Transcript 7. TELEVISION: THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEDIUM AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY based on

AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES
7. TELEVISION: THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEDIUM
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ibahrine
based on
DeFleur and Dennis’s Understanding Mass Communication
Developing a Concise Definition
•
Developing a Concise Definition
 “Mass communication is a process in
which professional communicators design
and use media to disseminate messages
widely, rapidly, and continuously in order
to arouse intended meanings in large,
diverse, and selectively attending
audiences in attempts to influence them in
a variety of ways”
19/05/2016
2
Structure of the Lecture
•
1. The BIRTH OF TELEVISION
 1.1 DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC SYSTEM
 1.2 EARLY BROADCASTS
•
2. THE PERIOD OF RADIO ADOPTION




19/05/2016
2.1 THE BIG FREEZE
2.2 BECOMING A NATION TELEVISION VIEWERS
2.3 THE COMING OF COLOR
2.4 TELEVISION’S GOLDEN AGE
3
Introduction
•
Television is a medium of enormous importance
•
Although radio still has larger audiences and
greater reach worldwide,
•
No one doubts the preeminent role of television as
a mass medium
19/05/2016
4
Introduction
•
It is a major force in the media economy as a connection
between audiences and advertisers as well as a system of
content
•
Technology has always played a critical role in television’s
development and its ability to challenge
•
In any consideration of television, technology is vitally
important
•
“Television industries”
19/05/2016
5
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
The history of television goes back a lot further than many
people might suppose
•
In 1884, a German experimenter, Paul Nipkow, developed a
rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern that
had unusual properties
•
The Nipkow disk became the central technology for further
experimentation on the transmission of images, both by wire
and later by radio waves
19/05/2016
6
This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes that
may also be square for greater precision (WIKIPEDIA, 2007)
19/05/2016
7
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
PEASE USE WIKIPEDIA CLEVERLLY
•
We talk about this issue in the very next
future
19/05/2016
8
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
Early experiments on sending pictures by radio
began in several countries just after World War I
•
The earliest attempts made use of a revolving
"Nipkow disk;' a mechanical system that created a
scanning effect when used with a beam of light
•
It was not until electronic scanning was developed
that television became practical
19/05/2016
9
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
•
The most remarkable of the inventors is Philo T. Farnsworth
As a child he had started reading about electricity
•
The first patent for an electronic television system was awarded to
Philo T. Farnsworth, an obscure inventor who had worked out the
basic design while still a high school student
•
With minimal funding he built a working model in a small apartment
in Los Angeles
•
Vladimir Zworykin, of Westinghouse laboratories, also invented an
electronic system
•
Court battles resulted but Farnsworth won his case and received a
cash settlement
19/05/2016
10
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
By 1932, a transmitter was installed in the Empire
State Building in New York City
•
Regular transmissions began on a limited basis in
1936,with two broadcasts per week
•
A few hundred amateur enthusiasts who had built
or purchased sets could receive the signals in the
New York area
•
By early 1941, the medium was set to take off
19/05/2016
11
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
By 1940, television was capable of becoming a mass medium
for home use
•
However, when World War II began in 1941, the need for war
production temporarily halted the development of the new
medium
•
The period of rapid adoption of home receivers began just
after the war
19/05/2016
12
1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
•
Between 1950 and 1960, nearly 90 percent of American
households acquired TV set
•
This rapid adoption happened in spite of a freeze on the
licensing and construction of new TV stations imposed by the
FCC between 1948 and 1952
19/05/2016
13
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
•
By 1946, the FCC had issued twenty-four new licenses for
television transmitters
G.C
•
The manufacture and sale of home receivers began that
same year
•
In 1947, a set with a picture about six by seven inches cost
around $400
•
That was more than a month's wages for many blue-collar
families
•
and the set did include the special antenna that had to be
installed on the roof
19/05/2016
14
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
One establishment that could afford a set was the local
tavern
•
By 1948, a television set was a central feature in almost every
tavern in the country
•
Sports programs were the favorite, and big crowds would
gather to watch the games
•
The local tavern was a significant element in demonstrating
and popularizing the new medium
•
Even today, people watch sports programming in bars and
taverns, where they enjoy a communal medium as they watch
a game and discuss it with fellow patrons
19/05/2016
15
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.1 THE BIG FREEZE
•
By the beginning of 1948, the FCC had issued
approximately one hundred licenses
•
Some cities had two or even three stations, although
most still had none
•
Soon problems developed like those that had troubled
radio in the early years
•
The signals of one station sometimes interfered with
those of another
19/05/2016
16
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.1 THE BIG FREEZE
•
By the beginning of 1948, the FCC had issued
approximately one hundred licenses
•
Beginning 1948 and extending through 1952, the
commission ordered a freeze on the issuance of new
licenses and construction permits
•
As a result, TV transmitters could not be built in many
American communities until after the freeze was lifted
19/05/2016
17
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.1 THE BIG FREEZE
•
When the freeze was lifted in 1952, television spread
throughout the United States
•
Within a remarkably short time, it became so ubiquitous
that most American families had a set
•
Social commentators began to speak of the "television
generation" of Americans born after World War II who
never knew a world without TV
•
The medium is presumed to have shaped their lives in
significant ways
19/05/2016
18
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.2 BECOMING A NATION OF TELEVISION VI EWERS
•
Figure 7.1 shows how rapidly the American public adopted
television
•
•
In 1950, less 10 percent of American homes had a set
In 1960, only ten years later, nearly 90 percent had a receiver
•
By 1980, ownership of sets had virtually reached saturation level in
American households
•
Today, it is very unusual to find a family without a television set,
and most have more than one
19/05/2016
19
2.2 BECOMING A NATION OF TELEVISION VI EWERS
19/05/2016
20
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.2 BECOMING A NATION OF TELEVISION VI EWERS
•
Another index of the popularity of television can be seen in
terms of viewing time
•
The TV set has been in use during an ever-growing number
of hours per day for almost decades
•
Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine
patterns of television viewing because TV sets can be used in
so many Ways
•
One can watch regular broadcasting, signals from satellites,
cable channels, and video cassettes; play video games; or be
connected to the Internet
19/05/2016
21
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.3 THE COMING OF THE COLOR
•
In 1953, the FCC approved a different system, which
had been developed by RCA in 1946
•
Although it produced less-refined colors, it did allow
existing black-and -white sets to receive colortransmitted programs
19/05/2016
22
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES
•
Two different periods can both be called the golden age
of television:

