Transcript Learning unit 1 Session 1-12

Learning unit 1
Global Communication Theories
Session 1-4
 MO1
Module
outcome
covered
 Evaluate the theories related to global communication.
MO3
 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the politics of
global communication.
 Normative theories of global communication and their
shortcomings.
Learning
Content:
 Comparing contrasting media with specific reference
to Soviet Russia and its influence on global
communication.
 Issues relevant to mainstream media.
 Globalisation, media imperialism and hybridisation.
 Explain normative theories of various media systems using
examples to further your understanding.
 Discuss shortcomings of these normative theories.
Learning
Objectives:
 Explain the role and influence the Soviet media system has had on
understanding media internationally.
 Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the issues relevant to
mainstream media.
 Define globalisation with respect to its effect on South Africa.
 Examine the effects of “media imperialism”.
 Explain the term “hybridisation”.
Material to be
used :
 Prescribed text pp.22-38.
 Additional notes are given in the Introduction to this Learning Unit
to supplement the prescribed textbook.
 Pages to focus on: pp.23-30, 33-35.
How to
prepare for
this Learning
Unit:
 Before the first class, be sure that you read Sections 1-4 of this
Learning Unit, and pp.22-38 in the textbook.
 As you read these sections, see if you can find the answers to the
following questions:
1.
o What is meant by “samizdat”
2.
o Do media really explain economic crises suitably?
3.
o Do the media suggest ways of improving economic crises?
Recommende
d Additional
Reading
 Branston, G. and Stafford, R. 1999. The media student’s book.
London: Routledge. [Chapter 20 only – Globalisation]
 Herbst, J. 2005. Africa and the challenge of globalization.
Conference paper presented at the Conference on Globalization
and Economic Success: Policy Options for Africa. Singapore: 7-8
October.
 Media theories, also known as the “normative approach”.
 Basic understanding of them as well as any shortcomings that are
addressed.
Introduction
 The history and role of the Soviet Union with reference to the
history of media systems as we know them today. the distinctive
features of Western media systems and determine the similarities
and differences therein.
 “globalisation” is discussed,; media imperialism and hybridization

Explain normative theories of various media systems using
examples to further your understanding.
 Authoritarian
Normative
theories
 Soviet
 Libertarian
 Social responsibility
 Development media theory
 Democratic-participant
 effectively meant dictatorial.
 Can justify advance censorship and punishment for deviation.
Authoritarian
 Authoritarian principles may even express the popular will under
some conditions, such as a nation at war.
 Generally designed to protect the established social order and its
agents, setting clear and close limits to media freedom.
 The communist dictatorships at that time in Russia.
 Assigned the media a role as collective agitator, propagandist and
educator in the building of communism.
Soviet
 Propaganda - form of communication aimed at changing,
influencing or maintaining people’s attitudes, opinions or beliefs in
a way that is initially aligned with what the sender of the message
intended.
 The main principle was subordination of the media to the
Communist Party – the only legitimate voice and agent of the
working class.
 It did not favour free expression, but it did propose a positive role
for the media in society and in the world, with a strong emphasis
on culture and information and on the task of economic and social
development.
Prime
difference
 . between the Soviet bloc dictatorships and “authoritarian”
regimes lay in the particular political ideology that served as a
foundation for the Soviet regimes, namely Communism, which
claimed to show the way to construct a just and equal society
 was “free market-based” in which the best would be recognised
and the worst would fail.
Libertarian
 In one respect it is a simple extension to the (newspaper) press of
the fundamental individual rights to freedom of opinion, speech,
religion, and assembly.
 The nearest approximation to truth will emerge from the
competitive exposure to alternative viewpoints, and progress for
society will depend on the choice of “right” over “wrong”
solutions.
The contrast
 The contrast with both of the previous two categories was, clearly,
between media systems ruled by state regulation and censorship,
and media systems ruled by capitalist moneymaking priorities
Social
responsibility
 referred to a different order of reality, namely, media operating
within a capitalist dynamic but simultaneously committed to
serving the public’s needs. These needs were for a watchdog on
government and business malpractice and for a steady flow of
reliable information to help the citizens of a democracy make up
their minds on matters of public concern. This theory involved the
view that media ownership and operation are a form of public
trust, rather than an unlimited private franchise. For the privately
owned media, social responsibility theory has been expressed and
applied mainly in the form of codes of professional journalistic
standards, ethics and conduct or in various kinds of council or
tribunal for dealing with individual complaints against the press, or
by way of public commissions of inquiry into particular media.
Most such councils have been organised by the press themselves,
a key feature of the theory being its emphasis on self-regulation.
 Meant that media addressed issues of poverty, health care,
literacy, and education, particularly in Third World settings.
Development
media theory
 Media were defined as being vitally responsible for informing the
public.
 Held to an important role in fostering a sense of nationhood in
countries with highly disparate groups in the population,
territories often artificially created by European colonialists as
recently as the late 19th century.
.
 The development media theory was intended to recognise the
fact that societies undergoing a transition from
underdevelopment and colonialism to independence and better
material conditions often lack the infrastructure, money,
traditions, professional skills and even audiences
 It emphasised the following goals: the primacy of the national
development task; the pursuit of cultural and informational
autonomy; support for democracy; and solidarity with other
developing countries.
 Because of the priority given to these ends, limited resources
available for media can legitimately be allocated by government,
and journalistic freedom can also be restricted.
 Typically designated local, small-scale, and more democratically
organised media, such as community radio or public access video,
with their staff and producers having considerable input into
editorial decisions.
Democraticparticipant
 This alone sharply distinguished them from mainstream media of
all kinds.
 In addition, participatory media were defined as closely involved
with the on-going life of the communities they served so that their
readers or listeners could also have considerable influence over
editorial policies.

