UNDERSTANDING THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GLOBAL MEDIA
OMULA EMMMANUEL
COURSE CODE:COM 901
COURSE TITLE: SEMINAR IN GLOBAL MEDIA AND
CULTURAL DOMINATION
Abstract
This paper assessed the political economy of global media. It was revealed that neoliberalism has altered the function of global media, because it has relaxed or eliminated barriers to commercial exploitation of media. Information dissemination across national borders focuses more on profit maximization and domination of global media scene. It was also revealed that there is no competition among global media corporations because they have interlocking board of directors. However, differences exist in their editorial contents, it was also revealed that governments use global media as instruments for international politics. Technological determinism theory was used to give theoretical underpin to this work. It was concluded that neo-liberalism is altering the function of global media and that neo-liberal ideas has government support.
Introduction
Political economy refers to how economic systems that is capitalist, socialist etc political institutions and political environment influence each other. Political economy of global media depicts the operation of few but powerful transnational media corporations that have perpetuated themselves in the global media scene. However, the existence of Press TV and Aljazeera has in a way created counter flow of information but the fact remains that, Press TV and Aljazeera alone cannot compete favourably with the nine giant media firms. This is so because the nine giant global media firms are based in one country which is the United State of America and have interlocking board of directors. Whereas, Press TV and Aljazeera are from different countries, for instance Press TV is an Iranian television station with its headquarters in Tehran while Aljazeera is Qatari in the Middle East.
Global media corporations are profit oriented, not only are global media organizations profit oriented but they strategically positioned themselves in such a way that, they now monopolize the global media scene. Plappert (2008) opines that, many of the largest media firms have some of the same major share holders and interlocking boards of directors. This shows that global media system is non competitive in any meaningful sense of the word.
Neoliberalism which was advocated for by the United States of America and the United nations, partly prepared ground for global media domination of global media market, and profit motive of global media giant. This position is echoed in McChesney (1997) who opines that, a global communication system dominated by small number of super powerful, mostly US-based transnational media corporations. It is a system that works to advance the cause of the global market and promote commercial values, while denigrating journalism and culture not conducive to the immediate bottom line or long run corporate interest Machesney (1997). According to him until the 1980s media system where generally national in scope. As such global media corporations seem to be more interested in profit making and at the same time conquering and dominating global media market “wherever they go” McChesney 2001 and Plappert 2008 posit that, the centre piece of neoliberal policies is invariably a call for commercial communication market to be deregulated.
There appears to be a conspiracy that has shifted attention from unidirectional flow of information to global market domination and profit making. The monopoly of global media market by nine giant firms like Time warner, Disney Bertelsman, Viacom Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation, Universal (Seagram), General Electric (NBC) New York Times and Gannett,has rendered it, practically impossible for new comers to penetrate the market.
Global media is now used as an instrument for global politics, it appears that, the more the media a country has operating in the global scene the more popular and powerful the country becomes. This is true of the United States, because the first nine global media corporations are owned by Americans or based in America; and these media organizations in a way have government backing and support to be able to operate successfully across the shores of their country of origin.
In the past decades, global communication system has undergone dramatic changes, shifting power to commercial interests. Technological improvements in digital communications created an increasingly global market for corporations looking for investment (Schiller in Plappert, 2008).
The foregoing reveals that the political economy of global media portrays few but powerful transnational media corporations owned by developed countries; that have perpetuated themselves on the global market because they are more interested in profit.
Profit making should not be the sole objective of global media, this is true because, Onabajo (2000:8) opines that the goals or objectives of international broadcasting amongst others are:
(1) It makes us to be aware of technological and scientific break through, such that nations lagging behind will know how to buckle up.
(2) Through International broadcasting we are aware of the conflict zones in the worlds.
(3) It is expedient for one country to know what is happening in the other, since countries are interdependent.
These objectives today are secondary to global media as their primary objective now is how to make profit from the global market.
There appears to be a paradigm shift from unidirectional flow of information to market monopoly by global media. This position is consented to by Mcchesney (1997) who asserts that – someone once posited that the rise of the internet would eliminate the monopoly power of global media giants. Such talks have declined recently as the largest media, telecommunication and computer firms have done everything within their immense powers to colonize the internet, or at least neutralize it threat. The global media cartel may be evolving into a global communication Cartel (McChesney, 1997).
