Integrated Communication Policy: Impact on Press and Broadcasting - Term Paper Example

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION POLICY: IMPACT ON PRESS AND BROADCASTING Integrated Communication Policy: Impact on Press and Broadcasting It is the nature of the job which defines the role of a particular policy in media and elsewhere. Royal Commissions have kept news and political comments to be the focus of the press, formulating the conclusions in the paradigm of “free market system of thought” as opposed to the broadcasting which concerns with the entire range of programs, promoting reforms in the interest of public service.1 In the recent years the impact of globalization has merged communication in such a manner that the differences are no longer visible to a third party. Mass Communication has given way to endless categories in the media studies. Hence it has become difficult to separate the press from broadcasting at this stage. The barriers in media and communications sector call for a thorough revision of the internal market and the cultural diversity. The process is too lengthy to be screened without negligence. Special care is taken for copyright and the protection of the minors. The consumer protection is maximized through the Audiovisual Media Service Directive to meet the demands proposed by the consumers. The need for policy revision arose due to several reasons, two of which are listed below: i. Different countries undergo different political situation. ii. The entertainment criteria is different for different cultures These reasons have evolved through the development of the media, apparently to educate people. “The media play a fundamental role in educating audiences about various social realities. The question of how the media mediate between the external objective reality and our perception of social reality has been one of the major themes of Mass Communication research. There has been particular interest in the reality definition function of the press. The press has been instrumental in educating readers, creating awareness about issues, defining our perceptions of reality and changing attitudes.”2 Press and broadcasting policies are conceived in different intellectual frameworks. Broadcasting enquiries are deeply influenced by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) and hence uphold the public service principles. The press does not receive such state-appointed public trust. The free market approach to the press is not defended for and the broadcast receives much of the attention. Press is considered to be a motionless medium which is thought to be right without any arguments. This causes several contradictions at the core of media policy. Part of it is the New Labor’s rhetoric that has achieved to expose the incoherence in the communication policy in an attempt to prove it integrated in the world view. “The content of newspapers is not really facts about the world, but in a very general sense - ideas and in this, language is not neutral but a highly constructive mediator (Fowler, 1991). The language the media use can help shape opinions and perceptions and consequently influence action against certain groups in society. By repeatedly associating certain phenomena through use of language and terminology, the media are able to shape definitions of phenomena. And with the immense power and ubiquity that the media have acquired today, it becomes increasingly important to monitor how the media are defining certain terms and what stereotypes and notions they are creating.”3 Press started to gather its enemies in the early 1970s and throughout the later part of the century for its unexplained, unacknowledged and unjustified features. The freedom of communication through the press got enlarged with the growing factual misrepresentation. This is mainly because of the fast growth in the media. A debate between free market and public service is expanding as the discussions on media policy continue. In Britain media is divided into two objections and praises altogether. One demands the freedom of regulation besides the law of the land and the other sings praises for the British broadcasting service.4 The media is growing so fast that in today’s world one can download a program from the internet moments from when it was broadcasted. This has left the press stand nowhere in front of broadcasting. The technical revolution is so rapid that one cannot imagine the level of competition prevailing in the media.5 One can, however not neglect its first child because after all press is the first step that the media took in the history of communication. The main challenge now faced by the media is in light of the welfare for individual consumers in the process of policy change. The press has a long memorable history. Journalists remember undergoing the struggle of opposing “any state-sponsored reform of the press”. In a history retold by the BBC on the dismantling of the press, one learns that television was reconstructed on the lines of free market press. The role played by the free press is brought into limelight as one finds ideological resonance in the entire debate over the press and broadcasting. The Victorian age is considered the golden period of journalism. Historians still argue about the exact date of press’s independence from other political parties. In reality, press flourished on the grounds of broadening the liberty of politics. After the mid-nineteenth century, the press experienced not only the freedom and liberty, but also a new censorship which was most effective than any other change experienced by the press.6 Whether the integrated communication policy is able to diminish the growing distinction between the press and the