Chinese Diasporic Media in Australia - Literature review Example

Chinese Diasporic Media In Australia Name College Course Tutor Date Chinese Diasporic Media in Australia Introduction Television Broadcasting Australia (TVBA) is the leading Vietnamese and Chinese-language television in Australia. According to the Karim (2007), the TV station is located in Sydney and started operating in the early 21st Century, and has around 130,000 viewers every day and more than 20,000 business outlets and families. Therefore, TVBA has the leading reach the majority of Vietnamese and Chinese media in Australia. It is famous for producing TV content and dramas from Asia (Keane and Moran, 2005). These drama series are extensively distributed in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, and Australia. In terms of Australia, Zhao (2006) states that TVBA has a DTH satellite service for audiences to access. In addition, the company’s DTH satellite service recently has renovated its subscription packages that allowing it to gain modest development amongst subscribers. It has also added a satellite channel belonging to Shanghai Broadcasting Network which helped the company to provide a competitively robust a package with 10 channels (Zheng, 2006). The TV platform has also started negotiating with other programming channels from Mainland China. The success of these negotiations will help the platform to effectively target all Chinese who speak Mandarin in Australia. However, TVBA has been facing a problem of downloading and streaming of movies and television programs on the internet (Thussu, 2007). The company has also been facing the appearance of illegal TV set-top boxes in most nations, such as Australia. Thussu (2007) adds that this issue seem relentless under the existing Copyright Act 1968 in the Australian constitution. Technological development has let the illegal piracy products works on the internet and TVBA has also facing this kind of problem. Individuals are able to upload content to illegal websites worldwide and they can also access similar information in Australia and other countries in the world. As Fels (2013) mentioned in the OECD report that new technologies could have altering the operation of broadcasting and removing the traditional rationales for broadcasting regulation. Therefore, TVBA has noticed that a “new and challenging competition concerns have arisen” (Fels 2013, 10). However, TVBA recommended that the Australian government and involved parties can effectively engage in the problem of copyright breach activities in the country by presenting criminal penalties on every commercial activity linked to illegal downloading and uploading (Zhu, 2009). TVBA management also believes that ISPs (internet service providers) can stop the situation of piracy on internet. Therefore, the television platform supports the proposal by the Australian administration to enhance the lawful framework and demand ISPs to be responsible after receiving breach notices from patent owners (Zhao, 2006). TVBA also supports the proposal for the introduction of support to blocking foreign websites that pirate other people’s work in an effort to safeguard the interests of copyright owners in Australia. Nevertheless, this paper has explained my favourite diasporic media outlet. It will assess the media outlet that I consider a greater threat to TVBA. The Power and Lure of the Internet as a Threat to TVBA People give many opinions regarding the effect of internet on societies. It is undeniable that the internet carries an important impact on the everyday life of most Australians. The country had around 10.4 million active internet subscribers across family, business, and government sectors (Belza, Forth, Purnell, and Zwillenberg, 2012). This number had increased from 9.5 million in 2009. The number of Australians who had subscribed for internet services through their mobile phones was 8.2 million by December 2010. This number had increased from 6.8 million as of June 2010. Internet subscribers in Australian households make up 78% of the overall number of Australian internet subscribers. The government and business sectors take up the remainder percentage. Australia targets to become one of the leading digital states around the world (Belza et al, 2012). The internet has created many changes in the country. Online media plays a major role in the increase of media revenue for the past several years. The internet has benefited the producers, creators, and consumers alike. The opportunities available to all forms of media organisations are replicated in the consumers’ attitudes. The internet has given its consumers rich, selective, and quality content. Internet media offers a yearly customer surplus, that is the value customers put on a product or activity exceeds the fee they pay for the product or activity. The Impact of Internet in Australia Media firms small and large are swiftly adopting the innovative world of internet despite the challenges it pose. Some organizations, such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are concentrating on hit programming through quality entertainment programmes or dramas in an effort to draw huge audiences and unite the country. Other media firms, such as TVBA are focusing on niche programming since it is only valued by Chinese Australians in the country. In this aspect, Australia can benefit from the English Language because it can export to a bigger international English-speaking marketplace, although this brings in competition (Zheng, 2006). Some people dreaded that the internet could tip the balance between the Australian content and the foreign content. They thought that it would overwhelm the country although this is not the situation today. Australians deem that online content from Australia bears similar quality with