Globalization has made it easier to reach people all over the world. People sometimes talk about ‘the global village’. Globalization has also brought changes to journalism/media. Media companies are becoming increasingly larger and are also called media conglomerates. In addition, due to globalization, news provision in less prosperous countries is now more often influenced by the more prosperous countries or ‘center countries’.
What is global about journalism?
Globalization has increasingly eroded the borders between countries. Reaching people far away has become more and more self-evident. If you want to contact someone from China, you can do so in a few minutes. Globalization has had a major impact on the lives of many world citizens, but what impact has it had on journalism and media? Globalization has changed things in journalism in three areas. The content of the reporting is ‘globalized’. Production also happens differently due to globalization. Finally, the audience has changed.
‘Global news arena’
If you need information about certain events or topics, you no longer have to limit yourself to media from your own country. The advent of the Internet makes it possible to reach the media from countries all over the world. You will not only see topics highlighted from the perspective of Dutch people, but from a much broader perspective. There is also talk of the global news arena .
Media consolidation
A characteristic of globalization is that media companies are becoming increasingly larger. More and more different types of media are being purchased to make a company bigger and bigger. This is sometimes referred to as media conglomerates . This also ensures that the market is only occupied by a few giants. These media conglomerates often already have satellites and possess important technologies that make it easier for them to take over other media companies.
There is a lot of criticism about the consolidation of media companies. Many researchers fear for the journalistic value of the media when many different types of media companies all belong to just one media conglomerate. The news would not be diverse enough, there would not be enough challenge for the different branches of media and this will make the news worse. This is also what Robert McChesney argues in his documentary called ‘Rich Media, Poor Democracy’: watch it here.
Center-periphery model
The center-periphery model is a model that shows that there are central countries and peripheral countries in media provision.
In 2020, The Voice has already been broadcast in 145 countries. / Source: The Voice, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Countries belonging to the center have their own news facilities and produce many popular programs (program formats) that they also sell to other countries. They provide news in peripheral countries. In these countries, citizens cannot provide news themselves. They therefore take over international news from central countries, just like certain programs. It is not the case that every country can be assigned to one of the concepts. For example, the Netherlands is neither a central country nor a peripheral country. This is because the Netherlands, for example, adopts many programs from other countries (such as America). This makes them peripheral in the media provision. The Netherlands is a central country because it has its own news provision and also produces programs that are sold to other countries (so in this case it is a central country that sells programs to a peripheral country). An example is the program The Voice, which has been sold to more than 100 countries.