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Global Media and Newspapers

Media is the main vehicle of mass communication that includes the use of newspapers, television and radio to distribute information. The Internet has also now become a revolutionary tool for spreading local news and expanding it worldwide, creating a global media. Global media is the means of mass communication on a global level, allowing people across the world to share and access the same information. In some cases now, newspapers are read by people in other countries more than by the people within the nation of the publication itself. Global media is continuously expanding through various forms of technology, primarily the Internet.

Has the Internet created a new type of global media? Although people from all around the world can view and read newspapers, the newspapers’ main focus is still set on the local community. The Internet has not so much created a new global media but enhanced the existing one. The information isn't changing, it's just being distributed on a broader scale. The news is not changing because the readership is larger, however the dynamic of editorials can influence a change in people's attitudes all around the world. Expansion towards a global media is directly related to the development of the Internet.

Many think that globalizing media will lead to all media sources producing similar information, but this is not the case. Large newspapers will always report news from all around the world, but even in these articles there is often mention of how these news stories affect the local community. Local audiences want local news first, so whenever there is a breaking news story, people want to know how it will directly affect them, even if the story is taking place halfway around the world. By adding a local twist to stories, newspapers are able to make a personal connection with people. Newspaper companies make it their goal to appeal to potential readers. They will not change their information as long as it is selling. They will however modify the story-lines in order to appeal to the interests of the local community.

Sometimes we forget that there are many barriers in expanding media. Not all countries in the world have equal access to the Internet, so the expansion of global media onto the Internet does not effect them at all. But how do we define global? Global is supposed to mean the whole world. If not everyone has access to information or is unable to give their input, does it still count as global media? These are some of the issues that we are going to explore.

Who is the Global Public/Audience?

A clear distinction must be made between the global public and an audience. The audience is a market or commodity, with a very narrow focus. However the public thinks of what is right and fair not only for themselves but for their colleagues as well. They have a wider range of concerns.

The question of who is the global public has always been a topic of discussion. The word ‘public’ itself implies ideas of openness, discussion, and community, all key concepts needed in order to form a global media. ‘The public’ itself is an idea; something that must be created because each individual has the free will to decide what types of media they will expose themselves to. John Dewey, an American Philosopher, believed that the public was a political society made up of like-minded individuals who wanted to communicate to each other about common interests or problems. He believed it to be a public made up of people who, although having some different views, shared certain major concerns, such as education or healthcare.

An audience is an anonymous and variable collective of individuals addressed, as a group and as individuals, by organs of ‘mass’ media communication. Very often people are unaware they are even part of an audience. For example, when someone is reading the newspaper as they eat their breakfast, they are not thinking about how they are members of a vast audience who are reading that newspaper as well. This can be due to readership fragmentation, not having all readers congregated in a local area. With global media, it is difficult to keep track of who is accessing which media outlets across the world and how. This makes it difficult to know who is part of the ‘global audience’ or the ‘global public’.

Audiences are targeted for specific markets. The media targets an audience they want their product to appeal to and they adjust the product accordingly. Media companies target specific audiences. A great example of this in the newspaper industry would be The Globe and Mail. The Globe has always been aimed towards the typical businessman. The paper has focused more on the actual information in articles they are printing as opposed to the aesthetics of the paper. In 2010, the layout and overall image of the newspaper was completely redone.They wanted to grab people’s attention by making the paper more aesthetically pleasing. By doing this, they also hoped to increase female readership of the paper and reinforced this idea by adding a lifestyle section. After these changes, the Globe got more than one hundred additional advertisers, many of whom were clothing, cosmetics, etc. They also gave their website a complete overhaul and received an award for being the best newspaper-affiliated website in the world. The Globe’s goal was to target a wider audience and so far they have been successful. By properly planning and using the correct marketing strategies, they were able to create a new audience.

Accessibility

Accessibility is an essential issue with global media. How can media be global if not everyone is able to access it? This problem has been dubbed the ‘Digital Divide’, inferring unequal access to global media around the world. We often take for granted how easily accessible the Internet is in North America. In many other countries people either struggle or have no Internet-access at all. In 2007, 71% of the North American population used the Internet on a regular basis, whereas in Africa it was a mere 5%. There are many factors contributing to this problem.

Technologies have undoubtedly improved accessibility to media. The Internet was a monumental step for the distribution of information and society continues to build on that day by day. With Smartphones now, people are able to access the Internet wherever they go. The Internet and Smartphone culture, though spreading worldwide, is predominant in North American culture. It has come to the point that many think it strange if someone does not own one. People today crave constant communication with one another, and Smartphones act as a vehicle for that.

Language accessibility is a big issue. In 2005, fewer than 30% of the world’s Internet users were native English speakers, yet 45% of the web pages were written in English. By 2010, the percentage of native English speakers dropped to less than 25%. This is partially due to rising markets in Russia and China. Why is it that the Internet caters to native English speakers? This is a major detriment to creating a global media. This has also been a big issue with search engines. Most search engines are not geared toward non-English languages. Most of them do not recognize or ignore the special characteristics of other languages, such as Arabic. Search engines provide quick and easy access to overwhelming amounts of information, so it is a cruel disadvantage for people who are unable to use them.

