CTS Lecture XII//Globalisation, Sustainability and the media.

CTS LECTURE XII//GLOBALISATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND THE MEDIA.
Notes from a lecture.

//With Richard Miles


- Our role in perpetuating the system and the media.
- Anti- capitalism, socialism.


- The media as a propaganda device- legitimising a ruthless, unfair, capitalism system.


DEFINITIONS OF GLOBALISATION


SOCIALIST


- The proces of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, and political forces.


CAPITALIST


- The elimination of state- enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result.


GLOBALISATION


- Distinct political, economic, cultural trends.
See 'Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy' for further quote and text reference
- The dominance of one culture over others (such as USA over LDC and Eastern countries, as well as Western ones).
- A desire (by the dominate force in particular, America) to force it's culture upon other countries.


- George Ritzer, American sociologist talks about "McDonaldisation"- globalisation through imperialism- dominated by Americanism, countries now operate in the way that American does- jobs broken down through meaningless, mindless jobs.
- The principles and values of Western capitalist business dominate the rest of the world.


- Marshall McLuhan (the "guru or media" media theorist", wrote in the 1960's- foretold the impact of the internet before it actually happened- communicative technologies and how they would change the world. Media extends our own senses- the TV or radio allows us to hear and see further and quicker. Communication extends the senses and ourselves as individuals. We can see and hear events on a global scale quickly- the idea of the "global village". The communications age- the world would "shrink"- no longer culturally defined, but effectively become an integrated community where everyone knew one another, a village on a global scale.


- Even today, with the technology this harmony and community hasn't happened. We can see images of events all over the world, yet this doesn't integrate us- we are desensitised to the pain and emotion of others.


THE INTERNET


- This new technological age individualism is rendered obsolete (proposed by McLuhan)- still not corporate independence and "mutual respect" around the world- moving further away from a unified culture more and more each day, in reality.


- Two distinct ideologies evolving in modern day, as discussed in 'Jihad vs McWorld' publication.
- Are we loosing national identity, community and history with the development of globalisation?


"...We are not moving towards a cultural rainbow that reflect's the world's existing cultures..."


- Manfred B. Steger, Globalisation: A very short introduction, page 70


CULTURAL IMPERIALISM


Key thinkers:


- Schiller
- Chomsky


- Forcing cultural ideologies upon a culture, and making them value the things that you do.
- The most powerful tool is the mass media- the vehicle for Western cultural imperialism- what legitimises it and allows it to develop.


RIGGING THE 'FREE MARKET'


- Media conglomerates operate as oligopolies, such as Time Warner- a line of ownership in the media, most companies can be lead back to one of six oligopolies.


TIME WARNER own (American company) amongst others...


AOL
HBO
Cinemax
E! Latin America
New Line Cinema
Time Inc
CNN
Cartoon Network
Warner Bros Entertainment- DC Comics//Looney Tunes


etc...


On a HUGE scale...owning hundreds of subsections in magazines, internet and television media.


- How cultural imperialism works- even at the smallest level, the American way of thinking is perpetuated and spread around the globe.


NEWS CORPORATIONS


- Divide the world into the economic benefits- ordered and structured accordingly:


1. North America
2. Western Europe, Japan & Australia
3. Developing countries, economies and regional producers such as India, China, Brazil
4. The rest of the world


- The market is rigged around the interest of capital.


US MEDIA POWER CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS A NEW FORM OF IMPERIALISM 


- Local cultures destroyed in this process and new forms of cultural dependency shaped, mirroring old school colonialism.
- SCHILLER dominance of US driven commercial media forces US model of broadcasting onto the rest of the world.


- Example in 'Big Brother', a Western cultural programme that has been absorbed and taken over the world- over. Seen as successful, where people can earn celebrity status- regarded as desirable by other cultures (such as India's 'Bigg Boss').


- The biggest growth in India in the most recent years is skin lightening cream in India- bombarded with images from the West- and the culture "that they should be aiming for"/


CHOMSKY & HERMAN (1998)


'Manufacturing Consent'


- Propaganda system for Western cultures.
- Propaganda model from the news:
//OWNERSHIP- who controls them.
//FUNDING- how they earn their money (particularly through advertising).
//SOURCING- how they get their information
//FLAK- lobbyist groups working for the associations
//ANTI COMMUNIST IDEOLOGY- an agenda to show communism (the oposite to America's capitalism)- an anti-ideology with a hidden agenda


- Proof that the news is biased, has a cultural agenda, etc.
- These can be applied to the majority of media associations.


OWNERSHIP


RUPERT MURDOCH//Selected media interests
Considered "The Last Tycoon"


- News of the world//'THE SUN ON SUNDAY'
- The Sun
- The Sunday Times
- The Times
- NY Post
- BSkyB
- Fox TV


- When moguls such as Murdoch have power, it becomes dangerous due to the power and status he holds, and influence over politics and social change.


SOURCING


- Flaws in the objectivity and influence of how stories are sourced- very controlled and regulated.


FUNDING


- BBC Corporation works on tax as opposed to advertising, unlike most media organisations. 
- Advertising medias need to "keep the companies happy"- advertising and sponsorship can be easily dropped if unhappy with the agenda that the media are addressing.


FLAK


- Managing public information to protect the interests of corporate companies, even at the expense of our planet- the media is used to perpetuate the interests, for example, of oil companies- a form of propaganda which perpetuates capitalist or capitalist countries.


ANTI-IDEOLOGIES


VEHICLES


- Dominated through US capital
- Activists have seized on the idea that this is a successful apparatus and it can be used to "fight back" and promote different agendas.
- Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'- getting the globe to "agree" on cutting back on pollution.
PROVES:
* Retreats of glaciers
* Temperate rise
* Keeling curve


Solutions that Al Gore finds to "solve the global climate"-


- Release less C02
- Plant more vegetation
- Try to be C02 neutral
- Recycle
- Buy a hybrid vehicle
- Watch this film!


The film was supposed to be apolitical- but the solutions stem from capitalist ideas- to buy more "things".


SUSTAINABILITY


- Needs (particularly of the worlds poor)
- Limitations of technology
- Meeting the present needs without compromising the needs of the future


- Sustainability and growth (of the economy) seems to be a contradiction at present. 
Example...


- BIOX Biofuel plant, Canada, Hamilton, Ontario
- Alternative 'clean' fuel
- Renewable
- More expensive to produce
- "Sustainable capitalism"


FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS:


* Noise pollution
* River pollution
* Air pollution
* Property prices went down


This "sustainable solution" caused more environmental problems in it's process- nothing can ever be truly sustainable within capitalism. 


GREENWASHING


- Media is used by companies as a new image and "rebrand" to "greenwash: themselves.


A sustainable system is impossible under a capitalist model- capitalism in unsustainable-


* ENVIRONMENTALISM
* ECOLOGISM- The "deep green movement"- the only way to save the planet is to completely overthrow the system that the world is currently under, radicals.
* SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM


Papanek, V, 1983, p46- "Most things are not designed for the needs of people..."


The media is a system weiled against us, but one we can also use for our own ends.