The monopoly of global media is echoed in McChesney and Schiller in Plappert(2008) who posit that, many of the largest media firms have some of the same major share holders, who own portion of one another or having interlocking boards of directors, eventually the global media system is fundamentally non competitive in any meaningful sense of the term.
Theoretical Framework
This paper is anchored on Technological Determinism Theory. This theory according toIjwo and Omula (2014:150) was propounded by Herbert Marshall McLuhan.
McLuhan’s work is a reflection of the turmoil of the times. He focused on technology, the medium of the message to our brains. He looked at the future as highly tactile and placed the main importance of a message in its medium or means of conveyance and not it content (https://en.m.wikipedia.org).
McLuhan opines that, the medium is the message because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale of human association and action. The content or uses of such media are as diverse as they are ineffectual in shaping the form of human association. Indeed, it is only too typical that the “Content” of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium. According to him the content of any new, current media is always the format of the medium that came before it. The content of film is that of photography and the phonograph (or sound recording in general). The content of television is essentially film, and the content of the internet is an amalgamation of television, photograph and text (https://en.m.wikipedia.org).
With electric media western man himself experiences exactly the same inundation as the remote native. We are no more prepared to encounter radio and television in our literate milieu than the native of Ghana is able to cope with the literacy that takes him out of his collective tribal world and beaches him in individual isolation. We are as numb in our new electric world as the native involved in our literate and mechanical culture (McLuhan cited in https://en.m.wikipedia.org).
Television though still permeates our daily lives, most television shows can now be viewed online, and many news stories have additional content that is exclusively for the internet. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org).
Technological determinism theory is a reductionist theory that aims to provide a causative link between technology and society’s nature. It tries to explain as to whom or what could have a controlling power in human affairs. The theory question the degree to which human thought or action is influenced by technological factors. It is believed that technology in any given-society defines its nature. Technology is viewed as the driving force of culture in a society and determines it course of history. (https://masscommtheory.com>technolog...).
Langdon Winner provided two hypotheses for this theory:
1. The technology of a given society is a fundamental influencer of the various ways in which a society exists.
2. Changes in technology are the primary and most important source that leads to change in the society.
Winner believed that changes in technology sometimes had unintended or unexpected results or effects as well. Winner calls this phenomenon as technological drift, where people start drifting more and more among a sea of unpredictable and uncertain consequences. According to winner techno logy is not the slave of the human being but rather humans are slaves to technology as they are forced to adapt to the technological environment that surrounds them.
An alternative weaker view of technological determinism says that technology is serving a mediating function because despite its leading to changes in culture, it is actually controlled by human beings. When control of technology slowly reduces from being in the hands of few human beings, it passes completely into the control of technology-itself. This view of human having no control is referred to as autonomous technological determinism (https://masscommtheory.com?technolog...).
Criticism of Technological Determinism Theory
A critique of Technological Determinism theory is that technology never forces itself on members of the society. Man creates techno logy and chooses to use them. He invents television and chooses to view it. There is no imposition on the part of the technology to be used rather technology requires people to participate or involve themselves at the same point or another. The choice of using technology and experiencing its effects lies in the hand of a human being (https://en.m.masscommtheory.com>technolog...).
The relevance of this theory to this work is that, it is technology that has brought about political economy of global media” or created global market for global media. This is true because Plappert in Schiller 1999 states that improvement in digital communication created and increasingly global market for corporation looking for investments especially western companies
The theory is also important because technology according to winner is a fundamental influencer of the various ways in which a society exists.
Literature Review
Political Economy of Global Media
Political economy of global media depicts the profit motive of transnational media corporations to the detriment of the core function of journalism which is serving public interest and holding politicians accountable for their actions and in actions. Ciboh (2011:117) opines that, the practice of journalism is increasingly conferring on practitioners, privileges, and power which only a good knowledge of ethics can maximize the good journalists can proffer society. Journalism is a profession that values the truth, reporting the truth is at the heart of journalistic enterprise and journalists are morally obliged to deliver the truth to the public (Ciboh 2011:119).
