Research Paper

"The Effect of Satellite Broadcasting on Moroccan Culture in Europe"

Introduction

Many European countries are well known for their multiculturalism and diversity. In the beginning of the 1950s and 1960s many North African workers migrated to Europe in helping with the rebuilding of some European countries after World War II. In the 1970s these workers brought their families to Europe, and started a whole new life there. Being far from home can make people long for their home country, and especially the cultural aspects that make their country special. Through the introduction of satellite broadcasting, it has become possible for people living in Europe to receive television channels from their home country and elsewhere. They receive these channels thanks to the introduction of satellite broadcasting. There is a relation between communication and culture, and satellite broadcasting helps in spreading culture all over the world. Two points that will be discussed are how cultural change and culture preservation through satellite television affect the Moroccan culture in Europe. I chose this topic because of my experience in Europe (The Netherlands), and the knowledge that I have about how satellite broadcasting affects the Moroccan culture abroad.

Communication and Culture

Communication is an important aspect of our society; it is an aspect that people cannot imagine themselves living without. There are several definitions of what communication is and how it can be described. People use communication for several purposes like informing, persuading, entertaining, and maintaining relationships with one another. There are different types of communication like human, international, and intercultural communication. One tool of spreading communication is mass media; books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet all take part in providing and spreading information. Communication is an important part of culture; in order to look at the importance of communication in different cultures, culture should be defined first.
There are several definitions of culture: Clifford Geertz defines culture as “an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodies in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (1973, p. 89). Samovar and Porter (2003) state that “culture helps govern and define the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted; your entire repertoire of communicative behaviors depends largely on the culture in which you have been raised” (p. 7). Ogan (2007) states that “culture defines what it means to be a human being; it is all our behavior summed up, our whole life experience” (p. 293). In general, culture can be defined as beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, and customs that are specific to a country or ethnic group, and it is important for these cultures to be preserved and to stay unchanged.
For Moroccans who live in Europe, it is important to keep communicating with people in their home country, and to be up to date about what is going on in their country. Besides practicing some aspects of their culture in their daily lives and during special events, they entertain themselves by watching television channels that are familiar to them and like to watch. In other words, they like watching television channels from their home country. Telecommunication in general, and satellite broadcasting in specific, has facilitated communication with their native country. In the past ten to fifteen years, satellite television in Europe has become very popular among immigrated people because of several reasons. First, one can argue that when they watch satellite television in their native tongue, it takes away the homesickness that they sometimes deal with. Another argument is that people have difficulty adapting to the culture of their adopted country, and rather watch programs that are related to their own culture. One can further expand on this by stating that some people want their children to have some knowledge about the culture of their parents’ native country (culture preservation). Moreover, Moroccans in Europe, as well as those living in Morocco, also like watching other Arab television channels that they receive via their satellite dishes. Egyptian movies and series, Lebanese reality shows and music programs, and other Arab television programs, are popular among people in the Arab world. The relationship that is created between people living apart from each other through these television programs that are broadcasted via satellite creates a cultural network.

Convergence Theory and Cultural Identity

As stated by Barnett and Rosen, “convergence theory may be applied to those communication situations in which the participants are social systems, such as ethnic groups or nation-states, each of which possesses a unique culture; cultural convergence theory suggests that the variance between groups or national cultures would become smaller over time as a result of international communication” (2007, p.158/p.159). In other words, international communication can cause for national cultures to become smaller, maybe to the point where they might disappear. “The information that is shared through a network has profound effects on the members of the network, which are indicated changes by changes in the belief systems of the members and the structure of their network”.
To this theory we can include the notion of globalization, or the interconnection of the world. International communication, with the help of telecommunication, helps in the creation of a global culture in which several cultures are mixed: hybridization. “While immigrants may hold onto their cultural roots when they settle in another society, they also modify their traditions and behaviors in what has been called variously a process of hybridity, creolization, or glocalization” (Ogan, 2007, p.313). Globalization and hybridization influences the cultural change and preservation that Moroccan culture has to deal with, especially in Europe.
The older generations of Moroccans living in Europe still have the notion of celebrating their culture and maintaining tradition, but it is the younger generation that people should be worried about. How are parents going to educate their children about the Moroccan culture when they live in a society that is influenced by globalization and hybridization? How can the Moroccan culture be preserved among youth in Europe in the future? How, with the existence of hybridization and globalization, can one prevent cultural change and preserve cultural identity? These questions are hard to answer, but are not impossible to answer; one of many solutions is satellite broadcasting.

