Cultural Diversity in the Media - Essay Example

Cultural Diversity in the Media Introduction It is known that human beings across nations have always been diverse in their ways of culture, language, race, ethnicity and religious practices. 1 During ancient times there were no real necessity to bridge these differences, as there were not much intermingling amidst the diverse cultural groups, owing to large distances and lack of proper transportation and communication. However, in this modern era of globalization, coupled with technological innovations, and worldwide networking, people from various countries representing different ethnicities, races, and culture, are now coming into direct contact with each other. Globalization, which “denotes the expanding scale, growing magnitude, speeding up and deepening impact of transcontinental flows and patterns of social interaction,”2 implies the intermingling of people from different culture and race, which makes it necessary that there is a mutual respect for each other’s cultural or racial differences, for peaceful coexistence. The term cultural diversity is exemplified by UNESCO (under Article I of Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity) as, Culture takes diverse forms across time and space. This diversity is embodied in the uniqueness and plurality of the identities of the groups and societies making up humankind. As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations.3 Cultural diversity, which in simple terms, means respecting existing cultural differences amongst various society members, can be expressed through different channels, the most potent route in this era of information and technology, being the public news media (like Internet, newspaper, radio, or TV).4 Through the news media, diverse cultural groups are able to air their opinions, and able to relate to other members with same cultural values, or even reach out to people who are not a part of their culture. However, cultural diversity in media is much dependent on the way a country’s government frames its democratic and cultural polices, and the manner in which media groups handle the issue of freedom of expression. In this context, the article first studies the importance of culture and cultural diversity within a state democracy, then examines the two cultural diversity models that exist in terms of news media,5 and lastly the model implemented in US news media (the laissez-faire model)6 in order to advocate the cultural diversity measures adopted, in its efforts to understand what role does a better understanding of ‘democracy’ play in understanding media representations of diversity. Discussion The importance of culture and cultural diversity to maintain democracy: “The term ‘culture’ which originally meant the culture of the soul or mind… [Later in the 18th century acquired two forms]… culture as the folk-spirit having a unique identity, and culture as cultivation of inwardness or free individuality.”7 Thus, culture is the development of a unique individual identity that brings together a group people living together possessing the same values and norms. The recent economic globalization has opened up avenues for global culture where people from various cultures come together in any part of the world, for the formation of a peripheral layer of consumer goods, which often appears as a cultural threat for the local/ national inhabitants of that region.8 Widespread economic globalization for some years has gradually created a certain degree of growing acceptance of the concept of ‘universal individual’9 and cumulative rights. For the protection and advocacy of cumulative rights of this ‘universal individual,’ the cultural diversity must also be safeguarded as a ‘collective heritage.’ Culture of any state, is at the center of its social harmony, and hence a necessary element for its survival. It must therefore be viewed with the same importance as are associated with the military or economic systems of the nation. The inhabitants of any nation must accede on the cultural values and traditional norms, while being free to share their opinions, feelings, ideals and even new theories in order to cohabit peacefully. At the same time, while retaining their own cultural values and norms, the society to retain its vitality, must interact with other cultures. Interchanges should be encouraged to maintain the dynamism of different cultures. In this respect, to ensure cultural development, openness is as much needed as protection.10 Culture is necessary for a country’s democracy, and in order to give voice to all its citizens, irrespective of their culture, race, ethnicity, or religion, the state must take care to have an effective communication and cultural system that would vouch for equality, in expressing one’s views and opinions, and access to information.11 Democracy, which represents freedom and equality in its principles,12 can help a state to rightly implement cultural diversity, and As Tremblay opines, this sense of equality must be held “true for news…for norms and values, and opinions and ideas.”13 Since one of the most common routes of reaching out globally and spreading cultural diversity, is through the mass media, it is necessary for the governments and those involved in running the media houses, to create an effective communication systems that gives fair representation to all the cultural and ethnic groups of a country. It has been always observed that media’s role in the context