Ethics and the truth is gradually been relegated to background by global media organization because of profit, what interest them is how to strategically position themselves in the global market for profit maximization. This position holds true in that Plappert (2008) cited Schiller 1999 as saying, in the past decades the global communication system has undergone a variety of dramatic changes, shifting power to commercial interest. Plappert maintained that, technological improvements in digital communications created an increasingly global market for corporations looking for investment. Predominately western companies, engaged themselves in “Conglomeration and transnationalization” through corporate take over, mergers and acquisitions of unprecedented scale.
These ongoing processes of vertical and horizontal integration fostered the emergence of huge media conglomerates (Jamison 1998 and Schiller 2001 in Plappert 2008). Vertical integration, is the acquisition of related business in the process of profit generating (Gomery in Plappert 2008), which enables corporations to effectively produce, distribute and broadcast under one roof and therefore minimize transaction. In other words a corporation owing production companies and distribution outlets, as well as television stations and movie theatre chainsimultaneously provides itself with its own supply and demand, aims at obtaining a greater share of the market by acquiring companies in the same field of business in order to maximize profit through price control (Gomery in Plappert 2008).
McChesney 2001 in Plappert 2008 posits that, the centre piece of neo-liberal policies is invariably a call for commercial communication market to be deregulated. Neo-liberalism is an instrument of an over arching ideology of free market capitalism. Neo-liberalism is grounded in the (ever increasing) power of multinational corporation arguing for free trade by means ofpolitical removing of political and governmental rules and regulations that may inhibit the movements of goods, services and capital across borders (Nafstad et al 2007 in Plappert 2008).This means that neoliberalism is supports the movement of goods and services across international borders without restrictions.
It is important to point out here that economic neo-liberalism according to Panitch 1994 in Plappert 2008 strongly relies on government forming a global regime that defines and guarantees, through international treaties with constitutional effect, the global and domestic rights of capital and enterprises.
The foregoing connotes that the so called economic liberalism that has led to the existence of global market has government backing, without government backing the so called globalization is reversible because even the governments of the countries with these global media sometimes tend to use the global media. Enahoro (2002:21 – 22) opines that: the North sees globalization as a global consensus on the path to development of all countries. The south sees globalization as an instrument to increase vertical (North South) economic relationship in favour of the North. According to Enahoro globalization enriches the North and it further impoverishes the South. That globalization has government backing is further amplified by Scott 1997. In Plappert 2008 who posits that – there is no reason to assume that all the processes linked to globalization have inherent dynamic that prevails over all countervailing forces, according to him, neo-liberalism is not dogmatic consequence of globalization, and despite the general perception of globalization representing an unstoppable historical force in the face of which politics is helpless; it reminds reversible always dependent on government backing.
The foregoing connotes that, without government support neoliberalism can not be a reality. It is only made possible because various governments and heads of state are given it their support and approval and that is why today it has created the ‘safe ground’ for global media operation.
Since the rise of this global media system is closely linked to the assertion of neo-liberal capitalism as the dominant theory of economics. Being significant beneficiaries of the current global structure, the media giants have a particular interest in supporting the perpetuation of neo-liberal capitalism (McChesney and Schiller 2003 in Plappert 2008).
Paradigm Shift from Unidirectional Flow to Domination of Global Media Market
There appears to be a paradigm shift from unidirectional flow of information to global market monopoly by global media organization. Global media firms appear to have strategically positioned themselves in the global market so as to continue to harvest profit unchallenged.
Unidirectional flow of information generated a lot of heat across the globe in the 1970s and 80s which culminate in the New World Information Communication Order (NWICO) debate. Uche (1996:1) puts it thus: there seem to exist a man made cultural gulf being sustained by mischief and technological arrogance between the industrialized North and the impoverished and under developed South. It was the pernicious and pre-judicial manner the media of the North continued to portray the regions of the south as areas of national disaster, dictators, chaos etc that provoked one of the greatest debate of our time-the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debate.
Uche 1996 quoted Traber as saying: the right of nations to participate in a multi directional flow of information on the basis of equality was one of the starting points in the demand for new information order.
Decades after the NWICO debate countries of the North to a large extent made way for multidirectional flow of information. However, the North came up with the concept of neo-liberalism, which has given global media of the North the opportunity to monopolize, global media market.
McChesney (1997) opines that beginning in the 1980s, pressure from IMF, World Bank and U.B. government to deregulate and privatize media and communication systems coincided with new satellite and digital technologies resulting in the rise of transnational media giants.