overseas content and that this content has increased compared to several years ago. Furthermore the trade surplus of digital media is developing with more Australians and Americans watching Australian videos. Additionally, the internet and online media possess a more extensive economic impact and positive culture. The mounting application of media online is compelling the Australian cultural change that could benefit remote communities, niche customers, and the society in general. New jobs and revenue have been created, which is a crucial course for attaining the country’s digital-economy targets. This also applies to government, education, and health. The Australian administration facilitated remote communities with the internet giving them an opportunity to contribute as creators and consumers. Australia’s relationship with Asia has become a fundamental element in its future. The internet has created a richer and an assorted media landscape making Australian content available to the world and other Australians. For instance, opera fans can view operas whether they are located in Katherine, Australia or Beijing, China. London-based Australian cricket fans can watch matches regardless of their location in the world. Nations with citizens in Australia have realized the importance of the internet in connecting with its people. For instance, the rise of China as an international economic and political inspiration is offering Huaren an opportunity to re-evaluate their ethnic identity or change their views concerning the Chinese transnational politics and the PRC patriotism ideology (Zheng, 2006). Additionally, most Tiananmen migrants from the People’s Republic of China bore children who are currently in their youthful and teenage years whose cultural flavour is less engrossed on the consumption of media and cultural contents from mainland China. Artist Jay Chou who performed across Australia to the Children born of Chinese migrants stated that “Chinese-language immature society in Australia is becoming increasingly incorporated in the ‘Chinese pop culture’ that entails cultural fabrication and utilization amongst societies using Chinese language, such as Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China. This has resulted to probable recourse of the Chinese multinational ethnic economy with its consumption and production circuits and systems prone to function in a more conventional and fluid connection and synergy contour” (Thussu, 2007). However, one can articulate that the necessity to cater to the community using Chinese language in Australia remains exclusive in the marketplace in spite of the exponential development of the Chinese inhabitants. Similarly, China works hard to integrate the diasporic Chinese media into an RPC-based but globally influential Chinese-language media landscape Media companies are targeting students and skilled migrants because of their remarkable increase in the country. There has been a remarkable increase in the amount of skilled migrants and students from the People’s Republic of China for the last several years mainly from English-speaking nations, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States (Widodo, 2004). S study by Widodo (2004) discovered that students from the People’s Republic of China compose about 30 percent of the whole international student population in most universities across Australia. Most students from PRC are also taking permanent citizenship although not all of them after competing their learning. This has created considerable implications for the creation and distribution of cultural trafficking and Chinese-language ethnic commodities between different geographic nodules in the Chinese diaspora. The ability to move across countries has changed digital media such that it has become accommodative than before. For instance, Mandarin-speaking youths from PRC who took residency in Australia, Canada, and the United States have intensely changed the ideological, cultural, and demographic formation of the Chinese itinerant population and have surpassed Chinese migrants and Cantonese generations in influence and number (Wanning, Audrey, John, and Jia, 2011). As a result, media companies have identified an actual and prospective market amongst Chinese-speaking learners especially after the introduction of a website called waiwai.com.au. This website caters for the cultural and practical needs of the students from the People’s Republic of China. Nevertheless, the increase in the number of television viewers could prompt the emergence of piracy through the internet. The internet is a great threat of TVBA despite the many benefits it bears. Cyberspace and different types of media has facilitated the creation of diasporic prejudices as indicated by the adequate material from the rise of websites operated by Chinese in the diaspora (Wanning et al, 2011). Many websites have been created in Australia to satisfy the needs of various communities. The most famous mainstream media in Australia is www.chinatown.com.au for the Chinese community. Other websites in the country include www.waiwai.com.au to cater for the needs of new learners, and www.yumcha,com.au that targets business expert. Other forms of media, such as cinema, satellite television, and radio have not attracted more attention in Australia. Offering Chinese-based TV content is a very difficult task in Australia compared to other media. The restricted availability of Chinese-based electronic media in the country verifies that print media that uses Chinese lingo is very important in connecting the ethnic gap. Despite the increased prejudice in Australia, some stations have decided to meet the needs of Asian Australians brought about by multiculturalism. Multiculturalism was introduced as a public course of action for incorporating and