Globalisation has led to a communications and
transportation revolution whereby individuals are able to communication with
those at opposite sides of the globe in a manner that has never been possible
before. This has had an immense impact on how individuals receive news and
also has effected how the news is created and framed.
The term Globalisation is one that doesn’t come with an easy
and well-known academic definition as it involves a rather complex process. I
do however like Hatchen and Scotton’s (2002, p. 3) attempt at defining it as “a
broad and inexact term for a wide array of world-wide changes in politics,
economics, trade, finance, lifestyles and cultures”. Globalisation
transcends borders, languages and cultures and allows for citizens to connect
to each other from around the world. The
benefits of Globalisation affect each and every one of us in Australia on a
daily basis. We have access movies, television shows and music from all
around the world, whilst sitting in our suburban Australian
homes, on our television screens and our computer screens. Globalisation also has more serious downsides
then the proliferation of Justin Biebers’ music an example of which is economic
inequalities. Such inequalities have led
to anti-globalisation movements such as the recent Occupy Movement where
protests that began in New York and quickly swept the world with groups of
people ‘occupying’ cities as far spread as Armenia and Australia.
Giddens (1990 as in Tatanen 2005, p. 6) suggests that
Globalisation is the “intensification of worldwide social relations, which link
distant localities” and although he wrote this before wide spread Internet was
accessible to many, it could certainly be considered to be truer today than it
was at was at the time of writing in 1990.
The impact of globalisation has had a large impact in the area of the
media and communications. Cultural flows
allow for skills, beliefs and practices to transcend nation states worldwide
through the physical movement of people, as well as the technological movement,
using communicative methods such as social media. These cultures flows can effect all industries and peoples, an example of which occurred in 2012 when Zac
Posen, an American fashion designer, showcased his latest collection, which
contained obvious influences from Asian fashions. Zac Posen combined Asian inspired prints and
Western silhouettes (Holt, 2012 n. p). This
example shows us how it is possible for aspects of different cultures to
co-exist in a way that is commercially acceptable in both- with this collection
expected to sell out worldwide.
Following on from this globalisation has led to the creation
of a global media landscape. Multimedia
corporations are able to transcend borders and operate in nation states
worldwide. These companies use different media technologies, such as the
broadcast media, print media and online media, in order to reach a large
audience, which is why they are often referred to as the ‘mass media’. Stevens suggests that companies involved in
the mass media “undermine culture (2003 p. 56)” as often they attempt to push a
particular agenda rather than just reporting the news objectively. An example of this would involve the Murdoch
media empire; News Corporation. It is a vertically integrated global media company that was
founded by Rupert Murdoch and among many other holdings owns newspapers in all
Australian cities, as well as in many regionals centres (News Corporation, 2012 n.
p). This certainly ensures that Murdoch
has a strong influence over his Australian readers.
This is certainly visible in Australia in regards to the current
affairs issue of refugees. Morrison
(2001 p.71) describes a shift refugee policy (and therefore public perception)
in the European Union from an issue of human rights to an issue immigration
control. I’d certainly argue that a similar pattern is also occurring in
Australia at the moment and over the past 10 – 15 years. I believe this is
easily seen when comparing the settlement Vietnamese refugees (post Vietnam
War) and the parliamentary crisis has recently played out in the Australian
media regarding arrivals of asylum seekers via boat. There are sections of Australia that are currently worried
about the destruction of our 'culture' due to this ‘inundation’ of
differing cultures displaying such sophisticated signs and slogans as:
(Crikey, 2010 n. p)
The Herald Sun, a Victorian newspaper owned by Murdochs’ News Corporation attempts to push an agenda when report on asylum seeker arrivals. By constantly referring to these arrivals as ‘illegal immigrants’ they are setting up these people as criminals, rather than reporting the fact that majority of these people are found to be refugees.
(Source: http://www.rethinkrefugees.com.au/the-facts/fact-1/.