Satellite Broadcasting

With the first commercial satellite being launched in 1965, numerous personal communications satellite systems were introduced in the late 1990s and into the 2000s (Gher, 2007, p.321). Gher (2007) states that “at the beginning of the new millennium, geostationary satellites and low-earth-orbit satellites encompassed the planet, constituting a global infrastructure fully capable of providing direct voice, data, radio, and television services to the 6 billion citizens of the planet” (p. 321). There are a number of satellites that one can receive nowadays; popular satellites that Moroccans tend to watch programs on include ArabSat, NileSat, EutelSat, and Astra. Besides the Moroccan television channels, a variety of other Arab channels can be received. According to Elkins, “satellite mean that broadcasting is not restricted to a specific territory, whether local, national, or continental” (2007, p.144).
In recent years, satellite broadcasting has invaded many homes all over the world; it has given people the opportunity to receive radio and television programs from different parts of the world which initially broadcasted “American and European television programming and films” (Straubhaar & Boyd, 2007, p.134). The introduction of satellite television has given people living abroad the ability to receive channels and programs from their home country, Telecommunication, which satellite broadcasting is a part of, has created a so-called “virtual ethnic community” (Elkins, 1997, p.139). Elkins emphasizes on the fact that “virtual should not be understood as meaning “almost” or “not quite” a community”, instead “they have the potential to be just as fundamental to the identities of some people as the existing ethnic communities whose existence we have taken for granted for decades or even centuries” (1997, p.141). These virtual ethnic communities have created a bond between people from all over the world; satellite television have ended the successful area of mass media, and it has now started an era of “addressable” or “targeted” audiences (Elkin, 2007, p.144).
We can relate the concept of virtual ethnic communities to Moroccans who live in Europe by stating that through satellite television, communities are formed and their interest in particular programs have widened. Whether you are a Moroccan who is living in Sweden or Italy, the same behavior in preference of television is found. A study conducted by the Stichting Omproep Allochtonen (STO) (Broadcasting Organization Immigrants) conducted in 2001, focused on the program preference of immigrants in Holland, and found that through satellite television, Moroccan immigrants watched a diverse amount of programs that included several Arab television stations, apart from Moroccan broadcasting television, like MBC, Al Jazeera, ART, and others (p.8/p.9). If we look at Moroccans who are living in Morocco, the same television programs are preferred, and this sense of familiarity is carried on by Moroccans living in Europe. We can say that it is part of the Moroccan cultural identity.

Cultural Identity

As mentioned before, cultures change and adapt to newly found phenomena such as globalization, hybridization, and Westernization. Moroccan youth in Europe live their life like any other citizen of the country they are living in. The only difference between them and native citizens is that their parents, or they themselves, come from Morocco. So, there is this population of young Moroccans that was born and raised in a country other than Morocco, a country that has its own culture (morals, values, beliefs, attitudes, behavior, customs, etc.), and in order to be a good citizen they should adapt themselves to that culture. What does culture adaptation of a non-native country do to the Moroccan culture? Stald and Tufte emphasize on the notion of cultural identity by stating that “the perseverance of the concept of ‘nation’ and ‘national values’ is rooted in the attitudes and sentiments of people, both as individuals and as groups” (2002, p.128). Furthermore, Elkins (1997) states the following about communities and cultural identity:
“…each person has countless characteristics, interests, and values; and so each may use the features to become part of a great many communities. Involvement in a community represents an affirmation of a particular feature of an individual’s identity. It may also be a means of developing an identity or aspects of one’s identity, a way to “find oneself”. One may be limited to active involvement in only a few of the possible communities by energy, or time constraints, or one’s chosen balance between focus and diversity” (p. 149).
Media plays a role in making sure this cultural identity, or Moroccan cultural identity to be specific, is maintained. According to MacBride (2004) “the media of communication are cultural instruments which serve to promote or influence attitudes, to motivate, to foster the spread of behavior patterns, and to bring about social integration” (p. 30). Thus, through media, culture can be spread and can reach several parts of the world, and inform or educate people about a specific culture. In the case of Moroccan culture in Europe, Moroccan media can focus on promoting their culture to Moroccans living abroad. However, a problem that Moroccan culture in Europe has to deal with, are the second and third generation Moroccans who were born, brought up, and educated in a European country.
The Moroccan culture that is spread is spread through satellite communication. Because television is one of the most popular mediums used by people, culture can be issued through television programs that people watch: “…television performs its cultural task of broadcasting theatre performances, of creating its own drama productions, of transmitting concerts, of presenting and commenting upon original visual arts and literature” (Wieten, Murdock & Dahlgren, 2000, p.165). Television programs produced by Moroccan television channels like “Abouab al-Madina”, “Namadij” and “Ajyal/Generations”, to name a few, focus on topics that are related to the Moroccan society, and especially the Moroccan culture. Because these programs are broadcasted via satellite television, people in countries like Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Sweden, all which have a large number of Moroccan populations, tend to cover issues that are unique to Morocco, and try to communicate these issues in a way that will attract the attention of people who have little knowledge about the country. One area that Moroccans everywhere find part of their Moroccan identity is music, with the focus on weddings, theatre, and societal gatherings. Two of the five Moroccan television channels that can be received through satellite broadcasting, RTM and 2M, have created programs that focus on such themes. Although not everybody agrees on the seriousness or quality of these programs, “Lalla al-Arousa”, “Studio 2M”, “Naghma ou Attay”, “Chhada Alhane”, and “Angham al-Atlas”, do attract the attention of Moroccan living abroad; Moroccans are know for, what they call “nachat”, meaning their expression of happiness and amusement, and this is what these programs emphasize on based on their knowledge of what Moroccans identify themselves with.

