J2011: Media and Public Culture

Assignment #3: Media and Globalization

 

The term “globalization” has come to prominence in the past decade and has particular importance for the study of media. What this term means, however, involves a complex and multi-faceted definition. Some of the phenomena people point to when they talk about globalization are:

s         the exportation of American popular culture abroad, often theorized as “Americanizing” local cultures,

s         the recent introduction of new communication technologies that are available to a wider portion of the global population,

s         the increasing presence of multi-national and multi-ethnic cultural products and practices here in the United States,

s         the increasing prevalence of “real-time” communication that is less constrained by time or space,

s         the availability of news sources that exist outside national borders and their effect on nationalism, patriotism, democracy, tyranny, etc.

 

There are many other issues at play here beyond this brief sample.

 

For this assignment, choose either a media text (website, film, newspaper, television show, audio recording etc.) or a media system (the Associated Press, language, film industry, satellite television, etc.) and analyze it from the perspective of ‘globalization’ theory. Please respond to the following questions in your analysis:

 

  1. How has the text or system changed in terms of who it speaks to, who is involved in it, and the ways in which they are able to express themselves?
  2. How does the content or form of this text or system reflect the influence of multi-national needs or sensibilities?
  3. What is the nature of this more ‘global’ sensibility?
  4. Do you perceive any related issues of inclusion and exclusion? In what ways does the example you have chosen for your case study illustrate benefits or harms (cultural, economic, political) of media globalization to specific groups?
  5. Do you see any other important consequences of this text or system going global?

 

Maximum length: 4 double-spaced pages

Due date: Friday, November 12 in recitation.