 Sometimes these media shared the same development goals as
the development model but not on any kind of authoritative topdown basis or as agents of government development policies
 Public participation and a democratic process were central to
their operation.
 This democratic-participant media theory supports the right to
relevant local information, the right to answer back and the right
to use the new means of communication for interaction and social
action in small-scale settings of community, interest group or
subculture.
Shortcomings

Discuss shortcomings of these normative theories.
 Aside from their typical failure to engage with entertainment,
their distinction among Soviet, authoritarian, and development
models was very blurred in practice.
 The chief problem with the six theories approach goes back to the
deontic, or normative, dimension of the theories.
 The two terms used previously – categories and models – illustrate
this problem, for though they can be synonyms, model implies
something that ought to be followed.
 While media, like any cultural organisation, clearly do follow
certain guiding principles, what media executives claim those
principles are and how the same media executives behave in
actuality may often be light-years apart.
 Communist media in the former Soviet bloc claimed their purpose
was to serve the general public, yet when the opportunity arose in
those countries in the late 1980s, public criticism of the cover-ups
and distortions of Communist media became a tidal wave.
 In the social responsibility model, objectivity is trumpeted as the
journalists’ core principle.
 Yet, as media researchers in a number of countries have
demonstrated, journalists readily place patriotism above
objectivity and define objectivity in practice as the middle point
between two opposing views, often those of rival political parties,
not troubling to question whether truth may lie somewhere else.
 Development media were often steered away from sensitive
topics by arrogant, autocratic regimes in the name of national
unity and the need to focus on bettering economic production.
 Explain the role and influence the Soviet media system has had on
understanding media internationally.
 Many lessons learnt in media operations
Role and
influence the
Soviet media
 Soviet 1917- 1991
 The features persisted-bankers being media bosses
 Overlap with media under dictatorship
 One party state communism
 Impact on media freedom
 Taiwan broadcast media governed by the state –national
development and unit
 World media system ,privatisation, liberalisation
 Economically and politically stable countries system (USA and
Britain point of reference
 Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germans, China, USA and Britain
 Now we are busy studying system USA and Britain forgetting
Russia
 Some stable economies countries not in G8 are stable Denmark ,
New Zealand have positive but not considered
 Even crisis torn countries have positives but their audience might
not aware or understand media operations
 Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the issues relevant to
mainstream media.
Issues relevant
 Economic Crises, politics power, dramatic social transition and
small scale alternative media
 Russia collapse of Soviet Bloc
Economic
Crises,
 ESAP economic structural adjustment programme-IMF-(1990s)
 To sacrifice debts payment –loans and interests accruing
 Because of ruthless capitalists logic(no helping but robbing
people)
 Impact to life expectancy, decline living standards, stagnation of
productivity,
 2008-9 world recession
 In Russia during post Soviet it was easier to point to IMF but now
can they or they look for scapegoats like immigrants Gypisies,
Chinese Jewish and Muslims
 Oil revenues , manufacturing of guns-G8
 So what are the strategies in place to correct economic crises
 Communist media seen as the opposite of media in WEST
Politics Power,
 Communism was like censorship and repression in the name of
ideal justice
 Capitalist won in the end
 State media functioning in dictatorship
 Soviet established ideological priorities
 Kept close watch over any subversive tendencies, media bosses
chose from party executives with loyaly
 KBG-political police
 Typewrites were licenced by state to travel where material came
from
 Photocopiers were governed by microscopic detail and bugging
technology
 New technology in the end made it diifficult
 But authentic news was via conversations-rumour, opinion
 The official truth that media blarred out was known
 Trust in mainstream media?
Dramatic
social
transition
 Read on your own
 Radical media-Samizdat-self published
Small scale
alternative
media
 In Russia it referred to hand circulated pamphlets, poems, essays,
plays, short stories novels audio and video cassettes from 1960
0nwards
 Containing banned material by Soviet regime
 Writing or distributing carried a sentence with hard labour
 Religious, national, ecological reformist
 Collapse of Soviet was un thinkable
 Determination, jail terms, shortwave radio software's for radical
media worked
 BBC world service, Radio Free, radio Liberty and Voice of America
 Messages on air in urban cities even though it was jammed by
government
 Social movement opposing war in Iraq anti Vietnam War,
 Media power is no longer in government hands but the people
 Define globalisation with respect to its effect on South Africa.
globalisation
 Globalisation shortens the distance between people all over the
world by the electronic communication (Flew 2002).
 This word refers a phenomenon through which individuals are no
longer constrained in communicating by physical distance.
