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MMC304 Sociology of Communication
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Title: MMC304 Sociology of Communication
1
MMC304 Sociology of Communication
- Global Television and Global Culture
2
The medium is the message
- When Marshall McLuhan pronounced that the medium
is the message in the 1960s, television was
still in its infancy and personal computers were
not to exist for almost twenty years. - His claim was that each medium had its own
intrinsic effect, which was its unique message. - In his book Understanding media The extensions
of man (1966), where he introduces this argument,
he writes about how the message of a particular
medium is the change or invention of scales or
patterns that it introduces into human affairs
and ways of existence.
3
The medium is the message
- The railway did not introduce movement or
transportation or wheel or road into human
society, but it accelerated and enlarged the
scale of previous human functions, creating
totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of work
and leisure. This happened whether the railway
functioned in a tropical or northern environment,
and is quite independent of the freight or
content of the railway medium (McLuhan, 1966 8).
4
The medium is the message
- What McLuhan had to say about the railroad half a
century ago applies with equal if not more
validity to the medium of television and, more
importantly, to global media today. - The medium is the message because it is the
medium that shapes and controls the scale and
form of human association and action (1966 9).
5
Conceptualizing (g)local media
- Historically, until the turn of the 1980s, media
initially print then broadcasting had always
been associated with a national broadcasting
model. - Despite the emergence of trans-border
broadcasting entrepreneurs as early as the 1980s,
television has predominantly been at the centre
of a national consciousness with the exception,
of course, of exceptional events broadcast live,
and internationally, such as the Apollo 11 moon
landing. - The BBC, as one of the earliest public service
broadcasters, can be cited as an example of such
a national broadcasting organization. - TRT is another good example for a national
broadcasting organization
6
Conceptualizing (g)local media
- What has become clear since the 1980s, however,
is that television is not necessarily national. - Aksoy and Robins, argue for example for a new
kind of media culture that has become de-linked
from a singular national reference point (2000,
p.343). - They suggest, global, regional, national and even
local circuits of program now overlap and
interact in a multifaceted way, no doubt with a
great variety of cultural effects which are
impossible to conceptualize within the more
concentric perspective appropriate to previous
decades (2003, p.8).
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Conceptualizing (g)local media
- In contemporary times, it seems difficult to talk
of small communities being homogeneous and, even
more so, nations. - Individuals tend to form their subjectivities
with reference to more local and diverse
registers such as tradition, religion, ethnicity,
gender etc. - In addition to the already complex global media
order, today we also see highly localized media,
targeting identities conceived around highly
localized registers.
8
Conceptualizing (g)local media
- It is now possible to view pro-Islamic
broadcasts, channels such as Med TV broadcasting
in Kurdish, Zee TV broadcasting across Asia in
Hindi or MBC targeting Arabic speakers in Europe,
broadcasts mainly targeting males (LIG TV is one
example), music channels targeting mainly young
viewers, etc. - Thus, today there is access to media which
conceives itself in much more (g)local terms than
traditional national broadcasters.
9
Conceptualizing (g)local media
- Hence, with a whole array of economic and
technological developments, the model of national
broadcasting has increasingly come to be
undermined. - Today a new media order is formed that renders
geographic, national, cultural, ethnic and
financial boundaries obsolete, all the while
contributing to the formation of unprecedented
transnational, traditional, global, hybrid
cultural formations. - This model of contemporary global media that
is, a media that seeks its audiences globally
is manifested by media flows that transcend
borders of all kinds, spanning the world but
being consumed in, for instance, Chinese,
Spanish, Arabic or Turkish among communities that
speak these languages wherever they may be
located.
10
Emergence of (g)local media
- Although it may be claimed that the emergence of
transnational media is not a recent development
when conceptualized within the broader scope of
globalization, it is important to note how the
media of the past few decades is substantially
different from its predecessors. According to
Jean Chalaby, - The transnationalisation of global media at the
beginning of the 21st century can be comprehended
as the third phase in a succession of paradigm
shifts in the evolution of international
communication from the mid-19th century onwards
(2005 28).
