Tuesday, September 27, 2011

How does globalization effect the media and its products? AlJazeera

On Thursday, September 29th, I will be discussing my case study answering the question, How does globalization effect the media and its products? I will do this by discussing how Aljazeera has become a predominant player in the global media scene, and address the roles it is playing today. There are many different trends in the media, which effect societies in different ways, but they still manage to integrate us into one world.

Aljazeera is the primary news outlet of the Arabic world, and claims to be the only non-political news outlet in the Middle East. Geographical closeness and cultural proximity helps media cross borders, but globalization allows media to spread even if it has long distances to travel. We now have a global media network that is telling us standardized information throughout the world. There are a few media outlets that dominate the industry, so people are only getting their information from fewer sources. North America is a major presenter in the media scene, meaning that it has an important role in presenting on the national stage. Recently AlJazeera has gained more public attention, and now we see clips of AlJazeera’s on CNN regularly. Transborder data flows carry values and ideas along with it making the world more of a global marketplace. One of the global issues I will be addressing is the unequal flows of information and ideas and how AlJazeera is progressively moving towards the free flow of information.

1 comment:

Rachel Siekmann said...

This week’s question was concerned with how globalization affects the media. Through the presentations in class we saw that globalization of the media is creating a market for voices, connectivity, and ultimately a better informed populace. We learned that media is a unique product, because it shapes how people think and behave. It is a product of culture which also shapes culture. Due to globalization, the audiences within countries have changed; and this has forced countries to cater to different audiences. Communicating internationally has never been easier, and multi-national media is critical to global industries. My topic was the Arabic news outlet Aljazeera, and what role it plays in media globalization. In class, we discussed the question; do you feel that Aljazeera should be under strong or weak censorship in the United States? The class decided that Aljazeera should be under weak censorship in the United States. Since we receive our news from national outlets, Aljazeera should be able to spread through the US. We got on the topic of the blackout regions of the US where you are not able to receive Aljazeera coverage by satellite. One of the reasons for this is political, and CNN wants to be the primary news outlet in the US. The conclusion we came to was, there shouldn’t be blackout zones and the government should back off on the interference. Aljazeera has more of a national audience, because it has been broadcasting internationally longer and has a competitive advantage over CNN. CNN International doesn’t have an internet site where you are able to access news. A couple classmates still thought that this was not alright for the US government to be doing this, and we should be able to choose the public news outlets that we want information from. Critics say that government regulations are too strict and don’t let the free flow of information happen. Here is a link to the YouTube video we watched in class. On this video, Bill O’Rilley is explaining how he thinks Aljazeera is very anti-American. It is interesting how the US criticizes Aljazeera so much, because other nations say the same thing about the media we are providing to national audiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJcrCwS5Qt0&feature=fvsr