The development of science and technology has aided the process of globalisation, advanced forms of communications has allowed the efficient transmission of information and knowledge across boundaries, consequently effectively dissolving the old structures of national states and communities. However, with the course de-territorialization there is also evidence of the medias growing efforts of localisation and the formation of culturally and regionally specific identities.
The media as an institution is also steadily becoming hugely influential in the economical structure of capitalist society. the necessity of rethinking our sense of place in the context of the transformations and destabilisations wrought both by the forces of economic globalisation and by the global media industries. ‘ (Morley 2000:5). The evolution of communication technologies has allowed the spread of media across the world, making media a powerful force within politics and the formation and spread of culture.
Newspapers, magazines, television, radio, films, music, and not forgetting the Internet, are the primary mediums of informational communication throughout the public sphere. The sending, receiving and experience of media messages have become a large part of daily life, and individuals are unknowingly bombarded with advertising messages everyday. The reception of media is not only for instructive purposes, it has become a huge source of public interest and leisure.
The role of the television is a prime example of how important the media is for the progression of globalisation, within the modern domestic home the television is a form of electronic media that allows the consumer to experience through sound and images different exotic locations and novel encounters without leaving the comfort of their own personal space.
It can also be said that a type of culture has emerged from the consumption of the television, as people schedule their lives around the broadcasting timetable, in the home furniture is arranged around the television, and finally television programmes have provided mutual grounds for conversation in social interactions. On a social scale the television has initiated the de-territorialization of boundaries such as age, gender, class and culture, the same can be said for the role of film, music and radio.
Satellite television has further enhanced media globalisation by increasing the range of available messages from around the world. Here the public pays for the option to watch international media channels such as CNN for 24-hour real time news from across the nations at any time, allowing the migration of information that would ordinarily be restricted within the boundaries of a state. Furthermore, music channels such as MTV have been specifically designed for a global audience, and authentic channels from different countries and therefore cultures have been made available to the worldwide audience.
In terms of the media we now live in a globalised village’, the role of the Internet and satellite television has also allowed for a diverse range of messages to be transmitted across space and time, and subsequently contact or encounters across territories. This variety of information gives the audience the ability to create their own sense of identity, a homogenised culture formed from their own experiences through the media.
The more that content is filtered through the national media system, the more it is subject to selection and adapted, re-framed and contextualized to fit local tastes, attitudes and expectations. The chance of culture clash’ is diminished. ‘ (McQuail 2000:225). Contrast to these forms of global broadcasting, there also exists national broadcasting, culturally specific images and sounds used to create a sense of unity within a nation, encouraging the consumer to identify and imagine themselves as members of a national community.
For example in Wales there are welsh speaking channels transmitting traditional and culturally specific programmes in order to create a sense of national identity. This is also true in terms of the Internet, radio and films, as culturally or nationally specific forms are also available to the public. as a result of new communication technologies which focus on diversified, specialized information, so that the audience becomes increasingly segmented by ideologies, values, tastes, and lifestyles. ‘ (Castells 1996:368).
As a result there is evidence of what K. Robins describes as the global-local nexus both where both globalisation and localisation exist in parallel to each other, this media system is such where not everybody consumes or are audiences to the same thing at the same time, each culture or social group has a specific relationship to the media, but there also exists a standardised mass media. The rise of the global village’ and global media has had a huge impact upon the economy, as the development and consumption of mass media, advertising and communication technologies is in itself an institution within the capitalist society.
Investment has poured into the communications field, as mega-groups have formed and strategic alliances have been established to carve out market shares in a market complete transformation. ‘ (Castells 1996:368). Within industrialised societies, the movement of people, goods and information has increased the level of encounters, therefore providing a great opportunity for mass media advertising. The advertising of consumerable products is a powerful industry as media now serves as the main means of advertising.
Commercial advertising has evolved, during the 1980’s advertising involved the attachment or mapping of meaning to a product such as attractiveness of clothes, however this process became exhausted and so with the development of the consumer culture, advertisers have shifted to creating the brand name through the use of social and cultural signs. The vastness of media provided the public with knowledge, and the advertising industry exploits this knowledge by generating an ideological lifestyle and attributing this to the possession of particular goods, a statement of inclusion; of finally having made it as attractive and desirable. Morley 2000:99).
Advertising techniques consciously constructed images for the public to aspire towards, a successful, attractive, enhanced lifestyle, the construction of hyper-reality where social and cultural boundaries are exceeded. Consequently attempts have been made to construct a global audience, where in theory a product will appeal to everyone, but this has been unsuccessful. For example MTV was initially marketed as a global channel, but with growing competition and success from the development of nationally targeted music channels, MTV was forced to produce nationally specific channel such as MTV Europe.
This is also true of the marketing of magazines such as Vogue and Hello, though they are global magazines, it is a necessity to change to content as well as the language in order for it to appeal to an audience of a different culture. Sky Digital is another example, as they provide worldwide news and also make available access to regional news. Furthermore, MacDonalds can be seen to be a global product, however it caters different foods and advertises differently according to the country. Though mass media has enabled the increase of the availability and spread of knowledge, it is also subject modes of regulation.
These modes of regulation have shifted from a form of public interest to forms that are regulated by politics, economic and entrepreneurial imperatives. In some countries, governments attempt to regulate broadcasting, as satellite broadcasting has allowed their people to consume material generated by the media outside of their national boundaries. Many countries have gone as far as to ban and outlaw the possession of satellite dishes. For a country to do this shows that media exposure is able to generate particular behaviours and responses that may not conform to a particular nation’s ideology.
It has been argued that terrorism has a link to the effects of mass media, Much terrorist violence is either planned, threatened or carried out for political objectives by people seeking, however indirectly, to use media The main potential benefit for terrorists is either to gain attention for a cause or to arouse public fear and alarm, which will in turn bring pressure to bear on a government. ‘ (McQuail 2000:439). This has proven to be true to the most recent War on Terror’, this media mediated war is shown to have many forms of representation.
The public’s only knowledge of the war is through the consumption of the different forms of media, however there is a diversity of perspectives across the territories of the British, the USA, Iraq, and of other nations. As a result increased communication technologies has enabled the access to all sides of representation, allowing the public to form their own opinions, restrictions to this access allows a nation to feed the public bias information generating propaganda as there is an absence of alternative objective information.
On the other hand the access to other hand, the role of media in the American Re-election has shown how divisions can be produced within a nation state as different states within America were shown to have a majority support of one party over the other. Moreover, during the American Re-election 2004, the Guardian newspaper in the UK used their power as media to encourage their readers to write letters to the people across the globe in the Ohio state in America, however this was an endeavour to influence the outcome of the election by attempting to form boundaries through shaping the public’s opinion.
Advances in the speed and quality of global communication technologies have allowed the development of mass media, subsequently aiding the process of de-territorialization. However this increase in public access to a diverse range of information has in contrast caused regulations of broadcasting and the formation of specific national identities. While the media have become indeed globally interconnected, and programs and messages circulate in the global network, we are not living in a global village, but in customized cottages globally produced and locally distributed. ‘ (Castells 1996:370).