1. The first is the time when the medium was experiencing
its most rapid period of growth roughly from 1952 to
around 1960

2. The second is a longer period, from about 1960 to
around 1980, when network television had few
competitors
19/05/2016
23
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES
•
The two decades between 1960 and 1980 also can be
regarded a kind of economic golden age of television
•
It may not have been in a period of audience satisfaction in
terms of classic programming
•
At the time the public showed many signs of frustration and
dissatisfaction with the medium
•
The period was one of turmoil in American society, beset by
such issues as civil rights, the Vietnam War and increasing
crime and violence
19/05/2016
24
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES
•
Many blamed , TV for social ills, believing it to
be a powerful medium that was eroding the
moral standards and the stability of the nation
•
Such charges generated a great deal of
interest in the effects of television
•
-> Research
19/05/2016
25
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES
•
During these decades, the medium was dominated by
three major networks ABC, CBS, and NBC) with
virtually no competition
•
Their profit margins were high from advertising revenue
•
They commanded the attention of virtually the entire
viewing audience during prime time
19/05/2016
26
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES
•
A small proportion of American did view programs on
educational stations and the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS)
•
Network television was widely criticized for broadcasting too
much violence and for keeping the intellectual level of its
programs low
•
Programs presented during the period were often designed
with the tastes of the lower middle class in mind
•
Violence and fantasy were persistent themes
19/05/2016
27
2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION
•
2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES
•
The majority of Americans loved that kind of TV content
•
•
Newton Minow (then Chairman of the FCC), said
“Network television was a
»
•
"vast wasteland”
of mindless comedy, unrealistic soap operas, staged
wrestling, cartoons, sports, quiz shows, and shallow
portrayals of family situations
19/05/2016
28
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
During the last decade, Arab media has undergone enormous changes
The trends and patterns that characterize its modus operandi have been in
constant flux, under pressure from both external and internal forces
In lurid headlines it has been hyped, vilified, and glamorized -- but rarely studied
as an academic subject
This is unfortunate, because the lack of serious literature has obscured its rapid
development, making it difficult for observers to investigate
19/05/2016
29
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish begins his theoretical chapter by dividing the analytical approaches to
media into three paradigms,
the modernization paradigm
the dependency paradigm
the globalization paradigm
 After reviewing the existing scholarly literature on the globalization paradigm,
he argues that much of this literature is empirically flawed because it focuses
"more on globalized cultural actors … as well as globalized audiences"
and
"overlooks the rise of a new level of television flow and impact within numerous
world regions"
19/05/2016
30
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Moreover, Ayish designs his understanding of globalization to be applied in the
subsequent empirical analyses, structured after the four globalization
components:
Political
Economical
Cultural
Technological
In light of Roland Roberston's understanding of globalization, Ayish argues that
the powerful homogenizing forces of globalization have not negated the existence
of "an active interplay between the global, national, and local"
19/05/2016
31
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Television development in the Arab world in the 1990s was "a function of the
interplay between local and global forces in political, cultural, economic, and
technological sectors“
The book falls short of a detailed discussion of Robertson's term
"glocalization.“
Globalization may be the concept of the 1990s
Type the term into Google
Specify the term in field and subfields
Type the term in the Amazon.com
19/05/2016
32
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Economic globalization:
Denotes a qualitative shift from a largely national to a globalized
economy, in which although national economies continue to predominate
within nations, they are often subordinate to transnational processes and
transactions
19/05/2016
33
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Political globalization:
Samuel Huntington
the recent worldwide spread of democracy is the best manifestation of
political globalization
Global civil society
Global public sphere
Cosmopolitan democracy
19/05/2016
34
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Anthony Giddens perceived globalization as the consequence of
modernity and in its four manifestations:
Nation-state
World capitalism
Military order
Modern culture
19/05/2016
35
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Cultural Globalization:
Roland Robertson adopted the concept of “glocalisation” a
term whose origins are in the discipline of marketing to
express
the global production of the local: McDonaldization
the localization of the global: French McDonalds
Some sociologists prefer to use the term “Americanization”
to globalization because the latter implies more of a
“multidimensional relationship among many nations”
19/05/2016
36
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish's second chapter is a historical account of Arab world television history
He divides the development of Arab world television into three main periods
The first period is the formative phase (1954-1975)
It was characterized by the "commercial start" and by "private players" that
were engaged in these activities "for purely commercial purposes"