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Emergence of (g)local media
- It is worthwhile taking Chalabys three phases of
the evolution of the contemporary global media
order as our departure point here for a brief
review of the evolution of communications
technologies. - Chalaby claims the first and the second phases
are respectively internationalization and
globalization of media flows (2005). - He suggests the third phase, namely the
transnationalisation of media, is an extension of
these two earlier paradigms (2005).
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Emergence of (g)local media
- An early driving force behind the process of
internationalization of communications was the
invention of the telegraph with its capacity to
transfer information over long distances. - This, coupled with governments realization of
the importance of various new technologies,
rapidly magnified the significance of
international communication in the world order. - It was during this period that Hollywood, under
the strong influence of the US State Department,
dominated the international film trade
(Trumpbour, 2002).
13
Emergence of (g)local media
- A second explosion in the international
communication took place with the turn of the
second half of the 20th century, which according
to Chalaby (2002) led to the globalization of the
media order. - The juggernaut behind this process was the newly
emerging space-related technology. - Through the invention of communication satellites
global networks of international communications
organizations such as Intelsat and the
International Telecommunications Union developed
(Evans, 1987 Hecht, 1999).
14
Emergence of (g)local media
- In this period, at the end of 1990s, CNN emerged
as the worlds first global channel. - It had become available worldwide 24 hours a day
with transmission on a Soviet satellite to
Africa, the Middle East and the Indian
sub-continent (Chalaby 2005 29). - Even if we consider this just from a
technological perspective, the world had indeed
become a global village, a single constricted
space resonant with tribal drums (McLuhan, 1966
31).
15
Emergence of (g)local media
- Although the first communication satellites are
barely less than half a century old, it is now
becoming increasingly apparent that an even newer
international communication paradigm is emerging.
- During the last decade or two, a new shift in
global media flows has evolved which
distinguishes this new order from its
predecessors. - The information technology revolution has
deepened the integration between computing,
telecommunications and electronic media
(Forester, 1985 Castells, 1996). - As Chalaby notes, a transnational media order is
coming into being that is remapping media spaces
and involving new media practices, flows and
products (2005 30).
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Distinguishing transnational media
- What is so different, then, about the
contemporary transnational media order that
justifies its designation as a new paradigm? - Firstly, it is important to note a number of
distinct aspects in the evolution of
transnational media. - Secondly, the unprecedented provisions of this
new phenomenon for the groups on both ends of
these media flows (producers and consumers) need
to be recognized.
17
The evolution of transnational media
- There are two central nodes around which the
process of transnationalisation of global media
flows has evolved. - One has been the emergence of new trends in
global migration, including the relative ease of
worldwide transportation and communication.
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The evolution of transnational media
- The increase in both the volume and the speed of
transportation has created a world of displaced
individuals, dispersed nationals and mobile
populations. - As Karim suggests, these trends have produced
transnational groups related by culture,
ethnicity, language, and religion (1998 1). - These transnational groups now create a market
for, and demand the availability of, a
global-ethnic media that takes account of their
specific (g)local needs and desires.
19
The evolution of transnational media
- A second driving force in the evolution of this
new transnational media order flowing from the
previous one - has been the proliferation of
countless relatively small transnational media
organizations. - It is not predominantly the gigantic Western
media conglomerates that are privileged with
trans-border reach anymore. - While the globally dominant Eurocentric cultural
structures, including media organizations, are
strengthening (Herman and McChesney, 1997), there
is also a considerable increase in the number of
smaller media organizations that are broadcasting
transnationally from their non-Western
standpoints.
20
The evolution of transnational media
- Multichoice in South Africa, Zee Network in
India, TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) in
Turkey, MED TV by Kurds and Al Jazeera are good
examples of smaller transnational media
organizations. - As Chalaby notes then,
- Transnational TV channels have multiplied and
grown in diversity over the past 10 years to
include some of the most innovative and
influential channels of our times. Many of them
are at the heart of the transformation of
regional media cultures, most noticeably in the
Middle East, South Asia and even Africa, but also
in Europe (2005 30).
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