settling immigrants in Australia in 1978. It enjoyed a direct affiliation with migration policies and was applied through societal agencies and programmes, such as language schools, ethno-based welfare, and migrant resources hubs. The policy structure was established to reduce the fears linked to public dissonance and to facilitate the comprehension of societal implications of cultural diversity. It was meant to express a vision of an organized society that respects the preservation of unique cultural behaviour. Multiculturalism has undergone various political adversities notwithstanding the progressive objectives that it has encapsulated (Thussu, 2007). The policy considerably concentrates on affirmative characteristics of multiplicities instead of perceived societal problems. Nevertheless, there was a change in multiculturalism practice and discussion. Alternatively, multiculturalism conflicts punctuate present-day Australia and cultural identity remains a partnership of segregation of particular ethnicities resulting to inequitable distribution of disadvantage. Tension between different inter-ethnic, inter-generational, and ethnic factions has changed the multicultural background. The policy has faced huge criticism for utilizing negative ethnicity and whiteness to sustain white domination. Multiculturalism practices and implication have transformed because of fresh governmental and demographics approaches thus profoundly affecting the Chinese media in Australia (Thussu, 2010). Cultural citizenship and social inclusion were introduced to current policies in order to reduce the difficulty linked to membership in culturally diverse communities. This change can be reflected by the existing multicultural, media, and art guidelines at local, state, and federal levels of government. It promotes cultural growth by motivating the participation of CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) factions. Specific quarters of the Chinese-language media have increasingly gained from such obligations than other languages in spite of the constant commitment to ethnic media by the Australian administration. For example, the film business has benefited a lot from this commitment when compared to print media or television because of the different compatibility levels between the rationale and structure of the Chinese organizations and administration-funded programmes (Marchetti, 2006). There remains a widespread view amongst various divisions of the Chinese-language media that they have been abandoned as much as the continued existence of cultural-language media companies is concerned because of this inequality. The proprietor of 3CW Melbourne radio and Austar Media chief executive officer, Tommy Jiang believes states that “the Chinese community has been left to personally promote community cohesion and forge ethnic identity and pride mostly using the Chinese-language media prism since the mainstream media in Australia is inadequately prepared to comprehend cultural standpoints and protect cultural business practices.” Most Chinese-language media even prefer collaborating with the People’s Republic of China media companies because the Australian administration has failed to provide adequate infrastructural support and resources. The state media back in the PRC demonstrates increasing interest in collaborating with the Chinese-language media compared to the mainstream media in Australia that has shrugged off any efforts by the Chinese-language media. There have been several developments over the last several years, such as an improved line between the diasporic Chinese-language media and the RPC’s state media since 2008. The Chinese administration explicitly assumed the “going global” media strategy, giving precisely $6 billion to push the Chinese media content into the international space that same year. The previous difference between “foreign Chinese” and “China” became questionable based on cultural consumption and production (Zhao, 2006). The Beijing Olympic Games played a huge role of placing China in the international market and becoming an economic and political inspiration. China has also become a significant source of nationalism amongst PRC citizens and those currently living and learning whereby the Chinese administration gave people residing outside the country huaren; this is an opportunity given by the Chinese administration to all Chinese immigrants currently residing outside the country to re-evaluate their affiliation to the host country and China. According to Wanning (2011), audiences in Australia can only access the internet to watch TVBA channels after acquiring speedy computers and installing Chinese-attuned software. Additionally, people without any computer knowledge or older people desiring to watch these TVBA channels may not enjoy these services. Older people lack the knowledge to use the internet, thus limiting their ability to watch TVBA channels. This means that the company is loosing a huge sum of revenue that it could have received from the number of older subscribers. The illiterate number also includes young people. Some of these individuals lack the knowledge to operate computers. Therefore, they cannot access TVBA channels. This circumstance may revolutionize soon provided the communication policy and expansionist “go global” by the Chinese administration. This will make the Chinese TV in Australia a remarkable space to observe. An example of this space includes the agreement signing between the Australian-based news channel SKY News and CCTV. The new contract between these two media powerhouses allows SKY News to televise its content in China while CCTV9 will televise its English-language programmes like Dialogue in Australia regularly. This can be portrayed by the way CCTV has formed important inroads to numerous international