Transcript LectureCH15

15
Global Media
Communication
Around The World
Media Ideals Around The World
Four Theories of the Press (1956):
• written by Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and
Wilbur Schramm
• four major forms of international press:
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authoritarian
libertarian
Soviet/communist
social responsibility
Last Rights: Revisiting Four Theories of the Press:
 1995 book written by John Nerone
 update of earlier four theories
 argued four theories were not a timeless set of
categories
 saw them as a critique set within a particular time
period
A fifth theory?
 development theory
• Authoritarian theory
 oldest theory of the press
 role of the press is to be a servant of the
government
 control of the press is carried out by:
• giving permits to only certain printers
• prosecuting anyone who violates standards
• totalitarian governments (example in the1990s:
Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic)
• Communist Theory
 press is run by the government to serve the
government’s own needs
 only one valid political and social philosophy
 proposes the following principles:
• The media are an instrument of the government
and the Communist Party.
• The media should be closely tied to other
sources of government power.
• The media’s main purpose is to act as a tool for
government propaganda.
• Libertarian Theory
 Press belongs to the people and serves as an
independent observer of the government.
 It follows the basic ideals of the First Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution.
 It is based on the following principles:
• People want to know the truth and be guided by it.
• The only way to arrive at the truth is for ideas to be freely
and openly discussed.
• Different people will have different opinions, and
everyone must be allowed to develop their own.
• The most rational ideas will be the most accepted
 The functions of the press are to inform, entertain,
and advertise.
• Social Responsibility Theory
 while the press may be free from interference by the
government, it can still be controlled by corporate
interests
 press obliged to serve several social functions:
• provide the news and information needed to make the
political system work
• give the public the information needed for selfgovernance
• serve as an overseer of the government
• serve the economic function of bringing together buyers
and sellers through advertising
• provide entertainment
• be profitable enough to avoid outside pressures.
• Norms for the press in the twenty-first century
 development theory:
• addresses the special needs of emerging
nations
• governments may feel that they need to restrict
freedom of the press in order to promote
industry, national identity, and partnerships with
neighboring nations
Going Global—Media Standards
Around The World
• Alan Ward’s five dimensions of media rating:
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control
finance
programming goals
target audience
feedback mechanism
• Canada, Western Europe, and Britain
 Canada
• free press patterned in part on the United
States
• U.S. media tends to overshadow Canadian
• “Canadian content” regulations:
• Canadian radio must be at least 35 percent
domestic programming
• Western Europe and Britain
 broadcasting was dominated by state-run monopolies
up until the 1980s.
 public service and cultural preservation priorities
 Britain and BBC:
• operates under a public service model
• audience members pay the cost of the programming
(equipment licensing fees)
 Internet not as pervasive
 increase in privately owned television stations
 newspapers tend to take an obvious political view
point
 newspaper readership worldwide highest in Europe
• facing declines
• Central and Latin America
 broadcasting dominated by North American, Mexican,
and Brazilian programming
 fewer language barriers than other regions
 newspaper circulation has been growing
• 1,000 papers, 100 million readership
• Islamic Countries and the Middle East
 straddle the fence between social responsibility and
authoritarian media control
 controls on journalists and content
 Al Hayat and Al-Jazeera
 satellite and Internet and “small media” allowing
bypass of control
 Professor Kai Hafez’s three types of press in the Arab
world:
• mobilized
• loyalist
• diverse
• The importance of “small” media
 fax machines, photocopy machines, video cameras,
computers, and the Internet
 provide for a range of voices
 Internet allows for wider expression
 size and availability make control difficult
• Television in the Islamic World
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heavy government control
varied availability
Saudi Arabian network (1960s)
little known about Saudi viewer habits
• 1995 survey—63 percent had access to satellite
programming
• Al-Jazeera
 broadcast via satellite from Qatar since 1997
 only 10 percent of all Arabs with satellite TV never
watch it
 committed to presenting an Arab view of the world
 founded by Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani
 started after failed Arabic-language BBC project
• Dangers to Journalists:
 In 2006 worldwide 55 journalists were killed
• 32 of them were in Iraq (4 combat-related, 28 murdered)
 ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff injured
 hostage-taking increasing
 fear of reprisals discouraging journalistic coverage in
danger spots
• Africa
 prime example of development media theory
 early media covered white settlers only
 newspapers found in large cities
• circulation limited by poverty and illiteracy
 radio is the most important medium
 Television and Internet limited
 no major newspapers are published in African
languages
 more languages spoken than any other continent
• South Africa
 most radio handled by South African Broadcasting
Corporation
 committee of lawyers and media professionals
regulate the broadcast industry
 television broadcasts in seven different languages
 source of inspiration for Western pop music:
• township jive
• artists have recorded with Western artists
• Russia and the former Soviet republics
 under communism, no ideal of an independent press
 control continues even after 1991 fall of Soviet Union
• most media owned by private, pro-government business
people
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Moscow—twenty daily and weekly newspapers
zakazukha—selling articles to highest bidder
some papers supports the boss’s political agenda
television is the most important medium
• few can afford newspapers
• Asia
 mix of old and new media philosophies
• India
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40 percent of India’s households have television sets
40 percent read newspapers
120 million of 220 million households have a radio
newspapers are big industry
All India Radio (AIR) dominant radio source
• China
 role of the media is to promote public policies
 all media are controlled by the government
 Kenneth Petress on Chinese media:
• “Propaganda is not a dirty word in China; it is a respected
public service profession.”
• Japan
 American policy helped shape Japanese media after
World War II
 NHK is Japan’s public broadcasting corporation
 Balance between commercial and public broadcasting
 manga, or comic books, are the most popular
magazines:
o account for 40 percent of all books and magazines
o growing in popularity in the United States
• Marshall McLuhan’s Global Village:
 electronic media help people live and interact globally
 Ken Auletta:
• perhaps not just one single wired global village
• perhaps hundreds or thousands of global villages
 W. Russell Neuman:
• just because we have access, people may choose to
ignore it