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Globalization and Media Technology
For doing an analysis on Globalization and Media Technology, I decided to choose Tom Henighan’s Article, “The Media, Globalization, and the Problem of National Identity”. Henighan talks about the whole rumor that is globalization and its effects on world media, primarily, Canadian media.
Henighan begins his article with a few sentences on how globalization is an inevitable process and how most influential thinkers believe that globalization will usher in a new era of world prosperity. He says that there are also constant fears that humanity’s chasing of the same processes will probably lead to a science fiction film like ending wherein the ruling power will not care for individual freedoms. This fear also, however seems to exist only in the minds of thinkers as the dire effects of globalization are often concealed by strong myths, which empower people’s minds. Even writers such as HG Wells and Tennyson have to a large extent, guaranteed globalization with new technology.
Henighan then zooms into mentioning two Canadian thinkers, who wrote a lot on the topic of globalization and were responsible of spreading the myths about globalization in Canada. These two thinkers, were Marshall McLuhan and Glenn Goudd. Henighan said that McLuhan's general analysis of television contradicted the general reasoning that it is a passive experience. “Technological Wallpaper” was the term quoted by Tom Henighan. It is a point to be noted that both, McLuhan and Glenn Gould shared the same opinions. McLuhan's favorite medium was the Television. Henighan goes on to say that though McLuhan and Goudd are majorly criticized, people also respect them for what they did, i.e. they wrestled with issues of mass taste and personal expression.
The Author now moves on to explain the fact how the very term “Global Village” and open communication has threatened Canadian media, both print and electronic. It seems that due to its close proximity to America and also due to bilateral relations, a lot of Information from the U.S finds its way into Canada. Be it the hordes of American-origin magazines found at Canadian Bookstalls, or the Only Television Network in Canada being controlled by the U.S. Initially, by the late 1920s, a large number of Canadian’s had started tuning into American stations. This However changed when The Government of Canada passed the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Act. Under this act., radio channels indigenous to Canada flourished, and were present for both majorities, The English and The Quebec. Much later, when the Technology of the Television came to the country, America sort of capitalized on the moment and set up its first channel in Canada, thus planting the roots of a Very-American Culture in This channel showed only American Talk show hosts, and Canada henceforth, couldn’t successfully launch its own Television enterprise.
Henighan, in his later paragraphs, also spoke about how Globalization wouldn’t be possible if we did not have certain types of Localization. For e.g., when we want to show a Mexican audience an article recorded in the English language, it would be preferable to record the article wholly again, rather than just dubbing the article into the language. This, according to Henighan, provides a unique flavor of “taking possession”, meaning that the people of a country feel more confident speaking in their mother tongue/listening to some one speaking in their mother tongue. This provides a distinct ideology, a sense of belonging perhaps. Listening to one’s own language over the airwaves or on the idiot box could also provide emotional support to some.
Henighan now talks about the fact of the uniformity placed on Canadian culture by the international media, ever-crazy for news and bits and plugs. He says that the Intl. Media consider it their utmost duty to provide every person of any country in the world with news and entertainment. In this regard he says that the Intl. Media is American Dominated, and thus the people are shown images of a “perfect” society, which is guilt-free, and is constantly threatened by “evil forces”. This one sentence clearly shows how media in today’s world may be globalised, but is still under the major influence of one or more nations. In this instance, for e.g. the U.S is calling the shots. It is they who coin the terms, “perfect” and “evil”, and it is them who say how things are supposed to be, while the rest of the globalised world sits back mum. There exists a kind of Hegemony in the way in which facts are presented by the intl. channels, where the developed countries are always shown as pure, and devoid of evils while a less developed country is shown with images of destruction, danger and war. There is a particular way in which most news channels present their reports, wherein they know which side to support, and which side to condemn.
He also talks about “Culture as a commodity”. With the advent of Globalization,
Information and data is present and available everywhere. There is very miniscule attention paid to how we are in the process degrading our culture, or how we’re packaging it and selling it off to the hoarders.
When talking about Globalization and New media, Henighan talks about another major issue which shakes the very basis on which McLuhan described media to provide creative freedom. The prospect of Advertising has come up in such a way that Service Providers in both respects, Cable and Internet, do not care about the quality of the advertisements or the amount of them, but are ready to publish the advertisements only to rake some revenue. Besides the whole concept of Business ethics, there also arises the fact that these advertisements are published by country or area-specific companies, but often end up on the World Wide Web.
Towards the end, Henighan talks about media pushing all the countries towards “one world”, Similar to what Marshall McLuhan mentioned about the Global Village. However, he says that while achieving a “one world” is good, we must strive towards the extermination of corporate greed.