Retrieved 8/10/2012)
The Herald Sun also employs and heavily features Andrew Bolt who writes
both opinion pieces for the newspaper, as well as maintains a blog on their
website. Andrew Bolt recently wrote a
piece suggesting, “Kabul needs our Afghan ‘refugees’ (Andrew Bolt, 2012 n. p)”
simply because one of his reader’s felt safe whilst he was in Kabul. In this piece Andrew Bolt is attempting to
create distrust by suggesting that people who were found to be refugees by the
Australian government are in fact not refugees in his opinion. He also suggests that one of his readers
experiences should be more compelling than the fact that the Australian
Government’s own travel advice regarding Afghanistan is not to travel there as
it is “extremely dangerous…(with) high threat of terrorist attack (Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2012 n. p).”
Another Murdoch owned newspaper is The Sun in the United Kingdom. The Sun newspaper is a daily tabloid and like
many parts of the mass media it reports about celebrities on a daily basis. Nordhaus (1999) believes that
"personalities and affairs of celebrities are viewed as inherently
‘public’ and this is construed as waiving their rights to privacy”, but only in
terms of information that is relevant to a celebrities working life. This
is in interesting concept as the global media doesn't exactly have an ethical
reputation, nor does it have a reputation for recognising boundaries.
(source: http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01572/SNN2509B-_1572148a.jpg Retrieved: 12/10/2012)
Prince Harry’s recent trip to Las Vegas made worldwide
headlines when naked photos of him partying were sold to the press. The Royal Family’s lawyers requested that, as
these images were an invasion of his privacy and of no reasonable public
interest, that none of the British media publish these images. The Sun
newspaper ignored this request and published the photos on their front page
arguing that the British people “have a right to see them (The Sun, 2012 n. p)”,
even though they acknowledged that the photos were easily available online. This is just one of many examples that show how the mass media and celebrities are intertwined.
Globalisation impacts us on a daily basis. It has
changed how we interact by allowing for instantaneous communication around the
globe as well as the technologies that we use to interact. It also had changed how we consume news and
current affairs which effects the reporting of important worldwide issues, such
as asylum seekers, as well as the reporting arguably unimportant, such as
Prince Harry’s party habits.
References
Bolt A, (2012), ‘Kabul needs our Afghan ‘refugees’’, Herald Sun, 18th July,
retrieved 13/10/2012 <http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/kabul_needs_our_afghan_refugees/>
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, (2012), ‘Afghanistan’, Australian Government, retrieved
5/10/2012 <http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Afghanistan>
Gosford, B (2010) ‘Fuck off we’re full,
speak English or piss off!!- Australian hate groups, viral explosion loops and
Facebook’, Crikey retrieved 14/08/2012 <http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/01/09/fuck-off-were-full-speak-english-or-piss-off-australian-hate-groups-viral-expansion-loops-facebook/≥
Hatchen, W, & Scotton, J,
(2002), ‘News communication for a new global system’, The world news prism:
global media in an era of terrorism, 6th edn, Iowa
State Press, Ames, pp3-14
Holt, E (2012), ‘Zac Posen Review’, Vogue Online, retrieved 8/10/2012 http://www.vogue.com/collections/fall-2012-rtw/zac-posen/review/
News Corporation, (2012), ‘Publishing’, News Corporation, retrieved 14/10/2012 <http://www.newscorp.com/operations/publishing.html>
Nordhaus, J.,
(1999), Celebrities’ Right to Privacy: How Far Should the Paparazzi be Allowed
to go?, published by Annenberg School of Communication, retrieved 1/9/2012 from
<http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/ogandy/c734%20resources/celebrities%20rights%20-%20nordhaus.p >
Rantanen, T (2005), ‘Theorizing media
globalization’, The media and globalization, Sage,
London, pp. 1–18
Steven, P (2003), ‘Political economy:
the howling, brawling, global market place’, The no-nonsense guide to
global media2003, New Internationalist/Verso, Oxford, pp. 37-59
The Sun (2012) 'The
Sun publishes naked photos of Prince Harry', The Sun, 24th
August, retrieved 1/09/2012 <http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/4502239/Prince-Harry-Vegas-Pictures-The-Sun-publishes-photos-of-naked-Prince.html>
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