Communication and the Media in Business Practise - Essay Example

Technology, Communication and the Media Globalisation has been in existence for quite a while. In the early ages it was essentially limited to business and trade. But with the beginning of the new form of market driven governments, globalisation has filtered down to almost all walks of life like, media, culture, and of course the trade and business practices. During the early ages, these trading companies, once in a foreign land, used to try influencing the ruling class in order to strengthen their business goals. Gradually these companies also succeeded in capturing power in those countries, thus giving rise to the practice of imperialism. British companies were in the forefront of such practices in those early days leading to a situation when most parts of the world were ruled by Britain. In modern times, situation is very different, now the world is a vastly different society with modern means of communication and technology, ideologies, international treaties etc. But the growing influence of Multi National Corporations (MNCs) in almost all walks of life is being termed as a cause of worry by some analysts. What provides fuel to such concerns is the fact that these MNCs come from those very nations who were involved in such practices in those early days. Bodies like United Nations (UN) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) have been trying to implement a code of conduct for business practices, but at times these international organisations appear openly dependent on the so-called developed nations. Such international organisations have been asking for the reduction in cross border tariffs, international movements of people, global circulation of ideas, exchange of cultural values, increasing activities of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) or voluntary organisations etc. Media plays a very important role in telling the people about the values, ideas, opinions and culture of any country and organisation. Organisations hire Public Relation companies to undertake such tasks. Media is supposed to influence the communicative practices of individuals and institutions, which in turn influence the people and societies. Of late the growing influence of media in all spheres of life is leading to a belief that, “Media globalisation is indeed leading to a kind of cultural imperialism”. Manuel Castells proposed the growth of an Information Communication Technology (ICT) dominated informational society in which the social interaction becomes dependent on use of such technology. For integrating the international society media and communication plays a crucial role. Though development in field has been undergoing since the days of invention of paper and printing, some later developments like underwater cabling system and growth of news agencies further helped the growth of media technology. In 1869 news agencies agreed to divide the world into mutually exclusive areas of operation which more or less corresponded to the prevailing spheres of influence of the major imperial European powers. Carey (1992) argues that broadcast media have helped in promoting centralization of production, decentralization of broadcast/ publication and international distribution. But most nations prefer to impose restrictions over electronic media development fearing that it would result in degrading their culture. Those asking for a free flow of media include mainstream economists, who argue that more opportunities for sharing information, borderless communication and global commerce will emerge if we allow globalisation of media to its potential. Citing the ideas of ‘The Death of Distance’ by Cairncross and ‘the global village’ by Marshall McLuhan, these economists find support from media moguls like Rupert Murdoch and companies like AOL/Time Warner. But, what causes gives rise to the fears of imperialism is the cordial relation of Rupert Murdoch with the US govt. administration. The growing influence and power of MNEs, increasing role of media in framing of governmental policies, unequal distribution of communication power and resources further increase their worries about the expansion of such imperialist forces from the western part of the world. Schiller (1969) argues states that ‘Nothing less than the viability of the American industrial economy itself is involved in the movement towards international commercialization of broadcasting’. This school of thought anticipates the shades of cultural imperialism in the growing influence of west dominated media. Schiller defines cultural imperialism as ‘the sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system’. Similarly, Herman and McChesney argue that the power that the multinational corporations are able to apply for global expansion and global media’s assistance in spreading their business principles and ideas makes the lesser privileged world take notice their imperialistic designs. Third world nations put forth all such concerns in the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debate in the early 1970s. They advanced the views that growing western media influence is resulting in strengthening of conservative political forces worldwide and the erosion of local cultures. They wanted UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to address the issue of power imbalance in global communication capabilities. But, in view of the major opposition from USA and UK, the movement could not find favor. Economists and business leaders, favoring globalisation treat the people all across the global as potential consumers and they are resorting to all means of convincing the global consumers about the benefits of globalisation. They’ve got enough money power to influence the media in spreading good words about their plans. They resort to the use of ‘soft power’ which means ability to achieve desired outcomes in international affairs through attraction rather than compulsion. This method works by convincing governments and institutions to agree to their ideas. A gradual buildup in local media, about the MNE followed by more concessions helps in convincing the local governments. In earlier days, their used to be only couple of media houses, most of them being regulated by the local governments. But now there are large numbers of media channels, newspapers even at local levels, which gives rise to competition and require huge amount of money-power as well. The Multi National Corporations from western nations take advantage of such a situation and in return for financial obligations get willing help from local media channels in planting their own stories, culture, commercial interests and ideas. Schiller termed this phenomenon as ‘transnational corporate cultural domination’. Sinclair also argues that contrary to what the cultural imperialism theory says more important than the ideological influence of the US on other countries in broadcasting was its legacy in implanting system of broadcasting which are out and out commercial i.e. that aim to attract audiences which can then be sold to advertisers. Sometimes the advocates of globalisation argue that, globalisation leads to more employment generation in developing countries. But the fact is the poorest paid jobs get farmed out to developing countries whilst the highest value jobs remain in the advanced industrial economies. This in itself gives an indication of imperialistic designs in which the masters keep sitting in developed countries, while the low paid employees work like slaves in developing countries. Media MNEs generally happen to be from US, Japan and some of the European nations and they divide the world in four major regional groups like; N America Western European Japan and Australia Developing economies and regional producers (India, China, Brazil and Eastern Europe) Rest of the world Now a days the Multi National Enterprises (MNEs) are devoting their more time and energy towards the fast developing economies like India and China. Intense persuasion is on to influence the media polices of these countries in their favor. The media companies are working as oligopolies, as the big league comprises very limited number of media companies and each one knows its competitors very well. These companies have enormous power to influence the market. US media companies have used the differential pricing strategies for their content i.e. these companies charge different prices from different governments and local agencies depending upon their paying capacities. Their ultimate aim is to pass on the program content in those countries. This helps in the spread of US-style entertainment in those countries. Once this type of entertainment becomes popular, then the local people require goods and items for enjoying such forms of entertainments. Therefore the media successfully generates a demand for such goods and items. This helps the US business houses to sell their products in those countries. Initially these products are sold at cheaper rates to the overseas markets. This way they are able to penetrate deep into the overseas local markets, gradually resulting in squeezing the local businesses out of business. Over time, the multi national corporations can grab the local markets and business interests. Once the local market and businesses are in control, the financial requirements of the political class also come in control of these corporations. Now, the multi-national corporation comes in a position of influencing the policy making and other major decisions of the overseas nation. It is this type of scenario that forces us to think about the imperialistic design of some countries. Though, there are some instances, in which some bad policies of US and its companies have also been highlighted by the media, for example the US policy on Iraq is being criticized the world-over. But such examples are few and far in between, because the power of US media doesn’t easily allow other types of stories to be highlighted. Such type of centralization of power makes Branston and Stafford (2004) argue that perhaps it is not realistic to view the world economy as global but as centered on regions or networks based on: Areas of advanced consumer-capitalist power Language use Religion and culture Technological factors such as the ‘footprint’ of a satellite and consequently, the programme content. Read More