What Significance Do Media Systems Have for the Construction of National Identities - Assignment Example

?Running Head: Media and National Identity Media and National Identity [Institute’s Media and National Identity Introduction Over the past few decades, media has emerged as one of the biggest forces on the planet, which can change or play an important in changing the minds and hearts of the people and even the boundaries and landscapes of countries. Experts have been debating for a long period about the role that media plays in the creation and promotion of national identity. The paper briefly discusses the question and examines the possibility that whether or not the sense of national identity could exist in the absence of media. In the process, the paper will start with defining the concepts and terms of “nation” and “national identity”. Discussion According to the Oxford dictionary, the concept of Nation could be defined as a “large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular state or territory” (Martin-Jones, 2006). On the other hand, the Cambridge dictionary believes that nation can be defined as “an independent country, especially when thought of as consisting of a single large group of people all sharing the same language, traditions and history” (Inthorn, 2007). One of the most important and influential ideas presented in an attempt to define nation was put forward by the French philosopher Ernest Renan in the year 1882 with his book “Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? ("What is a Nation?"). When other writers and experts were busy looking for the objective criteria and shared characteristics of the group of people, which constituted a nation, Renan believed that nation is formed with the desire of people living together. In fact, he even went on to prepare a list of factors on which the nation is not based on. These were “Dynastic principles, Race and ethnicity, Language, Material interests, Affinities, Geography and Military necessity” (Inthorn, 2007). He believed that all of the above-mentioned factors have no clear boundaries and these have become obsolete. Many great nations shared all of these characteristics but many of them did not even share one yet they made nations that are even more influential. Therefore, according to the Renan, nation has its roots in the desire of the people to “avoir fait de grandes choses ensemble, vouloir en faire encore" (having done great things together and wishing to do more) (Dornfeld, 1998). Like the definition of nation, national identity is also a disputed and debated concept with little disagreements amongst the experts and writers. Some have rejected the existence of such a concept and they label it as fallacy or illusion for the masses created by the governments and the people in power to exert their force. This allows them to maintain the status quo and thus their position in the society (Price, 1995). As John Pilger writes about the concept of national identity that “National identity ... becomes ... the often elegant collection of images that the government (or a series of interest groups) manufactures or encourages to keep itself in power" (McCauley, Peterson, & Artz, 2003). Price (2004) believes that the concept of national identity can be defined with three different models or approaches, which are instrumental, essential, and pluralistic models. The instrumental model implies that national identity is “the collection of myths, ideas, and narratives used by a dominant group or coalition to maintain power in society”. The essential model believes that the American-ness, Scottish-ness, British-ness, Russian-ness, and others have their roots in the national identities and more importantly, all of them have historical essence. Symbols, music, colors and flags are tools, which reinforce this identity, there their protection and promotion is the most important job of the public institutions (Tomlinson & Young, 2006; Martin-Jones, 2006). The pluralistic model refers to the practice in certain countries where national identity is the product of efforts of the state to protect various ethnic and religious groups with the help of law, benefits, force, or even constitution (Martin-Jones, 2006). Pradip Thomas writes about national identity that its health can be measured through “by the extent to which the various 'nations' comprising the nation-state willingly subsume their parochial identities to that of a supra-national identity. In real life, however, a consensual example is hard to come by” (McCauley, Peterson, & Artz, 2003). Analysis The concept of technological nationalism, which was originally presented for Canada by Maurice Charland but it is applicable to many other nations, is an important concept to understand the link between media and creation of a national identity. It asserts that the technological choices taken by the state elite and the administration or the government of a region or country places a crucial role in creation a national bond between people (Kennedy & Danks, 2001; McCauley, Peterson, & Artz, 2003). Maurice Charland believed that technological nationalism is a product of two rhetorical themes that are material and ideological. More importantly, technological nationalism is political strategy, which is aimed at gaining power by establishing a strong bond between people and country’s technological wonders. It forces and at time, conditions them to trust blindly, the technological elites of the country by associating a sense of pride with them. Therefore, people end up rejecting any criticism on them as well since the same appears to be a question on their national pride (Harrison & Johnson, 2009). Various factors promoted or forced to promote the sense of nationalism in Canada such as the fear of Americanization, great depression, First World War, immigration, industrialization, advent of new technologies and many others. It was in the year 1948 when the Massey (Lesvesque) Commission on the Arts examined the role of media to tackle the challenges faced by the country on its sense of national identity. The commission came forward with the idea that mass media should channelize its efforts towards promoting national unity, national identity, and countering the wave of Americanization (Dornfeld, 1998; Kennedy & Danks, 2001). The commission also identified it is important to strengthen and control five important forms of media which are magazines, film industry, music industry, radio broadcasting industry and publishing industry. During the 1920s, the ratio of American magazines to Canadian magazines was 8:1 (Harrison & Johnson, 2009). The conservative Canadian administration was concerned that lifting barriers from the industry would lead to the corruption of youth, dissemination of immoral ideas and disintegration of the national culture. However, towards the end of late 1930s, the Canadian administration realized that societies, which have tried to block ideas and new thoughts, have never progressed in the history. Therefore, it is imperative that they should remove the tariffs, promote the industry, but also follow a protectionist policy for the local industry as well (Cameron, 1999). Before the mid of 20th century, the Canadian movie industry was quickly moving towards decline because of the limited viewership, lack of investment and foreign control over the movie. However, during the Second World War, the Canadian government, with the help of the famous Scottish documentary maker