THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

UNIT II
A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization
Lesson 7 Media and Globalization

Learning Outcomes: newspapers. Broadcast media involve radio, film

1. Analyze how various media drive different and television. Digital media cover the internet
forms of global integration; and mobile mass communication. Internet media
2. Compare the social impacts of different include e-mail, internet sites, social media, and
media on the process of globalization; internet-based video and audio.
3. Explain the dynamic between local and
global cultural production; and What media do and how they affect
4. Define responsible media consumption. societies? Marshall McLuhan once declared that
the medium is the message. His statement was
an attempt to draw attention to how media, as a
form of technology reshape societies. Thus, the
Globalization entails the spread of television is not a simple bearer of messages, it
various cultures and ideas. also shapes the social behavior of users and
Spread of culture such as films made in reorient family behavior. Since it was introduced
Hollywood are shown across the globe. Spread in the 1960’s, television has steered people from
of ideas such as the notion of the rights of the the dining table where they eat and tell stories to
lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender, LGBT each other to the living room where they silently
communities. People who travel the globe munch on their food while watching primetime
teaching and preaching their beliefs in shows. Television has also drawn people away
universities, churches, public fora, classrooms, or from other meaningful activities such as playing
even as guests of a family play a major role in the games or reading books.
spread of culture and ideas. Today, the smart phone allows users to
But today, television programs, social keep in touch instantly with multiple people at the
media groups, books, movies, magazines, and same time. Prior to the cellphone there was no
the like have made it easier for advocates to way for couples to keep constantly in touch or to
reach larger audience. Globalization relies on be updated on what the other does all the time.
media as its main conduct for the spread of global The technology and the not the message makes
culture and ideas. There is an intimate for this social change possible.
relationship between globalization and media
THE GLOBAL VILLAGE AND CULTURAL
which must be unraveled to further understand
the contemporary world. IMPERIALISM
McLuhan analyzed the social changes
MEDIA AND ITS FUNCTION brought about by television. He declared that the
Jack Lule posted this questions: Could television sets and listened to the same stories
global trade have evolved without a flow of and their perception of the world would contract.
information on markets, prices, commodities, and
Later McLuhan and media scholars
more?; Could empires have stretched across the
further grappled with the challenges of a global
world without communication throughout their
media culture. A lot of these early thinkers
border?; and Could religion, music, poetry, film,
assumed that global media had a tendency to
fiction, cuisine, and fashion develop as they have
homogenize culture. They argued that as global
without the intermingling of media and cultures?
media spread, people from all over the world
Lule describes media as a means of would begin to watch, listen to, and read the
conveying something such as a channel of same things. This thinking arose at time when
communication. Technically speaking, a America’s power had turned it into the world’s
person’s voice is a medium. However, when culture heavyweight. Commentators believed
commentators refer to media, they mean the that media globalization coupled with American
technologies of mass communication. Print hegemony would create a form of cultural
media includes books, magazines, and imperialism whereby American values and
culture would overwhelm all others. In 1976, proliferated worldwide through the globalization
Herbert Schiller, a media critic argued that not of media. Japanese brands from “Hello Kitty” to
only was the world being Americanized but the “Mario Brothers to Pokemon” are now a part
that this process also led to the spread of of global popular culture. The impression is true
American capitalist values like consumerism. to Korean Pop(K-Pop) and Korean telenovelas
which are widely successful regionally and
John Tomlimson says that cultural globally. The observation even applies to culinary
globalization is simply a euphemism for Western tastes and the most obvious case of globalized
cultural imperialism since it promotes Asian cuisine is the sushi. And while it is true that
homogenized, westernized, consumer McDonald’s has continued to spread across Asia
culture. as it is also the case that Asian brands have
provided stiff competition. The Philippines’
CRITIQUES OF CULTURAL
Jolibee claims to be the number one choice for
IMPERIALISM
fast food in Brunei.
In the 1980s, media scholars began to
Given these patterns, it is not longer
pay attention to the ways in which audiences
tenable to insist that globalization is a
understood and interpreted media messages.
The field of audience studies emphasizes that unidirectional process of foreign cultures