nodes (Thussu, 2010). For example, the 2004 Great Wall Television Platform instigated in North America that currently carries huge programme TV content from local and national provincial TV channels from China. Researchers estimate that CCTV also runs around 75 percent Chinese-language TV stations in North America. The network initiated its Arabic-language programmes starting 25 July 2009 that through Nilesat and Arabsat, therefore increasing another significant overseas language facility to Chinese, Spanish, French, and English provision (Wanning 2011). Additionally, Chinese TV decided to fetch its Chinese content to Australia through IPT but its uptake level remains unknown or low. For example, audiences can buy a yearly plan that warrants then to several Chinese TVs on the internet, such as Human TV, Fujian TV, Guangdong Satellite TV, Guangdong TV, Phoenix TV, and CCTV. Chinese-speaking residents in Australia have also enjoyed watching NTDTV (New Tang Dynasty Television), which is an international service carrying advertising agency. Nevertheless, NTDTV is different from TVBA because TVBA is a wholly commercial subscription or advertising operation (Marchetti, 2006). NTDTV also provides mostly culture and news instead of entertainment. NTDTV has its operations in New York and it alleges to have 60, 000 Australian viewers, although real viewership could be lower than anticipated. Viewers can access NTDTV services over the internet and it offers important substitute to news. Regrettably, the TV channel is not a viable medium of advertising for individuals or companies targeting many Chinese living in Australia. Additionally, NTDTV is not a major competitor for TVB. TVB the needed critical mass level amongst Chinese living in Australia provided the inexistence of pay-TV, Australian-based services bouquet, and insignificant international competition of an industrial nature (Zhu 2009). Expansion of China Radio International projects merged with the industrial desire of multinational; Chinese business leaders. This affiliation exemplifies an innovative conduit of development as portrayed by the diasporic Chinese media and PRC State media outside mainland China. The motive of PRC State media is ideological and political while the motive of diasporic Chinese media is cultural and economic. The benefits of this partnership model for the Australian multicultural polity including the country’s affiliations with China are very important. Chinese cultural media continues to grow and change despite the transforming background (Belza et al, 2012). Diasporic Chinese, such as Tony Ayers and Clara Law produce films and have taken fresh creation and allocation modes. Law produced the 2004 film entitled Letters to Ali using money from her pocket, shot it on digital video design, and distributed the film through DVDs. This indicates that Australia mainstream media has not yet acknowledged the presence of film making in the country. Conclusion In conclusion, Chinese migrants to Australia settled there as prisoners, labourers, and free settlers. Young people from China also Migrate to Australia for education purposes but most of them take permanent citizenship. This has resulted to the need for Chinese-language radio and television stations. Nevertheless, there have been several radio and television stations, such as TVBA, TCTV (Touch China TV), CCTV, 2CR and 2AC, including New Tang Dynasty Television. The internet has played major role in how the media reach most of its consumers. The rate at which the internet is growing threatens the existence of most media houses especially if they fail to adapt. Nevertheless, the internet has become a threat TVBA older people and computer illiterate Australians cannot access its online programmes. The internet has also exposed TVBA to cutthroat competition from other media houses. Some, Australians do not have access to computers with fast connecting speed thus preventing them from watching TVBA’s online programmes. Nevertheless, the Chinese Australians are many and the current TV and radio stations cannot satisfy the growing number of Chinese-speaking Australians despite the introduction of numerous radio and television stations in Australia. Regrettably, Australia has failed to realize the existing talent with Chinese residents in the country. If this was the case, the administration could have created laws that allow Chinese-language TV and radio station to operate freely in the country. This will reduce the amount of charges relayed to the customers for transmission services. Australia should collaborate with the Chinese government to ensure that viewers and listeners are able to acquire radio and television programmes. This will also give them a sense of belonging in the country. The initiative will also protect Chinese-Language viewers and listeners from unscrupulous businessmen that may lure them into buying counterfeit software. Nevertheless, TVBA should identify the importance of the internet and its threats. For instance, most individuals may decide to pirate its content through the internet. Despite that, TVBA has been at the fore front of ensuring that the Australian government amend the Copyright Act of 1968 to protect media organisations from piracy. Bibliographies Belza Jan, Forth Patrick, Purnell James, and Zwillenberg Paul. Boom: How Digital Media are Invigorating Australia. Boston, MA: The Boston Consulting Group, 2012. Karim, Karim. Media and Diaspora, in Eoin Devereux (Ed.), Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates, Los Angeles: Sage, 2007. Keane Michael and Moran Albert. (Re)presenting Local Content: Program Adaptation in Asia and the Pacific’, Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, 116, no. 1(2005): 88-99. Marchetti, Gina. 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