John Grierson, made propaganda documentaries, which reflected on the lives of average Canadians. Examples include World in Action, Canada Carries On, and others (Blum, 2007). “Pamphlet of Common Sense” by Thomas Paine depicts the use of media, in its earliest forms and its role in creation and promotion of national identity in the hearts of and minds of the people of colonial America in the 18th century (Kennedy & Danks, 2001). It was a 70 plus pager pamphlet on which Thomas Paine, one of the founding fathers of America, started working in the year 1775, and published it in 1776. The pamphlet sold more than 0.12 million copies in 3 months. The pamphlet was later translated into many different languages such as French, Scottish, German, and others. Interesting here is to note that most historians agree on the fact that it was the Pamphlet of Common Sense, which played the crucial role in planting the last nail in the coffin of British ruled colonial America (Tomlinson & Young, 2006). Before Common Sense came onto the scene, feelings of anger, distrust, distress, and frustration were bubbling under the surface in America for their colonial masters; however, Thomas Paine gave life to those feelings by converting them into words, which could read repeatedly until they become engraved on the hearts. Paine wrote that it is not rational for the people of America to allow a small island situated thousands of miles away to rule a large continent. If the queen of Britain is the mother of America then it appears she is the stepmother and is treating America as its stepson because no mother in her sane mind would allow its children to fight and suffer (Harrison & Johnson, 2009). Paine wrote that there should be no other king of America other than the constitution of the country. The point here is that these words and thoughts were able to play a very important role in uniting the people of America to fight for their independence. Most importantly, it was the pamphlet of common sense, which later went on to inspire Thomas Jefferson’s declaration of independence (Cameron, 1999). The recent revolution is also a great example of the role of media in bringing people together on one common platform. The revolution started on the internet through the help of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Followed by the Tunisian revolution, many bloggers created sites, blogs and pages that allowed the Egyptians to post videos, comments and thoughts about the government. These blogs and sites also urged people to participate in mass protests so that they could get rid of Hunsi Mubarak, the president of the country who was ruling the nation for around 30 years. Despite the fact that the government shut down the internet in the last week of January but the media had done the damage in creating a sense of urgency to protect the nation and national identity in the hearts and minds of Egyptians, millions who came on the streets and remained there until they achieved what they wanted to achieve. Despite the fact that media plays a very important role in the creation and promotion of a sense of national identify, it is important to explore that whether or not the same is possible in the absence of media. There are various examples in the history of humankind when we have witnessed very strong societies, communities and nations, living together for many decades in the absence of any technological forces (Price, 1995). The creation of a Muslim nation and sense of collective identity amongst the Muslims of the early era was in the absence of any media activities and many Muslims all over the world still define themselves as part of one nation spread over many continents, boundaries and countries (McCauley, Peterson, & Artz, 2003). Furthermore, many societies in the Greek and Roman Empire also existed as “nations” and their own national identities even in the absence of media forces (Blum, 2007). Despite the fact that it took a lot of time, energy, and force to create that unity amongst the people, it was never impossible. In light of the Renan’s definition, nation is all about the will of people living together and that will could be created and reinforced, even in the absence of media (Cameron, 1999). For example, in times of natural disasters, nations and regions develop strong identities because they know that they call of the time is to work together in order to tackle the problems. One can even go on to suggest that the first group of humans also had some sort of national identity of their own (Dornfeld, 1998; Inthorn, 2007). They would have had that identity based on their differences with other animals in the surroundings and the ability of other humans to live together in an interdependent way, protecting each other from the external threats. In short, throughout history, the quickest, and the most effective form of developing a national identity is to reinforce the idea that there is an external threat or external enemy, which can harm the society (McCauley, Peterson, & Artz, 2003). If it remains united and fights those threats together, it would be safe. Whenever in human history, these ideas have appeared on the scene, whether with the help of media forms or without media; they have automatically played the role of glue in bringing together people and forcing them to develop a desire to live together (Harrison & Johnson, 2009). Conclusion Therefore, towards the end, it is understandable to conclude that media, in today’s world, plays a crucial and even imperative role in the creation of national identity. Not only the use of media for the same purpose is prevalent all over the world but also many developed nations have created unity and patriotism in their current and previous generations with using the media for sparking these emotions (McCauley, Peterson, & Artz, 2003). It does not imply that creation and promotion of national identity is not possible in the absence of media forces since history has shown as examples of great empires, which have acted, like great, unified, and strong nations in the absence of any media (Blum, 2007). However, with the help of media, political elite of the country can perform the same tasks with comparatively, a lot of comfort and ease. References Blum, D. W. (2007). National identity and globalization: youth, state and society in post-Soviet Eurasia. Cambridge University Press. Cameron, K. (1999). National identity. Intellect Books. Dornfeld, B. (1998). Producing public television, producing public culture. Princeton University Press. Harrison, C. E., & Johnson, A. (2009). National identity: the role of science and technology. University of Chicago Press. Inthorn, S. (2007). German media and national identity. Cambria Press. Kennedy, P. T., & Danks, C. J. (2001). Globalization and national identities: crisis or opportunity? Palgrave Macmillan. Martin-Jones, D. (2006). Deleuze, cinema and national identity: narrative time in national contexts. Edinburgh University Press. McCauley, M. P., Peterson, E. E., & Artz, B. L. (2003). Public broadcasting and the public interest. M. E. Sharpe. Price, M. E. (1995). Television, the public sphere and national identity. Oxford University Press. Price, M. E. (2004). Media and Sovereignty: The Global Information Revolution and Its Challenge to State Power. MIT Press. Tomlinson, A., & Young, C. (2006). National identity and global sports events: culture, politics, and spectacle in the Olympics and the football World Cup. SUNY Press. Read More