The effect of satellite communication is captured in Ciboh (2005, P. 83) who opines that, “Direct Broadcasting satellite has been defined by International Telecommunication Union as radio communication service, in which signal transmitted or retransmitted by space stations are intended for direct reception by the general public”. According to Ciboh (2005) today the term DBS is commonly used to refer to any satellite TV service that is intended for direct pick up at the subscriber’s home.
Talking of monopoly by global media, Jin 2007 in Plappert (2008) asserts that, “the oligopolistic control of most of the world communication market by a few giant corporations” renders it not only practically impossible for the new comers to penetrate the market but, in consequence, enables these firms behave as if a monopoly were operating.
McChesney (1997) consented to the monopoly of global media by saying that, the two largest media firms in the world, Time Warner and Disney generated about 15 percent of their income outside the United States in 1990 by 1999, that figure was in the 30 – 35 percent range. He maintained that both firms expect to do majority of their business abroad at some point in the next decade.
The global media is now dominated by a first tier of nine giant firms. The five largest are; Time Warner (1997 sales $24 billion) Disney ($22 billion) Bertelsmann ($15 billion) and Viacom ($13 billion) and Rupert Murdoch’s News corporation ($11 billion). Besides needing global scope to compete, the rules of thumb for global media giants are two fold (Mcchesney 1997). According to him; first of the rule is get bigger so you dominate market and your competitors can not buy you out. It is important to point out here that, the nine giant firms existed before, however, their presence were felt in the global media scene before the 1980s. Before this time (1980s) they were only known in their country of origin (United States). But for the improvement or advancement in technology coupled with neoliberal policy they established their presence in the global media market.
Second have interest in numerous media industries, such as film production, book publishing, music, television channel and net works, retails stores, amusement parks, magazine, newspapers and the like. A profit for global media giant can be vastly greater than the sum of the media parts. (McChesney 1997). According to him a film for example should also generate sound track, a book, merchandise, and possibly spin-off television shows, CD-ROMs, video games and amusement park rides. Firms that do not have conglomerated media holdings simply cannot compete in this market.
Global Media as Instrument for Global Politics
Many governments have competitively engaged in war of public diplomacy through media to media to make their countries look attractive and friendly to foreigners while also setting the stage for others to understand their positions in the international arena (Sam 2014) This shows that global media can be used by governments to portray their ideology or view on certain issue. Sam (2014) states that, the progress of technology in mass communication has allowed media to reach every corner of the world more quickly with vivid graphics. Therefore, global media plays a very important role in international relations and most policy makers depend on live coverage provided by CNN and other outlets.
This implies that, governments of countries with global media dominating the market will continue to support and push for local and international policies and treaties that will perpetuate such media at the global market for political reasons. Little wonder Sam (2014) posits that, global media becomes one of many tools each government employs in conducting its own public diplomacy programmes. The BBC and Voice of America have demonstrated their powerful influence on the foreign policy making process and other major media are following suit, including CCTV Russia Today and France 24.
As the influence of mass media continues to grow policy-makers tend to utilize the media for their own benefit, publicizing their policies and position on certain issues.
Time Warner, the largest media corporation in the world, was formed in 1989 through merger of Time Inc and Warner communications. Time Warner is moving towards being a fully global company with over 200 subsidiaries world wide (McChesney, 1997).
CNN International, a subsidiary of CNN is also established as the premier global television news channel, beam Via ten satellite to over 200 nations and 90 million subscribers by 1994 (McChesney 1997).
ESPN International owned by Disney dominates televised sport, broadcasting on a 24 hour basis in 21 languages to over 165 countries. It reaches one desirable audience that had eluded Disney in the past: Young, single middle-classmen. “Our plan is to think globally but customize locally” says the senior VP of ESPN (McChesney 1997).
There appears to be a conspiracy by the North to always make the South play second fiddle this assertion holds true in that Nigeria communication satellite Nig Com Sat – 1 was launched at 16:01 UTC on 13 May 2007, aboard a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from the Xichang satellite launch centre in China. The space craft was operated by Nigerian Communication Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT). On November, 11 2008, NigComSat – 1 failed in orbit after running out of power due to an anomaly in its solar array (https://en.wikipedia.org>wikip?Nig.com).
