Aashish Mishra

Like with every other sector, technological advancements have affected the media industry as well. With the advent of new technology, the mechanics of contemporary media production have become possible. The industrially violent move of News International from Fleet Street to a state-of-the-art Wapping production base in the 1980s has been well documented. With the advent of new technology, it was easier to train graphic designers, printers, among others, thus making much of the production workshop replaceable for the media.

New technology also makes it easier to compose, edit and print/broadcast the content as much of it is done on the computer by software. It needs fewer workers and so is cheaper and more profitable than before. The Wapping episode and the rush by other newspapers to follow meant that the next generation of technology developed at a great pace.
One new piece of equipment leads to a dynamic model, creating yet more change. The newspaper industry saw the advent of electronic processing which made colour illustrations in newspapers commonplace. There is the increased use of satellite links to share source materials and final media production.

However, on large scale, the price of technologies as a prerequisite for becoming a national or global media player is so great that it forced little media organisations to merge and shut out all but the largest companies from the media landscape. The media, due to CGI, can also generate live and breath-taking experiences of being underwater, being in space, 3D, 8D, 12D etc. with the audience thus becoming more interactive. In economic terms, enhanced the wealth production of those who control the flow of product as much as the rewards for those who make media products. Technology has also strengthened the media’s ability to create a public sphere. In fact, it is new internet technology that created new media like social media, blogs etc.
This is how media institutions have changed with the advent of new technology.

With relation to ideas about globalisation, this means media institutions now have a global reach in terms of scope of distribution, range of outlets, scope of the financial base, audience, range of production, variety of media and the spread of ownership base. This global reach means more of the same – national players becoming international ones. But it also raises different issues of cultural imperialism and cultural impoverishment. Western products carrying western ideologies and Judeo-Christian culture is dominant in the global media. Related to this, the consuming cultures then either completely lose their values or merge them with the western ones because of media exposure.

However, it is important to note that other players are now joining this cultural export business. For example, Japan’s Anime, South Korea’s K-pop and so on.
Global reach also enhances the validity of a political economy perspective on media. The media merge with, buy up or erect different companies in different countries following different political economic models to maximise profits. There is now greater control of power in fewer hands worldwide.

In such respects, it is the practices of media production and distribution that leads to a certain kind of globalisation. Because the media went global, so did the cultures, people, habits, etc. which led to integration and increased people-to-people contact. So, we can say media drove globalisation in a way.

A rather frightening aspect of globalisation can be seen in the news agency. A few western news agencies like AP, AFP, Reuters determine what is news, where it’s called from, how it is presented, etc. Not to mention that this news is quite Western centric and laden with ideology. Smaller countries tend to be ignored.