19/05/2016
37
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish's second chapter is a historical account of Arab world television history
He divides the development of Arab world television into three main periods
 The second phase is that of national expansion (1976-1990)
During this phase, Arab regimes "sought to build up their national broadcasting
capabilities through
training local staff
increasing local production
pooling inter-Arab production resources
and by extending transmissions to cover national territories“
Imported programs from the United States, Europe, and Egypt dominated the
programming
19/05/2016
38
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish's second chapter is a historical account of Arab world television history
He divides the development of Arab world television into three main periods
 The third phase is the regional and global expansion since 1990
due to a number of developments including:
Mass education
Rapid urbanization
Political transformation
Technology diffusion
19/05/2016
39
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish examines critically questions of financing broadcast operations and of
financial survival, granted limited Arab advertising markets
According to Ayish, there are five patterns of television financing in the Arab
world:
1. Government budgetary subsidies
2. Advertising
3. Pay-TV
4. Media free zones
5. Corporate pooling
 Of enduring significance for the democratizing role of these satellite outlets are
media free zones in some Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and
the United Arab Emirates
These free zones are spaces provided to media organizations to start their
operations in a tax-free environment
19/05/2016
40
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish typologies
He distinguishes between three patterns of communication:
1. Traditional government-controlled television = The localist pattern
2. Reformist government-controlled television = The glocalist pattern
3. Liberal commercial television = The globalist pattern
19/05/2016
41
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Ayish typologies
1. The traditional government-controlled television pattern is dominant in
countries such as Libya, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia,
and Morocco
2. The reformist government-controlled television pattern is to be found in
countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Algeria.
3. The commercial liberal television pattern is dominant in Qatar, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, and Lebanon
19/05/2016
42
Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an
Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and
Technological Patterns
Checklist for Class today:
Criticism on Ayish typologies
There are, nevertheless, some problems with this
For instance, the commercial liberal television pattern is not in fact dominant in
Saudi Arabia but rather is funded by Saudi capital, hence the author's reference to
MBC, ART and Orbit when including Saudi Arabia in this third type
19/05/2016
43
Satellite Broadcasting: The Moroccan Case
Checklist for Class today:
 Many communication experts argue that the development of television
satellites in other Arab countries had forced Morocco to open up in a number of
ways. As a response to the unexpected explosion of satellite television in the Arab
world, the regime launched its satellite channel in 1996 and its signals can be
received in the Arab world and in Europe
The program is a compilation of programs in Arabic and is sent above all to
Moroccan communities, especially in Europe and in the Arab world. The programs
were so poor that it was reported that only a tiny minority of Moroccans showed
interest in its programs
19/05/2016
44
Satellite Broadcasting: The Moroccan Case
Checklist for Class today:
 Since the legalisation of the ownership of satellite in 1992 and the abolition of
the tax on its possession, satellite dishes have mushroomed on the rooftops of
buildings and houses in urban centres and villages of the country
The developments that began to emerge in the early 1990s and intensified in the
late 1990s will become even more widespread and pronounced during the coming
years
Approximately 70 percent of the Moroccan households owned a satellite dish
 The “parabool” as the Moroccans call the satellite, has turned into a social
phenomenon
19/05/2016
45
Satellite Broadcasting: The Moroccan Case
Checklist for Class today:
Moroccan Radio Television
Marocaine (MTV)
(MRT) operates state-run Television
2M partly state-owned
Al Maghribiya - satellite channel operated by MRT and 2M,
Medi 1 Sat - Tangier-based satellite channel, privately-owned by
Moroccan and French concerns
19/05/2016
46
MOROCCO TV satellite dishes, Chaouen.
Checklist for Class today:

