Virtually every nation and the associated lives of billions of people are under the influence of globalization. The media obviously play a very important role in this. I would like to examine whether the media offer objectivity in the following. I would like to try to indicate this using the term hyperreality and the associated concepts. Virtually every nation and the associated lives of billions of people are under the influence of globalization, a process in which the world seems to be getting smaller and in which people are slowly realizing that the world is one whole, instead of different geographical locations. Differences between cultures will therefore become less clearly visible under the influence of this process. The media obviously play a very important role in this. The lives of all those people are largely shaped and determined by those media. After all, our culture is dominated by the media, which is or will at least become increasingly the case in other areas.
These media are expected to provide objectivity. We watch the news to stay informed of actual events around the world. We almost immediately assume that, by using the various media, we will learn the absolute truth about those events. That’s what we expect. I would like to examine whether the media offer objectivity in the following. I would like to try to indicate this using the term hyperreality and the associated concepts. Jean Baudrillard is probably the best-known theorist of the concept of hyperreality. But the phenomenon was already exposed in 1961 by Daniel Boorstin in The image, or what happened to the American Dream.
Hyperreality
The concept of hyperreality means that we live in a copy of physical reality. People adapt their lives to the hyperreal world and fully go along with it. The media are largely responsible for this, as the media now determine what reality we, as users of those media, experience. This reality is, as mentioned, a copy of physical reality. We will never be able to fully experience physical reality through the media, there is always a representation, a simulation. And because the media are becoming an increasingly important part of our society, if they are not already, we see that visual culture is slowly replacing physical reality.
This is characteristic of postmodernism. In our society, which is dominated by the media, we are faced with an enormous flow of signs that no longer refer to anything. We are slowly entering a hyperreal world. Through the media we stay informed about many issues happening around the world. Wars, natural disasters, elections, sporting events, etc. We are shown images of the different geographical locations where these events take place, locations where we have in many cases physically never been and perhaps never will, but where we, through of the media, have a certain idea of it. From our living room we can get to know the rest of the world through visual culture.
A well-known example is of course the imagination of the city of New York. Everyone has become acquainted with this city through the media, but the question is whether those images correspond to physical reality. In many cases this will not be the case. The actual experience will often be different when we actually visit the city, although we will continue to keep the images we know from the media in mind. The distinction between the hyperreal world and the physical world seems to be blurring, but nevertheless we will still recognize the difference.
Application
Rob Kroes speaks of processes of mediation, by which he means that there are always forms of filtering, selective appropriation, translation and integration into the cultural context. This process of mediation can also apply to the media, as they determine what visual culture we receive. That also makes sense. We simply cannot offer all images of a particular event to media users via television. There is simply no time or space available for that. Moreover, most of the images would quickly bore you. A selection is therefore made that should be representative, but often is not.
The assumption that the media offer objectivity is therefore strongly called into question by this process of mediation. Because certain choices are made, the media tends more towards subjectivity. This can happen both consciously and unconsciously. Baudrillard gives the example of the Gulf War. During this war we were provided with images of American bombings, which, as it turned out, had missed their target. But at first it seemed as if they were all exact hits. The choice of these images is therefore striking. If other images had been chosen, where available, the reality as it comes across to us through the media might have looked completely different. The hyperreal world we live in, created by the media, therefore in many cases does not correspond to physical reality. Objectivity is therefore lacking here.
Due to the dominant presence of the media, physical reality will disappear and make way for simulations. According to Umberto Eco, this created reality is defined on the basis of the complete nama ak, or fake. If something has to resemble reality, that representation must be more real and original than reality, otherwise we cannot speak of a good simulation. And to achieve this, that representation of reality becomes completely fake. Absolute unreality is offered as real presence. Eco gives the example of a reconstruction of the Oval Office, which will have to be more beautiful and better finished than the original. The reconstruction must be hyperreal. Otherwise it won’t work.
Through the media we are also constantly confronted with simulations or simulacra, where each sign refers to a different image. Identical copies are created that no longer have the original. Just think of President Bush when he declares war on terrorism in a speech. Here we see Bush, as we want to see him at that moment, in a threatening attitude towards the terrorists. But we will not soon see the original person Bush on screen. So there is no longer any question of authenticity here. Everything is made. The distinction between the original and the copy will disappear.
We live in a mediatized world. Nowadays everything seems to revolve around hyperreality, there is no escape from it. There are cameras everywhere, countless television networks are available and the Internet has become an elusive medium. Baudrillard is very radical in this respect. He states that hyperreality ultimately loses all form of identity. This is due to the increasing flattening of our culture. And within this flattening, people will become increasingly accustomed to the media and will increasingly rely on it.
Conclusion
It is therefore necessary to analyze the media correctly, so that we are able to criticize the media properly. That’s necessary. After all, media reports are products of political and economic power, which are conveyed to the masses by elite groups. Due to this process, the media are no longer objective, but rather subjective. Hyperreality ensures that the distinction between what is reality and what representations are disappears, with the result that the distinction between objectivity and subjectivity will also disappear.