broadcasting is a question dealt by the media and communication sector in which the consumer welfare flourishes in an inclusive information society. Ever since the broadcasting companies took control, the public funded them the most. The broadcasters need to continue working hard to bring constant variations and reforms in the growing entertainment world. A lot is expected by the online community. The cultural diversity and the free trade led globalization are both juxtaposing features for many critics and authors writing about the communication policy. Media has become more interested in the electronic press rather than entertaining the printing press. Press agencies, however, seek to render to the broadcasters who lack the resources and financial aid.7 Previously newspapers were associated with a political party. Today they are being taken by the private ownership. The media has a strong role to play in freeing the press. The press that is released all over the world in all the languages spoken around the world merged with the broadcasting media which is often taken over by the government. Both press and the broadcasting services have underwent a crucial period of censorship whereby they underwent a serious mutilation of their appearance. The journalist demanded freedom of speech whenever an event arose which blocked them from connecting with the public. As a result the public started feeling insecure and doubted the freedom of the media in the first place. The media wearing the garb of entertainment was thought to be serving a government at some point of its pinnacle. Communication policies continue to be edited and reformed for the sake of the stability in media.8 The BBC, for instance, flourished during the decade of depression and a decline in industrialization. In the 1930s, broadcasting was all about the “state openings, royal anniversaries, visits, deaths, and births and by the Coronation.” It is believed that the policies of the broadcasting services were traded under free market for interests of the government. The broadcasting was dominated by the atmosphere of gloom and dignity even in hard times like war declaration.9 The approach to press policy only differed with broadcasting policy in terms of history and present. Press was and still treated like history and any changes that take place in its policy do not have a major impact as the broadcasting media policy has on the general public. Press remains a feature of interest for the lower class, which cannot afford a television and rely on the printing press for news around the world. However, there are some cultural and religious variations in this stream of thought. The discussion on press and broadcasting policy is an endless one. The concluding note to this long discussion is the fact that the debate between the distinct approaches towards press and broadcast is made invisible with the rise of the integrated communication policy. The integrated communication policy is all about serving the masses through the global networking and bringing the press production and various other publications on to the screen instead of the hardcopies. The change has taken so rapidly that there is no time to reverse it or argue about it. A group of fundamentalists and journalist still argue for the worth of the independent medium of press and broadcasting. The press, according to a few, must continue to flourish. One feature that the press was most accused of was the inclusion of various advertisements in the paper which made it very frustrating for traditions readers. This issue still continues to be addressed. But the intensity with which it is addresses cannot be recognized because of the growing integrated communication policy. The public is too occupied with the other modes of entertainment to be concerned with what is happening with the press. There are several programs that the media has made a conscious effort to run for the consumers’ welfare. These efforts cannot be apparently considered futile because the majority of them are influenced by it.10 The academia has raised objections against these growing trends in the media because it has harmed the educational sector recently. Arguments in favor of the media suggest that the broadcasting services have also worked toward the development of educational awareness among the masses. The press has seen the best days. The policies of the press changed according to the level of freedom it was allowed to practice. The broadcasting policies were defined according to the location of the broadcast. The international services gained popularity especially during world war times. The broadcasting channels multiplied over the past decade through the sudden influx in the integrated communication policy which changed the face of the globe and the perception of the public towards the press and broadcasting policies. The distinction can no longer be seen but if the medium is approached with this distinguishing aspect, there is a possibility that it can be visible for people like critics and analysts. Bibliography Aqueel, Naureen. 2009. Thesis: How the global press is framing Extremism and its variants- A cross-national analysis of 108 non-news articles from nine newspapers across the world. University of Karachi. Curran, James, and Jean Seaton. 2005. Power without responsibility: the press, broadcasting, and new media in Britain. London [u.a.]: Routledge. Pauwels, Caroline, Karen Donders, Harri Kalimo, and Ben Van Rompuy. 2010. Rethinking European media and communications policy. Brussels: Vubpress. Preston, Peter. 2012. A new John Birt wouldnt be the boss any more at Pattens BBC. The Guardian. < http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/18/john-birt-boss-patten-bbc> Read More