Globalization of American Media - Research Proposal Example

Globalization: A Comparative Analysis of Media Cultures in Australia, America and China 2008 Description of the Issue Globalization has not only entailed movement of goods, services, capital, technology and labor across national boundaries, it has also resulted in sharing of cultures between countries. In no area is this most apparent than the media. Particularly the mass media, that is television, radio and films, has become integrated with the economic systems, which are essentially market-driven. From a vicious view of Americanism that the global media was apparently fed with since the 1930s, the post-modern “semiotic democracy” has made the “new information order” a more complex phenomenon (Murray, 2007). While earlier, the influence of American culture on global media was seen in center-periphery terms of political economy, a combination of modern-day cultural imperialism as well as “cultural protectionism” (Schiller, 2007, quoted by Murray, 2007) in the media of some countries have made this a more complex phenomenon. While cultural imperialism was blatant during the Cold War years with American propaganda trying to influence the cultures of all countries, the influence has taken indirect routes in the days of globalization. As an example, Schiller (2007) cites the American satellite television channel, Al-Hurra, launched after the Iraq War in 2003 to counter the local channel, Al-Jazeera. It was realized that a local language television channel was necessary rather than English language propaganda material, which was found ineffective in the region even in the Cold War years because of cultural protectionism (Battle, 2002). Murray (2007) points out that the American influence has continued to exist in the days of globalization in many subtle forms. For example, the soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty, generally considered to be the epitome of American culture of consumerism, is viewed by aboriginal cultures as depiction of kinship. In this scenario, cultural imperialism is not simply a political agenda as in the past but poses as an opportunity for transnational businesses. The media has essentially come to be linked with the capitalist economic system in which the market is the ultimate arbitrator. Modern western democracies of today vouch for the free market in which the players have competitive freedom in all sectors including the media. Hence, most western economies, particularly the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, have been engaging in media reforms that would enable greater competition in the sector (Hitchens, 2007). As it has turned out, in most sectors of the economy – including the media – it is the global conglomerates that rule the markets in most countries. As McChensey (1999) notes, such democracies are closer to the libertian democracies of the 18th century, when the political system was ruled by the rich elite and not by the common citizens though it is the latter that democracy should entail. In such a system, media reforms that promote the market-based system of concentrated media leads to media content that is also dictated by the rules of the market. People are provided with a flood of information through the market but the subjectivity of the information depends on the business interests of the conglomerates. This, according to McChensey, has serious political implications. It is assumed that the commercial media system, which works under the free market regime, is fundamentally strong and does not require to be regulated by the state. This neo-liberal stand is similar to that which is advocated for free markets for industries. It goes unnoticed that the commercial media feeds the audience biased content. The First Amendment Principle, which provides the Americans the freedom of speech and expression then is given a go by in the interest of freedom of property rights, which essentially is what happens in this case (McChensey, 1999). The core problems of media reforms in America as in other countries, according to McChensey, are the result of “a profit-driven, advertising-supported media system: hypercommercialism and denigration of journalism and public service”, which he thinks is poison pill for democracy. Although there is no systematic study on the effect of the media and the political ideas that are resulted in the minds of the audiences, some researchers have attempted to pinpoint the effect of television viewing on the political standpoint of viewers. It is thought that the social environment is significantly altered through the messages transmitted by the media. As a result, social parameters like childhood, adulthood, femininity, masculinity, race are all qualified by the messages from the media. Different media, however, have different capacities to change the social environment. The new media, particularly the electronic, for example, can alter the social environment significantly. As a result, the bias potential of alternate medium may be considerably different. The electronic media and the commercialization of the media together play a distinctive role in defining the cultural attitudes of the society that have grown apolitical in nature (Meyrowitz, 1996). Despite the flood of information through the various channels of media and the high exposure of the audience to media content, political awareness has been on the decline. Hence, the basis of democracy, that is, the exercise of universal suffrage, has been downgraded through the media, which in a way shapes the cultural positioning of the society (McChensey and Nichols, 2001). Media reforms that result in a commercially-oriented, concentrated media have crucial implications for the nature of the media itself. While the traditional approach to the role of the media considers it as a channel between the citizens and the government, in which the media is used to