While some people are unable to access information because of language barriers, others are restricted because of government censorship. This is yet another issue we do not worry about here because we live in a democratic society, but other countries under various regimes, such as Communism, have restricted access to a majority of the websites on the Internet. These oppressive governments claim that by heavily censoring Internet access, they are protecting citizens from subversive ideas, upholding nation unity and defending national security. A great example of this would be the Chinese Communist government. The citizens of China are censored on a grand scale. They literally cut-off searches from everyone and block a significant percentage of websites. Google and Facebook, two of the most visited websites worldwide, are restricted in China. There is a website run by counter-activists called ‘thegreatfirewallofchina.com’, where you type in any web address in the world and it will tell you if it is restricted or not in China. This causes a severe disconnect of Chinese citizens to others around the world. If the basis of global media is to act as a means of global communication, then Chinese citizens are being oppressed from that movement.

What counts as a reliable news media source?

Newspapers used to be more specialized publications, but have rather become a form of mass media. There has been a great expansion in the variety of media sources people use today. With such a great number and diversity of sources, it is difficult to know which are credible and which are not. What makes a media source legitimate? This is very often subjective, but there seems to be a certain consensus in evaluating legitimacy.

For the most part, the public generally agrees with or at least accepts news that the media gives them. A sense of trust needs to be built between the media and the public in order that the reader not feel like they are being manipulated. This sense of trust is very fragile though and once broken, very difficult to restore. This can be problematic because it is difficult to find any news sources that do not take a biased approach to their information. Of course there are varying degrees of bias, but the public’s best option is to read multiple sources, ones from various points of view, and then come to their own conclusion on the subject. Twitter has been revolutionary in helping build a sense of trust between journalists and their readers. It allows people to get to know journalists on a more personal level and view them as fellow citizens. By reading various tweets about things journalists do throughout the day or seeing them make mistakes in things they write, the public can relate more to them. In short, it makes them seem more human. The public tends to have a higher opinion of their local media as opposed to media on a national scale. They find it easier to rely on something local because they are more familiar with it and that media is directly related to them, whereas national media is intended for a much broader audience and may not have the same appeal. This also ties into the idea of trust between the source and the reader. Naturally it is easier for them to trust something that is more familiar and local.

The public becomes critical of the media when they start reporting about specifics and invading people’s privacy. The media is often sensational and focuses on the bad news because they know people are attracted to dramatic situations and this will draw greater readership. This is why the majority of society does not consider tabloids to be a credible media source. The point of tabloids is to invade people's private lives and more often than not, things are taken far out of context and are completely untrue.

There are countless online resources and it is almost impossible to know which ones are credible and which aren’t. The Internet makes it impossible to regulate and censor content. Having a trusted source of information automatically makes content more credible. For example, if someone was given two articles to read and one was from an anonymous blog found on the Internet and the other was from a journal in the New York Times, the latter would automatically be more credible because the source has a higher reputation.

The choice of medium is also an important factor. The Internet has unlimited information and resources about various topics but the problem remains that you don’t really know who is posting the information and how true it is. Although people are attracted to the instant news they can get off the Internet, there is something reassuring and reliable about printed newspapers. Online articles can be put up on a whim, and can be very brief, because their main goal is to inform people of news the moment it happens. However articles in printed newspapers must go through a series of editing and publishing and have been thoroughly thought through, resulting in a polished final product. Once the paper is made, it is printed and distributed. Being printed is like it being set in stone because it cannot be changed or contained. There is a certain reassurance with a printed newspaper because you tend to believe that they wouldn’t edit, publish and distribute something if it was not legitimate information. Online articles on the other hand, can be edited and changed at any moment and regularly are. You never know if you are reading the final product or if the information will change in an hour. This causes the reader to question whether they can trust the information they are reading.

Rituals and Media

Ritual is a symbolic action performed according to scripts encoded elsewhere with purposes, meanings and implications already mostly set by convention. Everyone has his or her own thoughts and opinions but it is acknowledged that there will be a standard outcome, in this case, the sharing of ideas.

The idea of rituals being acutely intertwined with media was largely shaped by communications theorist James Carey’s “ritual view” of communication. He believed that reading a newspaper was not so much about gaining new information and knowledge about a subject, as it was about reaffirming already existing facts or ideologies. He compares the ritual of reading a newspaper to going a Roman Catholic mass; nothing new is being learned, but the ritual confirms already existing beliefs. It is a representation of shared beliefs, drawing people together in fellowship and commonality. Without communication, media cannot exist. It is part of the foundation of the social world. Ritual allows people to share common beliefs with one another and this helps build a sense of community. Reading news becomes a ritual for many people. They wake up in the morning and read their newspaper as they drink their coffee. However rituals slowly change over time. Instead of reading the printed newspaper in the morning, most people today turn to their computers and check the headlines of the various news sites around the world. The intention of ritual is not to inform the public but to bring them together, to create conversation. Ritual reflects the human need to share experiences. By creating a community, they are strengthening society as a whole. The collective is always stronger than the individual.

If ritual creates community, then by association that means ritual also creates power. People are always stronger when they come together to help each other achieve a common goal, as opposed to being fragmented. This is why people take social action and organize rallies or protests. If one person sends a letter or complains about a government policy, more often than not that person will be ignored. However, if you gather several thousands of people to protest together, the government is forced to pay attention. There is strength in numbers. If people are fragmented and do not come together to form a community, they are less likely to be recognized. This is one of the problems that arise with the Internet. Although it is officially the World Wide Web and is intended to make global communication much easier, all the information is so scattered and fragmented that everyone receives different information. If newspapers are able to have a wide variety of well-focused information on their websites, this will attract people to read their paper. If people can find different types of stories that interest them in one place, as opposed to going to four different websites for various topics, they will continue to visit this website or subscribe to that type of newspaper. They will continue to come back and eventually it becomes a habit. This is how the ritual begins.