale surely ended with the wolf killing both red riding hood and her grandmother, with the wood cutter being powerless to do any thing more, The moral being the foolishness of a girl who did not heed her mother, Yet this story has been fixed by Disney to have the predictable happy ending with the wood cutter rescuing Red Riding hood and her grandmother, the new moral can be interpreted as being "it doesn't matter if the little girl disobeyed her mother there is always a more powerful man around who can rescue the unfortunate girl," Now how true is that?
As conclusion,
Disney and all other commercial media, take events, stories and topical news, change them to fit their criteria and sell them back to us, the public. Children raised on this media without the skills of hindsight and questioning will take the concepts portrayed as being true and this changes expectations ad interpretation of culture.

Is there an issue of power in the events being discussed?
The issue of power lies in the control of information.
"Urguayan novelist Eduardo Galeano says 'Never have so many been held incommunicado by so few.' He describes this as the dictatorship of the single word and the single image, much more devastating than that of the single party".
I would argue both are devastating. Media portrays happiness as arising from perfection and perfection is found in the new, the wealthy, the charismatic, the easy. Reality though is starkly different. Power lies in the ability of media to change the people's understanding of reality.

Implications for teachers.
Critical analysis of media in the classroom is essential. Especially today where children are growing up in an environment so dominated by a media that in many instances undermines the power of parents. If children receive the message that it's 'cool' to disrespect parents who will raise this generation of children?
Bring fable and myth back into the classroom along with the moral messages being sent. Our role and responsibility is to educate children. Look at the opportunities presented by quality literature and take these on board in the education of children.
Be very cautious before accepting sponsorship or corporate assistance. Look behind the offer and understand the motivation and underlying effect on the students. Is the offer really worth it after considering the costs?
Globalisation need not be seen in a totally negative light though. Other classroom implications might be
Assess to more information about topics of interest from around the world through IT technology.
Improvement in education standards in developing countries...or a change in the essence of education. i.e. filtration of western democratic values. (Pacific Islands)
Reduced cost of books, resources.