1. JN1033/JN2700
Globalisation and the
news media
Megan Knight
University
maknight@uclan.ac.uk of Central
November 24th 2011 Lancashire
School of
Journalism Media
and
Communication
2. School of
Journalism
News is local Media and
Communication
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/swr0069l.jpg
3. School of
Journalism
News is national Media and
Communication
4. School of
Journalism
News is global Media and
Communication
5. School of
Journalism
News is global Media and
Communication
6. School of
Journalism
News is universal Media and
Communication
7. School of
Journalism
News is universal Media and
Communication
8. School of
Journalism
News is universal Media and
Communication
http://newsdesigner.com/frontpages/obamaint.php
9. School of
Journalism
Indicative Bibliography Media and
Communication
Anderson, Robin and Strate, Lance (2000) Critical
Studies in Media Commercialism Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Briggs, Asa and Burke, Peter (2002) A Social History of
the Media London: Polity
de Burgh, H. (2005) Making Journalists. London:
Routledge.
Knightley, Phillip (2003) The First Casualty. London:
Deutsch
McPhail, Thomas (2002) Global Communication:
Theories, Stakeholders and Trends London: Blackwell
Thussu, D. and Freedman, D. (2003) War and the Media.
London: Sage.
We are most interested in things that are happening close to us and affect us the most. Therefore, news tends to skew towards the local rather than the global. Local news is personalised newsThe size of the local area reflected in the news is a function of the size of the community and the amount of news it can support, not only of interest. Local and national news. BBC subsidies, local newspapers. Advertisers are also local.
http://625.uk.com/tv_logos/bbc.htmIn terms of regulation and administration, news is national. We construct our identity in terms of nationality, and national news is therefore the most discussed, regulated and aggrandised form of news. Those things which we consider to be important, i.e. hard news, politics, economics, also skew to the national as a default geographic category.
On an economic level, commercial news often functions globally. This is more a result of the trend towards economies of scale within any commercial entity, which favours the global, than a conscious decision that the audience is global. The trend towards large conglomerations of media ownership – Time-Warner-Aol, News Corp, is no different to other industries. Tehcnology and regulation increasingly favours global distribution, especially in terms of broadcast and internet – it is simply easier to distribute news globally than not to. The dregs of national/international propaganda machines remain, but the overall trend towards the adoption of a free market in other areas, one which is increasingly inevitable since 1989, also favours the adoption of free market in media: the liberal model of media production, consumption and regulation is increasingly the default standard. UN charter as well: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." (UN Declaration of Human Rights)
Satellite television and the Internet have effectively meant that all news products have a potentially global audience. With the exception of satellite television channels like CNN and BBC World, most news organisations still think in terms of a ‘local’ audience with ‘local’ interests. Satellite TV channels like Fox and Sky also do this, regardless of the potential reachLikewise, news on the web is still a) a byproduct of news produced for a different medium, and b) produced with a local ‘reader’ in mind. There is no such thing as a typical consumer of news on a global scale, nor is there a large market for advertising that is global in reach (there are limited brands and products marketable to that range of people)
The form and structure of news increasingly looks and sounds the same. The essential structure of stories, the conventions of the format, the ways in which it is presented are heavily mimicked around the world, both in print and broadcast – this leads to a flattening of experience and perspectives. News values also appear to be universal (cfGaltung and Ruge) – there are more differences between commercial and public news interests than there are between differing national news entities. The range of ideas and approaches represented in the news media is limited, especially in commercial media. Why are news values universal when national values are not? Colonisation of the mind – the exporting of a single set of ideas as ‘truth’ via the news media
The wire services have done a lot to standardise news formats and values. News organisations increasingly rely on the wires for their international news (declining budgets are especially to blame for this)The wires tend to work from a flattened and accepted set of ideas as to what is news, and there is little difference between them. If there is one agency office in a particular place, there will likely be three of them, and they will all cover the same material. They follow each other. There are alternative sources available: non-profits like Panos, or newcomers like Xinhua. Xinhua mimics the values and ideals of the other wires, with no real difference visible.
Increasingly, the global news agenda is common, especially when an International story makes the front page. This would be a unifying effect, except that news from specific countries, and specific kinds of news is more likely to trigger this effect than others. The US, and to a lesser extent the UK are the only countries that can command this. 9/11, Obama’s election, Diana’s death, Hurricane Katrina . When Margaret Thatcher dies it will be front page news around the world. Obama’s election made front page news like this. Nelson Mandela’s did to a lesser extent, but no other African leader can command this, except Moammar Gaddafi, and that when he died.. Other countries usually only make this when it is a disaster, not when it is positive. We are all looking to the USA, increasingly. The death of Michael Jackson is another example. Wire services increase this effect. Four images of Obama are identical. Where news is commercialised, this is increasingly the case. Global news organisations will try to reuse content as much as possible, and will limit local content to the minimum. Increasingly news conglomerates are duplicating copy: Knight-Ridder and Gannett newspapers across the US reuse editorial, especially comment, in all of their papers. Independent Newspapers has the best coverage of Africa not because they care about Africa as much as because they are reusing content produced for other titles in the group. Other news organisations use syndication, and even local editions of a global brand. Murdoch has pioneered this the most with Wall Street Journal and Times newspapers, but others also do this, especially in magazines (local editions of a brand, Vogue, Cosmo, Elle, Future publishing titles)