For Nigeria communication satellite to fail in orbit after one year and six months in orbit connotes serious international foul play or incompetency on the side of those in charge of the project. The satellites of the North that have being in space for long are in perfect condition but Nigeria’s satellite only stayed one year and about six months why? Again one may be tempted to answer, by saying the (North) do not want Nigeria to have companies like Time Warner, Disney or Channels like CNN International.
However, an investigation by Punch of 16 April, 2016 reveals the following facts.
Contrary to the claims by NIGCOMSAT Officials that the company is currently offering satellite services to diverse partners… our investigation showed that huge band width-consuming companies in the country such as Dangote, Central Bank of Nigeria etc buy band width from other operators and not from NIGCOMSAT..NIGCOMSAT that should be major revenue earner for the federal government continued to draw appropriation from government to pay salaries. Investigation revealed that NIGCOMSAT has been renting band with from mainly one of the key competitors. Audit report from NIGCOMSAT showed that the core network and service support systems needed for professional communalization of the satellites lacks carrier class routing and switching systems OSS (operation support system). The CBN in 2014 signed a memorandum of understanding with NIGCOMSAT to provide WI-FI hotspots in the country’s 774 local government area to fast track the cashless policy of the apex bank.
From the foregoing view it seems as if the failure of NIGCOMSAT is partly or entirely an internal failure on the part of those Nigerians in charge.
Discussion
Neoliberalism seems to have given global media a new function, which is profit making.This position holds true in that, the concept advocates for profit making across national borders. This shows that neoliberalism has altered the original function of global media which was information dissemination across national borders. McChesney and Schiller (2003) hold that in 1980s and 1990s transnational corporate commercial communication system began to be crafted and a new structural logic put in place. The conventional explanation of globalized communication centres on technology: that radically improvements in communication technology make global media flows and global business operation feasible and that, in general, this is all to the good. However, this is a misleading account. Underlying the new communication technology has been a political force – the shift to neoliberal orthodoxy-which relaxed or eliminate barriers to commercial exploitation of media, foreign investment in the communication and concentrated media ownership (Mcchesney and Schiller 2003).
In view of the foregoing, it can be inferred that one of the agenda of global media is to use neo-liberalism and the new technology to dominate global media scene and to also perpetrate their commercial exploitation of global media market. In further amplification of this Mcchesneyand Schiller (2003) posit that “the communication system has emerged as a central area for profit making in modern capitalist societies”.
What obtains now is profit maximization and monopoly. The point is that neoliberal ideas have made it possible for global media corporations to become more interested in profit making and monopolizing the global media scene.
Monopoly of global media by global media corporations like Time Warner Disney etc has been made possible by the fact that, global media corporations have interlocking board of directors as such there is no competition among global media corporations in the real sense of the word. However, the existence of Press TV and Aljazeera has in a way created counter flow of information but the fact remains that, Press TV and Aljazeera alone can not compete favourablywith the nine giant media firms. This is so because the nine giant global media firms are based in one country which is the United State of America and have interlocking board of directors. Whereas, Press TV and Aljazeera are from different countries, for instance Press TV is an Iranian television station with its headquarters in Tehran while Aljazeera is Qatari in the Middle East.
Equally important is the fact that neo-liberalism is not only in the interest of global media corporations alone. This is true in that governments of countries with global media corporationssometimes use such media as instruments to show that dominance or portray what they think are dominant culture or ideas. This position is echoed in Pan itch 1994 in Plappert 2008 who posits that economic neoliberalism strongly relies on governments forming a global regime that defines and guarantee through international treaties with constitutional effect the global and domestic rights and capital and enterprises.
Technological determinism theory is used because it appears to be the most appropriate theory for this work. This assertion holds true in that, the thrust of the theory is that the medium as the message. This theory is appropriate because one of the objectives of global media is to reach audience across national frontiers; as such there is the need to use a medium or media that has the capacity to reach audiences across national frontiers. With the advent of neoliberalismattention has now been shifted from unidirectional flow of information. What obtains now is profit maximization and monopolizing global media market. The case of NIGCOMSAT has shown that in developing countries those in-charge show little or no commitment to development of their countries because if NIGCOMSAT were to be operational Nigeria would have been among countries that can be relied on to provide information and intelligence to other countries of the world. This would have been the source of revenue for the country.
Conclusion
It is believed that neoliberalism has altered or is altering the function of global media. Because it has made it possible for global media corporations to centre their attention on profit maximization and monopolizing the global market scene.
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