Globalization and Mass Media - Essay Example

The concept of 'Third World' has been replaced by the term 'developing economies', as underscored in this era of globalization. The other side of the coin reveals that institutions such as the IMF showed false hopes to the LDCs (least developing countries), resulting in major crises and disasters (Journal of Libertarian Studies, 2004). James Mittelman in the 'Manifestations of Globalizationargued that globalization was integrally linked to 'multiple levels of analysis: economics, politics and ideology.

' The predominance of a few satellite channels over others in international communication, have brought in this concept of 'cultural imperialism'. An aspect of globalization, cultural imperialism is a new form of traditional colonial domination. The fast developing cultural relations between the European nations and the small nation states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries made Pyenson coin the term 'cultural imperialism, which has been used scholars and historians today to describe this era of globalization.

Here we argue about the definition of cult. Easy access to information, goods and services has brought the nations under one umbrella. Reazul Haque opined that international channels such as Cable News Network (CNN), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Music Television (MTV) enjoy the highest viewership. The Internet or the New Media has made information readily available to people all over the world. (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 2006) It was the colonial masters, who first practiced social propaganda technology from their home countries through the vehicle of mass media.

There was always a tendency to make the subservient to the former imperialist powers. The big superpowers, notably USA dominated the political scene through the tool of media and communication. Schiller affirmed in his book Culture, Inc, that the media has by and large contributed to chronicle the surge of America as a corporate power and also helped in strengthening its ideological base worldwide. (Schiller, 9) Hamelink, referred to cultural imperialism as 'cultural synchronization'. By this, he meant that a particular cultural development in a developed country is immediately passed on to the receiving country through the mode of communication.

He spoke about those millions of people, 'who watched foreign television programs, used the international telephone lines and mailing systems, buy recorded music and read the international news. CNN newscasts, Madonna, Rupert Murdoch's empire, satellite telephony or transborder data flows, all touch upon people's daily lives around the world'. (Hamelink, 1) John Tomlinson in his book Cultural Imperialism, in chapter entitled 'Media Imperialism', contended that 'to understand the notion of cultural imperialism, we