For doing an analysis on Globalization and Media Technology, I decided to choose Tom Henighan’s Article, “The Media, Globalization, and the Problem of National Identity”. Henighan talks about the whole rumor that is globalization and its effects on world media, primarily, Canadian media.
Henighan begins his article with a few sentences on how globalization is an inevitable process and how most influential thinkers believe that globalization will usher in a new era of world prosperity. He says that there are also constant fears that humanity’s chasing of the same processes will probably lead to a science fiction film like ending wherein the ruling power will not care for individual freedoms. This fear also, however seems to exist only in the minds of thinkers as the dire effects of globalization are often concealed by strong myths, which empower people’s minds. Even writers such as HG Wells and Tennyson have to a large extent, guaranteed globalization with new technology.
Henighan then zooms into mentioning two Canadian thinkers, who wrote a lot on the topic of globalization and were responsible of spreading the myths about globalization in Canada. These two thinkers, were Marshall McLuhan and Glenn Goudd. Henighan said that McLuhan's general analysis of television contradicted the general reasoning that it is a passive experience. “Technological Wallpaper” was the term quoted by Tom Henighan. It is a point to be noted that both, McLuhan and Glenn Gould shared the same opinions. McLuhan's favorite medium was the Television. Henighan goes on to say that though McLuhan and Goudd are majorly criticized, people also respect them for what they did, i.e. they wrestled with issues of mass taste and personal expression.
The Author now moves on to explain the fact how the very term “Global Village” and open communication has threatened Canadian media, both print and electronic. It seems that due to its close proximity to America and also due to bilateral relations, a lot of Information from the U.S finds its way into Canada. Be it the hordes of American-origin magazines found at Canadian Bookstalls, or the Only Television Network in Canada being controlled by the U.S. Initially, by the late 1920s, a large number of Canadian’s had started tuning into American stations. This However changed when The Government of Canada passed the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Act. Under this act., radio channels indigenous to Canada flourished, and were present for both majorities, The English and The Quebec. Much later, when the Technology of the Television came to the country, America sort of capitalized on the moment and set up its first channel in Canada, thus planting the roots of a Very-American Culture in This channel showed only American Talk show hosts, and Canada henceforth, couldn’t successfully launch its own Television enterprise.
Henighan, in his later paragraphs, also spoke about how Globalization wouldn’t be possible if we did not have certain types of Localization. For e.g., when we want to show a Mexican audience an article recorded in the English language, it would be preferable to record the article wholly again, rather than just dubbing the article into the language. This, according to Henighan, provides a unique flavor of “taking possession”, meaning that the people of a country feel more confident speaking in their mother tongue/listening to some one speaking in their mother tongue. This provides a distinct ideology, a sense of belonging perhaps. Listening to one’s own language over the airwaves or on the idiot box could also provide emotional support to some.
Henighan now talks about the fact of the uniformity placed on Canadian culture by the international media, ever-crazy for news and bits and plugs. He says that the Intl. Media consider it their utmost duty to provide every person of any country in the world with news and entertainment. In this regard he says that the Intl. Media is American Dominated, and thus the people are shown images of a “perfect” society, which is guilt-free, and is constantly threatened by “evil forces”. This one sentence clearly shows how media in today’s world may be globalised, but is still under the major influence of one or more nations. In this instance, for e.g. the U.S is calling the shots. It is they who coin the terms, “perfect” and “evil”, and it is them who say how things are supposed to be, while the rest of the globalised world sits back mum. There exists a kind of Hegemony in the way in which facts are presented by the intl. channels, where the developed countries are always shown as pure, and devoid of evils while a less developed country is shown with images of destruction, danger and war. There is a particular way in which most news channels present their reports, wherein they know which side to support, and which side to condemn.
He also talks about “Culture as a commodity”. With the advent of Globalization,
Information and data is present and available everywhere. There is very miniscule attention paid to how we are in the process degrading our culture, or how we’re packaging it and selling it off to the hoarders.
When talking about Globalization and New media, Henighan talks about another major issue which shakes the very basis on which McLuhan described media to provide creative freedom. The prospect of Advertising has come up in such a way that Service Providers in both respects, Cable and Internet, do not care about the quality of the advertisements or the amount of them, but are ready to publish the advertisements only to rake some revenue. Besides the whole concept of Business ethics, there also arises the fact that these advertisements are published by country or area-specific companies, but often end up on the World Wide Web.
Towards the end, Henighan talks about media pushing all the countries towards “one world”, Similar to what Marshall McLuhan mentioned about the Global Village. However, he says that while achieving a “one world” is good, we must strive towards the extermination of corporate greed.