 Inter-connected economies;
 This era had seen an unprecedented opening of the market.
economic
problems.
 Globalisation has led to a deep interconnected freedom of trade
between nations.
 E-commerce has meant more economies of more countries
interact and react to each other. This cointerconnected freedom
of trade between nations. nstant connection with every part of the
world could lead to
 E-commerce has meant more economies of more countries
interact and react to each other.
 This constant connection with every part of the world could lead
to negative consequences.
 Should there be economic collapse in one (1) part of the world the
results of this are felt worldwide. Consider how markets rise and
fall on the back of news events worldwide, due to the immediacy
of communication.
Outsourcing
 Outsourcing
 now common practice of first world multinational corporations
manufacturing goods in an environment that facilitates cheaper
production costs and usually less restrictive labour policies for
sale in first world nations. ―sophisticated sweatshops‖ (Friedman,
2008).
 More trade in imported goods, consider the clothing industry in
South African which has been virtually shut down by foreign
exports.
Market
Flooding
 Countries are losing more and more in the manufacturing sector
due to cheaper imports being sourced.
 This in turn creates an uneven job market, whilst the trained and
educational qualification holders (doctors, lawyers, journalists) can
compete for jobs in this global arena, the factory worker who is
out of a job due to imports being cheaper, cannot.
 New Media have become associated with the process of cultural
globalisation because it allows interaction between people with
very different lifestyles and from very different cultures
Cultural
Problems
 . Language has ceased to become a barrier with the advent of
picture sharing.
 Homogenisation of World Culture
 The largest problem created is the homogenisation of world
culture, this refers to the act of making same.
 Globalisation has led to the loss of small indigenous culture and
languages.
 Fourie talks of how this process is inherently skewed in favour of
the country that enjoys greater economic advantage and greater
technology; he speaks of the concept of cultural imperialism.
 Cultural Appropriation.
 individuals from outside a particular indigenous cultural group
appropriating and utilising aspects of that culture’s language, (2)
art, rituals etc. without understanding the value and meaning
thereof.
Cultural
Imperialism
 act of a nation imposing its cultural values onto another, usually
weaker, nation; new media facilitates this by allowing ideas, art
and thought from the so called first world countries to be more
readily available than that of the third world.
 Most of the technology supporting new media (has originated in
first world countries.
 Explain the term “hybridization/Cultural convergence
 A fusion of cultures; a melting together of different authentic
cultures.
 this refers to the act of making same.
Homogenisation
of World Culture;
 Globalisation has led to the loss of small indigenous cultures and
languages.
 This is a crisis as more niche crafts arts and languages are
rendered extinct in the pursuit of new media interaction with the
world.
 The growing similarity between national cultures, including their
beliefs, values and aspirations
Izimvo
Exchange 1
 Working within groups, discuss the merits of globalisation. Is
globalisation something that has helped South Africa in terms of
development, or is it a process that has done more harm than
good? Give specific examples of both the positive and negative
consequences of globalisation on South Africa.
Izimvo
Exchange 2
 As a class, debate the notion mentioned in the textbook
(Kamalipour, 2007, p. 33) that “globalization more or less means
Americanization”. Do you agree with this statement?
 Examine the effects of “media imperialism”.
media
imperialism
 A theory that suggests that dominant media coverage from large,
developed countries can cause smaller, developing countries to
lose their identities due to the dominance of the media from the
developed country
 A broad concept that can encompass a wide range of issues – such
as global media flow and international trade in services.
 With specific reference to the practice of promoting and imposing
one country’s electronic products (such as films, television etc.) on
others.
Activity 1
 Purpose:
 The purpose of this task is for you to become familiar with what is
meant by an “economic crisis” and to what extent South African
media portray such crises.
 Task:
 Within small groups, do some research online to determine how
South African media present economic crises, both of a local and
international nature.
 How well do you think these crises are presented and explained?
 Do you think local media portray economic crises differently to
international media; and if so, why do you think is the case?
Recommende
d Digital
Engagement
and Activities
 What South Africa Thinks about Globalization:
 http://www.globalization101.org/what-south-africa-thinks-aboutglobalization-2

Priorities of the South African government regarding
Globalisation:
 http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/2007pq/pq1243.htm
 Module Guide
Revision
Exercise
 A taxonomy (classification system) has been proposed to organise
and compare media internationally, which is commonly referred
to as the “normative approach”.
 1.1 Briefly discuss the theories of global communication that
represent the normative approach.
 1.2 Discuss the shortcomings of these normative theories.