of cultural diversity has been a little hazy where we find that media tends to focus more on cultivating cultural homogeneity (the terms used for denoting it are ‘americanization’ or ‘cultural melting pot’) instead of promoting and nurturing unity amidst cultural diversity.14 In this age, when more and more people are forced to live outside their countries within foreign cultures, owing to economic globalization, the media policies made by the national/local governments should be such that they enable and enhance the capacity of the media to play a more suitably positive role and promote cultural diversity, instead of propagating cultural homogeneity to uphold the true democratic principles of freedom and equality The two forms of cultural diversity models adopted globally for news media: As multiculturalism has increasingly gained significance globally, cultural diversity has turned out to become an area of importance for the media, especially the news media, in US and other countries. With rapidly increasing social amalgamation of various cultural groups, in US the news media have the arduous task of distinguishing different multicultural constituencies, and according them more representing within their workforce, the targeted audience, and providing them more space in the news agenda.15 Some of these initiatives include measures like training the employees, especially the journalists to be more sensitive about other people’s culture, add more employees from the social minority groups, and undertake various programs and special publications that promote cultural diversity. Even though the idea of promoting cultural diversity through news media is seen as an important criterion in national policies, in many countries worldwide they are not always executed or asserted in a comparable manner. There are two general models that are generally used for implementing cultural diversity within media channels, which are the interventionist model and the laissez-faire model.16 In USA, the laissez-faire archetype can be easily identified within the news media, where the Federal government limits its role to a minimal, in the advocacy and enactment of the various state created multicultural policies. Here Stratton and Ang comments that the “immigrants are left to themselves to find a place in the new society, under the assumption that they will be quickly absorbed into and by the established cultural order”17 (Stratton & Ang 1994, 128), along with a ‘natural’ assimilation into the already existing economic system. Thus, here we find that in US the affiliation that exists between the news media and cultural diversity is viewed both as ideals for standardization and as commercial assets. Here the cultural diversity is represented both as an antecedent of financial gains and also a motivation for excellence in journalism,18 where diversity is considered as a prerequisite for fulfilling media’s social obligation. While the financial gains, is a prerequisite for the media to survive within the fiercely competitive market. On the other hand we find that in the interventionist model (does not exist in US in the context of cultural diversity, though seen in many of the European nations), the governmental assumes more power in implementing multicultural policies, appropriating financial resources, enforcing the present legal regulations, and work publicly to advocate certain specified multicultural objectives. In such cases cultural diversity within media tends to remain widely limited within regulatory discussions on inclusive policies and democratic engagements, and it has been seen that the intervention model condones policies for the easy access of media by the social minorities and their equal representation. 19 In terms of diversity in media, interventionism tends to focus on creating and justifying various policies to secure easy access for the minorities in the media and their equal representation. In the interventionist approach the state often provides for news media subsidies for representing the social minorities, while using the public broadcasting systems through radio and television channels (as for example, BBC in UK) for airing multicultural programs and promoting cultural diversity, without taking into account the dynamics of making financial gains from the market,20 thus being more democratic in nature. The cultural diversity model as adopted for US news media: The U.S. media system which follows the liberal model (“clearly the purest form of liberal model”),21 unlike the State interventionist one, constitutes of large-scale circulation and an advantageous news media; with little Federal intervention and a lack of connectivity between state politics and media over cultural diversity; and highly professional groups of employees. During the last two centuries, large scale expansion drive by the news media in US, forced out the non-commercial forms, while changing the equation between press and political parties.22 The US news media moved away from openly supporting any political parties, and refrained from taking financial support from rich political leaders, thus moving towards freedom, in an economic and political sense. Thus we find intense commercialization drive helped the US news media to derive a zero ‘political parallelism,’ which in turn created ‘internal pluralism.’23 So in US the media organizations do not follow any political or institutional bindings, in order to preserve their freedom and maintain their