media consumers are active participants in the overwhelming local ones. Nevertheless, it leaves
meaning-making process, who view media texts room for dynamism and cultural change.
through their own cultural lenses. SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE CREATION OF
In 1985, Ien Ang, an Indonesian cultural CYBER GHETTOES
critic studied the ways in which different viewers By now, very few media scholars argue
in the Netherlands experienced watching the that the world is becoming culturally
American soap opera Dallas. Through the letters homogenous. Apart from the nature of diverse
from 42 viewers, she presented a detailed audiences and regional trends in cultural
analysis of audience-viewing experiences. production, the internet and social media are
Rather than simply receiving American culture in proving that the globalization of culture and ideas
a passive and resigned way, she noted that can move in different directions. While western
viewers put a lot of emotional energy into the culture remains powerful and media production is
process and they experienced pleasure based on still controlled by a handful off powerful Western
how the program resonated with them. corporations, the internet, particularly the social
In 1990, Elihu Katz and Tamar Liebes media is challenging previous ideas about media
decided to push Ang’s analysis further by and globalization.
examining how viewers from distinct cultural As with all new media, social media have
communities interpreted Dallas. They argued that both beneficial and negative effects. On the one
texts are received differently by varied hand, these forms of communication have
interpretive communities because they derived democratized access. Anyone with an internet
different meanings and pleasures from these connection or smart phone can use Facebook
texts. Thus, people from diverse cultural and Twitter for free. These media have enabled
backgrounds had their own ways of users to be consumers and producers of
understanding the show. information simultaneously. The democratic
The Russians were suspicious of the potential of social media was most evident in
show’s content believing not only that it was 2011 during the wave of uprisings known as the
primarily about America, but it contained Arab Spring. Without access to traditional
American propaganda. American viewers broadcast media like TV, activists opposing
believed that the show though set in America was authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya
primarily about the lives of the rich. used Twitter to organize and to disseminate
information. Their efforts toppled their respective
Apart from the challenge of audience governments. More recently, the women’s march
studies, the cultural imperialism thesis has been against newly installed US President Donald
belied by the renewed strength of regional trends Trump began with a tweet from Hawaii lawyer
in the globalization process. Asian culture has and became a national even global movement.
 However, social media also have their included threats of sexual violence against
dark side. In the early 2000s, commentators women.
began referring to the emergence of a
splinternet and the phenomenon of As the preceding cases show, fake
cyberbalkanization to refer to the various information can spread easily on social media
bubbles people place themselves in when they since they have few content filters. Unlike
are online. newspapers, Facebook does not have a team of
editors who are trained to sift through and filter
In the United States, voters of the information. If a new article, even a fake one gets
Democratic Party largely read liberal websites a lot of “shares,” it will reach many people with
and voters of the Republican Party largely read Facebook accounts.
conservative websites. This segmentation, notes
an article in the journal Science has been This dark side of social media shows
exacerbated by the nature of social media feeds that even a seemingly open and democratic
which leads users to read articles, memes, and media may be co-opted towards
videos shared by like-minded friends. As such, undemocratic means. Global online
being on Facebook can resemble living in an propaganda will be the biggest threat to face
echo chamber which reinforces one’s existing as the globalization of media deepens.
beliefs and opinions. This echo chamber Internet media have made the world so
precludes users from listening to or reading interconnected that a Russian dictator can
opinions and information that challenge their influence American elections on the cheap.
viewpoints, thus, making them more partisan and As consumers of media, users must
closed-minded. remain vigilant and learn how to distinguish
This segmentation has been used by fact from falsehood in a global media
people in power who are aware that the social landscape that allows politicians to peddle
media bubbles can produce a herd mentality. It what President Trump’s senior advisers now
can be exploited by politicians with less than call “alternative facts.”
democratic intentions and demagogues wanting Though people must remain critical of
to whip up popular anger. The same mainstream media and traditional journalism
inexpensiveness that allows social media to be a that may also operate based on vested
democratic force likewise makes it a cheap tool interest, we must also insist that some