19/05/2016
47
MOROCCO TV satellite dishes, Tangier
Checklist for Class today:

19/05/2016
48
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:
A decade after its emergence, Arab satellite broadcasting has quickly acquired a
large audience
 Al-Jazeera’s different “cross-fire” types of political talk shows, its most
revolutionary programmes, are watched by large audiences, because they debate
on some of the most sensitive issues in Arab society
 Thus, they are being assumed the role, among other things, to spreading
democratic attitudes, as well as building the foundations of a radically new
pluralist culture of political debate, necessary for the development and
functioning of a herrschaftsfreie public sphere, where different discourses
compete discursively and argumentatively over the hearts and minds of Arab
people
19/05/2016
49
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:
 Other accounts argue that Al-Jazeera’s political talk shows have “degenerated
into unproductive shouting matches in which abuse replaced dialogue”
Instead of functioning as a platform for rational debate, Al-Jazeera’s political
talk shows have turned out to be a platform of political emotionalism and “a
vehicle for the collective venting of emotion”
 One common explanation among journalists, communication scholars and
policy makers for this degeneration of the political talk shows is that the status of
media ethics in the Arab satellite broadcasting is not professional enough
They claim that while the level of professionalism has greatly increased, there is
a lack of professional ethics in the journalistic work, because a large proportion of
Arab journalists is politicised and divided along political cleavages and do not
believe that it is its job to provide critical coverage of politics
19/05/2016
50
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:
However, it can be argued that the problem of media ethics is not only
influenced by the hard-to-die tradition of authoritarian grip over media institutions
and weak professional background but also by the Arab passive and mediot (idiot
of the media) audience, with its uncritical media habitus
While Arab entertainment satellite channels, with low quality programmes like
reality shows are not necessarily subject to a strict media ethics, Al-Jazeera is
under constant examination and monitoring of its news, documentaries and talk
shows to see whether it stick to professional standards of media ethics or not
 While Al-Jazeeras’ journalists are not under the ethos of public service and
have committed themselves to give “no priority to commercial or political
considerations over professionalism”, self-censorship, driven by geopolitical
considerations, is still practised.
19/05/2016
51
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:
However, it can be argued that the problem of media ethics is not only
influenced by the hard-to-die tradition of authoritarian grip over media institutions
and weak professional background but also by the Arab passive and mediot (idiot
of the media) audience, with its uncritical media habitus
Under the combined impacts of Arab and American pressures, Al-Jazeera
formulated during its first “World Forum” in Doha in July 2004 its one-page “Code
of Ethics”
 In it, Al-Jazeera pledges, among other things, to adhere to journalistic
standards of balance and independence
(1), to treat audiences with respect
(3); to present diverse points of view
(5), and to distinguish between news and opinion
(see, Al-Jazeera’s Code of Ethics).
19/05/2016
52
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:
Al-Jazeera’s motto “opinion and counter-opinion” has given it the reputation
that its political talk shows function as a free, independent and open critical
public space, where Arab citizens can speak and expect to be heard
 However, Al-Jazeera has been often accused that its political talk shows seek
“sensationalism” and the promotion of the culture of conflict rather than
consensus
It has been reported that professional standards of objectivity and balanced
journalism have not crystallised so far in Al-Jazeera’s journalistic work
19/05/2016
53
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:
 Al-Jazeera has contributed to the formation of a public sphere that supports a
discursive culture of political debate or to its fragmentation
 Al-Ittijah Al-Moakis on issues related exclusively to political reform and
democratisation
19/05/2016
54
Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere:
Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows
Checklist for Class today:

Has Al-Jazeera abided by its “Code of Ethics”?
19/05/2016
55