This is the basic guideline of my part in our class seminar on this topic.
Bruner (2004) says global media giants should “Think Globally, Act Locally”. This gives the idea that the global companies should build local roots but I’m not so sure this is a good representation of what TNC’s really symbolize...
Globalisation, or commonly known as commercialisation, within the context of the media, means local publications are receiving their news stories from the same, global source. This could mean that news stories and the way they are told can be very similar in quite different publications from different locations.
Kirby stated that “television, radio, satellites, direct-dial telephones, mobiles phones, digital technology and modems have radically affected ‘the actions of the media and the messages they present’” (cited in Breit for Tapsall & Varley, 2008). The invention of these new technologies, especially the Internet, has created an environment called the ‘global village’. The term ‘global village’ refers to the way in which people from around the world can communicate with one another more easily making the world seem smaller and more like a ‘single village’. Holm (2002) describes the process of globalisation as the “gradual erosion of borders-physical, cultural and social...” Breit states that new technologies are linking humanity in all parts of the world, enabling this ‘global village’ to become more and more connected. He states, “technology has given the media a global audience, but corporatisation has given them power, with ten ‘super corporations’ dominating the global media...” (cited in Tapsall & Varley, 2008). Hence, the commercialisation of this ‘global village’, has lead to these Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) threatening the integrity of journalism. These TNCs are:
• Time Warner
• Disney
• Bertelsmann
• Viacom
• Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation
• Sony
• TCI
• Universal
• NBC, and
• Polygram
(Herman and McChesney, 1997, cited in Breit)
The Australian media is dominated by two such corporations: Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited – the Australian arm of News Corp and Kerry Packer’s PBL – a second tier of multi-million dollar corporations that dominate the niche markets within specific areas.
The first 60 seconds of this animation gives a good indication of how many people feel about the owners of these TNCs and the news they generate.
Obviously there is a strong backlash against this increasing concentration of media ownership but there are some who believe the effects of globalisation are positive, which will be discussed later.
Breit states “with globalisation the independence of society’s two most important watchdogs, the media and the judicial system, is being undermined” (cited in Tapsall & Varley, 2008). He says the integrity of journalism is being threatened and the public’s “right to know” is being ignored in favour of the commercial interests of media owners. Greirson (2006) calls this “framing knowledge”. She says globalisation has given big media corporations the power to frame the knowledge of nations. This is where the issue of “shaping the agenda” comes into play.
In this clip Murdoch talks about how large, powerful news corporations can ‘shape the news agenda’.
I just thought that it was interesting that he admitted to trying to influence public opinion and his papers supporting President Bush’s policies. I just wonder, if this is being done with every major issue, are we only ever going to hear Murdoch and Packer’s versions of the news?
Gerbner states, “Technology is giving the media a global audience and strategic alliances are giving the media immense power, but this has not created a global voice”. He says the TNCs have created a ‘homogeneity’ of information that is pitched at a predominantly middle-class and western audience (cited in Breit for Tapsall & Varley, 2008). This means, the information we are receiving from all of the different media outlets in Australia is basically the same. The same stories, the same angles, the same ideas. Gerbner calls it a “standardisation” of information and audience where large sections of the world are left under-represented.
However, The Age’s, editor in chief, Steve Harris aims to argue against these ideas when he states, “diversity of ownership and diversity of source has never guaranteed diversity of opinion, and...Independent ownership has never guaranteed quality, just as group ownership does not guarantee the absence of quality” (Gratton, 1998, cited Breit).
BBC News Online’s Michael Elliot agrees believing globalisation gives millions of people new choices, raises incomes everywhere and allows us to build “One World” (BBC News, 2000).
But if we’re thinking about local communities we can see the real issue in getting ‘quality’ information. There has always and will always be news happening in smaller, regional, local communities, but increasingly, this news is being overlooked for the standardised, global content that is easier than going out and reporting on what is actually happening in towns. Funding for independent local media is also becoming increasingly difficult with advertisers favouring the larger media outlets owned by the TNCs. So, where do local journalist’s wages come from?
The main point of localisation is-we want to know what is going on in our own back yard. We want news from where we belong, from the “local public sphere” (Ninan, 2007). We want local journalists out there in the community investigating local stories instead of generating copy purely from press releases and larger news providers. But how far should localisation go? Aiming for localisation is a position “whereby everything that could be produced within a nation or region should be” (Hines, BBC News, 2000). But is this really what the public value?
And the main question is: will people be willing to fight for and support their local news?
Sources:
Banerjee, I. 2007. ‘Globalisation and Localisation - Dynamic Processes of Cultural Change’, The University of Wollongong’s School of Journalism and Creative Writing, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://www.uow.edu.au/crearts/sjcw/APME/APME_Issue5/UOW034368.html
BBC News, 2000. ‘Globalisation for and against’, BBC News Online, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/941031.stm
Bruner, R. 2004. ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’, The Batten Briefings, accessed 16th August 2010, http://faculty.darden.virginia.edu/brunerb/Bruner_PDF/Bruner_ThinkGlobally.pdf
De Block, L. & Buckingham, D. 2007. Global Children, Global Media : Migration, Media and Childhood, Palgrave Macmillan: New York, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://0-reader.eblib.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/Reader.aspx?p=367911&o=536&u=278963&t=1282437867&h=F7E05D629E4144B9F1C329E12AF872509CDC5F22&s=8769260&ut=1621&pg=1&r=img&pat=n#
Dimitrova, A. 2002. Challenging Globalisation: The Contemporary Sociological Debate about Globalisation, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://www.iehei.org/bibliotheque/AnnaDIMITROVA.pdf
Greirson, E. 2006. ‘Between Empires: Globalisation and Knowledge’, Critical Perspectives on Communication, Cultural & Policy Studies, Vol. 25 (2), pp. 66, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://0-search.informit.com.au.library.newcastle.edu.au/fullText;dn=322890166146513;res=IELHSS
Holm, H. 2002. ‘The Forgotten Globalisation of Journalism Education’, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, Vol. 56 (4), pp. 68, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/pqdweb?index=5&did=110622948&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1282443448&clientId=29744
Ingram, J. 2002. ‘Hegemony and globalism: Kenneth Burke and paradoxes of representation’, Journal of Communication Studies, Vol. 53 (1), pp. 4, accessed 22nd August 2010, http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/pqdweb?index=2&did=116997914&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1282443307&clientId=29744
Ninan, S. 2007. Headlines from the Heartland, SAGE Publications: India, accessed 19th August 2010, http://0-reader.eblib.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/Reader.aspx?p=409021&o=536&u=278963&t=1282216141&h=3276BB038FC771CC32086395E98B99A210D2D4C3&s=8763665&ut=1621&pg=1&r=img&pat=n#
Tapsall, S. & Varley, C. 2008. ‘Journalism in the Global Village’, Journalism Theory in Practice, pt. 6. chap. 14, Oxford University Press: New York.
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