neutrality while representing their news item to their audience.24 As internal pluralism in the US media had arisen from the commercialization drive, Glasser in his researches from various radio programs derived that variety in US media generally relates to certain distinctive and cursory differences, while diversity simply means the differences in the common interests and objectives of a group of people living within the society.25 Here the US media fails to comprehend the importance of the study of the cultural history and differences that are seen in the various people living within the US society. It also fails to correctly interpret the historical role of ‘democracy’ within cultural diversity, where each citizen is given right to being represented equally and freely. In his paper Baker opined that “reduced product differentiation” results inevitable from the media market that is primarily based on advertising,”26 thus, casting doubts on the actual positive role played by US media in promoting cultural diversity. He further claims that since it is the audiences that buy various media based products, in turn it is the advertisers that buy the US audiences, which in turn shapes the US media production according to the both the interested parties, the audiences and the advertisers. And in the bargain it is the audiences that get unequal and insufficient return from their purchases.27 Thus, as Hallin & Mancini contends, the US news media instead of promoting cultural diversity is more “oriented toward the views of the white-middle class readers who are the preferred target of advertisers,”28 since it is almost universal knowledge that advertisers always seek an audience that is comparatively homogeneous in nature, that is, the high and the upper-middle economical classes of the society being their the preferred target, instead of the poor ones. Even in the coverage of the Presidential elections, cultural diversity was given a miss, and researches show that there is a general belief that the various races were not properly shown, with less coverage of the candidates from the minor segments of the societies, with even little coverage of what the candidates were actually trying to say.29 The report further states that even with chances for representing cultural diversity in a positive form, commercialization may force certain constraints on news media. Thus, we find that despite functioning under a superficial liberal mode, US news media does not actively represent cultural diversity nor does accurately promote it, primarily owing to its failure to understand the basic principles that underlie true democracy and cultural diversity. US media industry, however, does give cognition to its internal faults, and in a report also acknowledged that the minorities face discrimination,30 in the form of less challenging work and restricted chances for furthering their professional life within US media, especially within mainstream news segment. 31 It completely fails to study the basic histories and cultural deviations of the various races that reside in the country, in its urge to make commercial profits. From the above discourse it is very clear that the failure of the US news media to understand the historical concept of democracy and cultural diversity, has led to its failure in giving an equal voice to all its members. Conclusion With increasing multiculturalism worldwide, the question of addressing cultural diversity through the news media is slowly gaining significance. The laissez-faire model that we see in US news media management, though remaining free from open political influences, owing to their over-the-board commercialization, clearly does not have a right approach in positively promoting cultural diversity. Thus, it can be derived that cultural diversity through journalism, can be achieved rather by following the basic classical principles of democracy, where all citizens have an equal and free voice of representation, than through the principles of overt commercialization. References Aristotle, Politics, 1317b (Book 6, Part II), Perseus.tufts.edu., accessed at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058%3Abook%3D6%3Asection%3D1317b (24th October 2011). Baker, E., 2002. Media, Markets, and Democracy. Cambridge: CUP. Benson, R., 2005. American Journalism and the Politics of Diversity. Media, Culture and Society 27, 1, 5-20. Diller, J., 2010. Cultural diversity: A Primer for the Human Services. 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Continuum: The Australian Journal of media and culture 8, (2), 125-158. Ruby, R., & Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2008. Public Attitudes. The State of the News Media 2008. An Annual Report on American Journalism. Accessed at http://stateofthemedia.org/2008/special-reports-the-future-of-advertising/public-attitudes/ (28th October 2011). Tremblay, G., 2002. Global Media and Cultural Diversity VI3, accessed at,  http://lirne.net/resources/netknowledge/tremblay.pdf. (24 October 2011). UNESCO, 2004. Promoting Cultural Diversity through the Media: New Possibilities for Local Content Distribution. accessed at, http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=16793&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (27th October 2011). Velkley R., 2002. Being after Rousseau: philosophy and culture in question. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wilkins, L., 2009. The handbook of mass media ethics. NY: Taylor & Francis. Read More