Week 3. My "global media empire"

( http://www.winmentalhealth.com)

This week’s suggested topic is “my global media empire”. What would it look like? How would it operate? but to be honest, I think I’d rather discuss the effects of these media empires and I have two reasons for this.

1. Before fantasising my empire, I feel it’s necessary to outline how political climates can help media sources both prosper and erode.
2. I find myself morally opposed to the idea of a global media empire.

You see, one of the defining features of big media is that it has the ability to “limit diversity” because of the power it holds (Steven, P 2003). Not only can it influence our knowledge but it can control exactly what is or isn’t our knowledge, what we hear and what we don’t. We see this in companies such as Murdoch’s News Corporation and 
Fairfax Media.

While most of the world enjoys a level of diversity within the media, some nations are subject to news in a manner that can be compared to a dictatorship or a one-party state. Mexico’s ‘Televisa’ holds ties to the authoritarian rule of Mexico’s government, the PRI and Brazil’s ‘Globo TV’ was able to rise to prominence alongside the nation’s military dictatorship.

So how do we stop this? To me, the clearest answer is government intervention. Countries such as Britain and France play a stronger role in their own media service and insist on certain principles the media must uphold. But relying on a government creates its own issues. Much like media empires, they have a bias and an agenda. It seems the power and effect of the two can be closely compared.

Credit: Robert Milner

References

Singer, JB 2007, ‘Bloggers and other “participatory journalists”’, in C Friend & JB Singer (eds), Online journalism ethics: traditions and transitions, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y., pp. 115–50.

Steven, P 2003, ‘Political economy: the howling, brawling, global market place’, The no-nonsense guide to the global media, New Internationalist, Oxford, pp. 37–59.

http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/gina-rinehart-is-entitled-to-turn-fairfax-into-mining-gazette-conroy/story-fnda1bsz-1226400725349

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outfoxed

Week 2. Civilisation

(http://www.deviantart.com/)

The year is 4000 BC.  I found the city of Thebes in a strange land. I decide to study Pottery and the calendar so I can build Stonehenge. Nobody really knows who built Stonehenge but just imagine the Egyptian empire did. But how does this help me? Well this wonder increases my culture, causing the borders of my civilisation to expand. And there you have it, globalisation has begun.

Fast forward a few thousand years. Memphis and Heliopolis have also been founded, I’ve studied Mathematics, Philosophy, and Engineering and I’ve met Napoleon. My civilisation has expanded to the point where we are now neighbours. I choose to study optics and travel across the ocean. Perhaps the rumours of other lands are true.

( http://www.kotaku.com.au/ )

Fast forward to today. Those foreign lands were home to China, Denmark, and Russia. War has ravaged these lands this whole time and nuclear fallout is everywhere. However these civilisations have all been defeated by me, even though we were never at war. Rather, I defeated them through power of culture. My people have freedom, tradition, commerce, and happiness.

If you hadn’t realised yet, I was speaking of the computer game ‘Civilisation 5’, a personal favourite. The game is intended for entertainment, but it is also a study and a commentary on civilisation. On how it evolves, expands, and becomes global. The game is remarkably accurate to the world we live in. It shows how civilisations work together or fight for their own personal benefit. But in reality, they are interacting on such a scale where there individuality is no longer clear, and they become one world society. They globalise.

References

Alexander R. Galloway, 2006. Gaming: Essays On Algorithmic Culture (Electronic Mediations). 1 Edition. Univ Of Minnesota Press.
Steven, P 2003, ‘Political economy: the howling, brawling, global market place’, The no-nonsense guide to the global media, New Internationalist, Oxford, pp. 37–59.

Week 1. What is Globalisation?

( http://www.travellounge.com/)

Globalisation is defining the world we live in on an unprecedented scale. We see this in the economy, culture, politics, and just about every other platform imaginable. But just what is Globalisation? This is perhaps the most speculated question of today’s earth. Either that or how much oil is there. Albeit, even the matter of oil relates to the globalisation of trade.

Martin Albrow claims “Globalization refers to all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society, global society” (Albrow, 1990: 45). A remarkably prophetic definition considering it’s time. While the internet predates this quote, it still had not seen widespread use and popularity. Yet Albrow seems to predict what is to come and unintentionally provides a rather simple yet accurate definition of the internet: “A single world society”. Wouldn’t you agree that’s what we are? We have our own unique language, art, order, beliefs, and ideologies, all of which supersedes geographical boundaries. The internet has its own culture that has begun to spill over across the entire physical world. Every day, we see live tweets for events, Facebook check-ins at our favourite restaurants and QR codes on the street.

( http://www.graydigitalgroup.com)

Is this what globalisation refers to? Is the internet just the final step in a long journey to a global consciousness? Did globalisation first begin with colonialism, or when we first left Africa, or has it only just begun? These questions are still unanswered. The only consensus we seem to be able to reach is that we all want to know.

References

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2001-08-23/edit-page/27253043_1_indian-economy-foreign-direct-investment-export-growth/2

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/globalization-as_defined_by_rich_people_like_us/212089.html

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalization: consensus and controversies’, Globalization and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., pp. 7–21.