of government propaganda. Russian dictator sources are more credible than others. A
Vladimir Putin has hired armies of social media newspaper story that is written by a
trolls-paid users who harass political professional journalist and vetted by
opponents to manipulate public opinion professional editors is still likely to be more
through intimidation and the spreading of credible than a viral video produced by
fake news. someone in his/her bedroom even if both will
Most recently, American intelligence have their biases. People must be able to tell
agencies established that Putin used trolls and the difference.
on-line misinformation to help Donald Trump win Social Media” (SM) was first used
the presidency- a tactic the Russian autocrat is in 1994 on a Tokyo online media environment,
likely to repeat in European elections he seeks to called Matisse. It was in these early days of the
influence. commercial Internet that the first SM platforms
In places across the world, Putin were developed and launched. It was originally
imitators replicate his strategy of online trolling created as a way to connect society by posting
and disinformation to clamp down on dissent and videos, photos, and thoughts into our social
delegitimize critical media. Critics of the media feeds to instantaneously share what are
increasingly dictatorial regime of the Turkish going on in our lives with acquaintances, distant
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are relatives, and friends who have moved far away
threatened by online mobs of pro-government from us. (https://www. ncbi. nlm. nih.gov.).
trolls, who hack accounts and threaten Kietmann, et.al (2017) explained that
violence. Some of their responses have social media are web- based services that
allow individuals, communities, and
organizations to collaborate, connect, and the dissemination of unlawful, for
interact, and build community by enabling example pornographic material - and its
them to create, co-create, modify, share, and Protocol will soon do the same for “hate
engage with user-generated content that is propaganda.” With this as our starting point,
easily accessible. all we have to do here is to decide what
“ethical” behaviour on the Internet is, work
Likewise, social media is a collective out principles applying collectively to all
term for websites and applications that focus on (access or service) providers, and
communication, community-based input, individually to Internet users, and finally
interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. suggest the setting-up of a web ethics
People use social media to stay in touch and authority, possibly backed by national cyber
interact with friends, family and various ethics committees.
communities. In fact, social media has eight top
most advantages namely global connectivity, the CODE OF ETHICS
right place for noble causes, an excellent tool for
education, information updates, share a large • Do not use rude or offensive languages.
amount of information daily, join a community, • Do not cyberbully.
drive traffic to one’s website and access to paid • Do not plagiarize.
advertising services https://core.ac.uk › download • Do not break into someone else’s
› pd. computer.
• Do not use someone else’s
However, the increasingly widespread password,
use of social media has brought all the • Do not attempt to infect or in any way try
advantages and disadvantages of their usage. to make someone else’s computer
Today, the existence of misuse of the social unusable.
media arises in every aspect of human life. • Adhere to copyright restrictions when
Further, social media sites have become popular down-loading material from the Internet
sites for youth culture for them to explore, and including software games, movies, or
share every moment and activities in their daily music.
life. Teenagers freely give their personal
• Do not use rude or hateful language.
information to join social networking on the media
• Do not call people names, lie about them,
social sites (Barnes, 2006).
send dirty pictures.
Due to the rampant misuse of social • Thou shall always use a computer in ways
media, nethics or “cyber ethics” came into the that ensure consideration and respect for
scenario. Nethics or “cyber ethics” (Internet your fellow human.
and the Law Doc. 10064, 6 February 2004) are • Do not present out your e-mail or IM
usually taken as comprising all the moral address to people you do not know either
principles which govern the behaviour of on-line or in person.
websurfers, that is, Internet users or, • Do not copy or download pictures, video
sometimes, “Internet citizens.” Nethics are without permission.
tending to replace “netiquette,” which is • Do not give personal information to
simply a series of good conduct rules for the others.
Internet seen by some users as prohibiting • Do not log in your account at any public
intrusive commercial advertising, or political device.
and religious “propaganda”, and encouraging • Do not use third party apps.
Internet citizens to behave in a manner
regarded as “civic.”

Cybercrime illustrates the full range of

problems raised by conduct which violates
nethics. The Council of Europe’s Convention
on Cybercrime (2006) is the first legally
binding international instrument to
criminalise such offences as computer
piracy, data violation, copyright infringement