voice citizens’ opinion, the more radical approach harps on its association with partisan and investigative journalism (Dahlgren, 1993). In a situation that media becomes a tool for business interests, neither of these roles remain valid any longer. In the traditional sense, the media becomes a channel of information flow between the business and the consumer. In the radical approach, a business-associated media has no interest either in public service content or in investigative journalism. Hence, media reform in the neo-liberal sense is self-defeating in purpose and hence destructive for itself. Countries to be examined In this research, I will study the effects of globalization on the media in two western market-driven countries – America and Australia – as well as an Eastern country – China – which, though liberalizing economically, continues to be regulated politically to a large extent. It is of interest to me to see whether the American culture and consumerism has as much an effect on a country, which is different culturally, linguistically and politically, as a western democratic country with a similar culture. Research Question The research question is what globalization has meant for the media cultures in the United States, Australia and China. The purpose of the research is to study whether globalization makes the media a tool for business interests, foregoing its responsibility towards investigative journalism and independent opinion. Argument The media became market-driven first in the United States where the media moved from being a public service institution to a market-driven one quite some time back. In Australia, the media reforms were enacted in 2007, resulting the elimination of regulation on cross-holdings of media companies and acquisition by foreign companies. Even prior to the reforms, the Australian media industry, including the print, television and radio, has had a complex ownership structure (Sheehan, 2002). China, too, has had its share of media reforms that have liberalized its media. From the days of Mao when the media was used as a persuasive tool for propaganda to a more liberal political and economic environment since the late 1970s, the media continues to be regulated although its use as propaganda machinery has been reduced. This is to some extent the result of change in the cultural environment that has been affected by economic liberalization. Yet, the media is far from achieving democratic principles in China. The political stranglehold remains and the public service broadcasts are more in the nature of propaganda (Zhao, 1998). Thus, Australia and China have different media ownership structures. It is the intention of this study to analyze whether this has an effect in the media content. Research Strategy/ Sources Overview The study will begin with an analysis of the media ownership structures in the United States, Australia and China. This will not only identify the major media providers as government and public but will also associate them with global/ local conglomerates. At the next stage, I will analyze the content of the media and the general media cultures of the three countries. For this purpose, I will survey the content of newspapers, magazines, journals and online media of all three countries to find the references to business interests and expression of political ideologies. The time schedule for the study is as follows: 1) library research: 1 week 2) data research: 2 weeks 3) writing and editing the report: 1 week Assignment Plan 1) Introduction 2) Ownership patterns of the media industries (print, television and radio) in the United States, Australia and China 3) Analysis of transnational media conglomerates 4) The regulatory environment for media in the three countries 5) Effect of globalisation and corporatisation of media on content Annotated Bibliography Australian Government (2006). Meeting the Digital Challenge: Reforming Australia’s Media in the Digital Age, March http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/37572/Media_consultation_paper_Final_.pdf This report details the background of media reforms in Australia and the specific changes made in the regulation framework. McChensey, Robert W and John Nichols (2001). “The Making of a Movement”, The Nation, December 20. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020107/mcchesney The article describes the effect of corporatisation of media on political awareness in the United States. Baker, Edwin (2006). Media Concentration: Giving up on Democracy., Cambridge University Press This book describes how the media organization has taken up the economic principles of market-driven structure. Bagdikian, Ben H (2000). The Media Monopoly, Sixth Edition, Beacon Press This book describes American media’s shift in orientation from the needs of the individual to that of the big business McChesney, Robert W. (1999). Rich Media Poor Democracy; Communication Politics in Dubious Times, University of Illinois Press This book highlights the paradox between the needs of democracy and the advertisement-dependent media in the neo-liberal political and economic order Meyrowitz, Joshua (1996). No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Behavior on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press This book shows the links between electronic media and political awareness of people. Zhao, Yueshi (1998). Media, Market and Democracy in China: Between Party Line and Bottom Line, University of Illinois This book describes the change in the media market in China Dahlgren, Peter (1993). Communication and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere, Routledge This book describes the trends of independence in investigative journalism Sheehan, Paul, Media Ownership in Australia, 20 May, 2002, http://www.tmc.org.au/Sydney/documents/Media%20Ownership%20in%20Australia.doc This paper describes media ownership patterns in Australia Read More