Culture Preservation

The STO (2001) found that the majority of second and third generation Moroccans living in Europe have more similarities than differences with native citizens when it comes to their preference of what they like to watch (p. 11). This means that they prefer watching national/local television channels, instead of Moroccan television channels. This is an issue that affects the spread of Moroccan culture among youth today, and also, the youth of the future. Satellite television is a tool that can help in preserving the Moroccan culture in Europe. From a case study on the impact of satellite television on urban youth in India by Rampal, sociological benefits of satellite television were found; satellite television promoted the understanding of the Hindi language and culture (Bollywood movies included) (p.125).
Older generations of Moroccans living in Europe, also give priority to watching Arab or Moroccan television programs because they are not used to what is broadcasted on the local television stations. Programs involving sex, drugs, violence, and other types that can create culture shock, are being avoided. However, one might argue that even Moroccan and Arab programs might include these kinds of issues. Although this might be true, older generations support their argument by stating that they rather watch and have their children watch programs with Arab/Moroccan content, than watch programs broadcasted by the “sinners” of the West.
Moroccan culture in Europe thus can be preserved through satellite television. However, with the growing number of Moroccans living abroad, and the level of education they enjoy, Moroccans have integrated in their society to the extend that they participate in the preservation of their culture. Multiculturalism is central in many European countries, and fortunately enough, there are Moroccans who, despite their full integration in a particular country, make the effort to promote their culture among fellow Moroccans by creating television programs about Moroccans and their culture. Ms. Sou’ad El Baghdadi, a Moroccan native living in Holland and who works for a Dutch multicultural television broadcasting channel (MTNL), makes the effort to promote the Moroccan culture in Holland. What she does is she combines both the Dutch and the Moroccan culture that young Dutch-Moroccans live in, and focuses on customs, values, and beliefs of the Moroccan society. The programs that she produces are related to multicultural Holland, and how one can preserve that multiculturalism by informing people about the cultures that are present in a particular country. These programs can be an alternative to satellite television, and are more effective with newer generations of Moroccans living in Europe.

Conclusion

Satellite television has affected the culture of many Moroccans who live abroad. The problems that they face when they arrive in a foreign country and also when they have lived there for a while, are related to what extend they value their culture. Satellite television has enhanced their ability to feel at home when they are abroad, meaning that they can receive channels via satellite dishes that broadcast programs that they are interested in, and which relate to their culture. The cultural identity of Moroccans has been put to the test, and so has their capability of preserving their culture abroad. The satellite television has provided Moroccans with the opportunity to keep in touch with Morocco, and still plays a role in practicing their culture in a different country. Although new generations of Moroccans in Europe are more integrated and adapted to the European way of live, it is their Moroccan heritage that distinguishes them from the rest; a distinction that they should be proud of and try hard to maintain.

References

Barnett, G.A., & Rosen, D. (2007). The Global Implications of the Internet: Challenges and Prospects. Global Communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Elkins, D.J. (1997). Globalization, Telecommunication, and Virtual Ethnic Communities. International Political Science Review 18(2), 139-152.
Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Gher, L.A. (2007). Patterns in Global Communication: Prospects and Concerns. Global Communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
MacBride, S. (2004). Many Voices, One World. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Porter, R.E., & Samovar, L.A. (2003). Intercultural Communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Ogan, C.L. (2007). Communication and Culture. Global Communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Rampal, K.R. (2001). Cultural Bane or Sociological Boon? Impact of Satellite Television on Urban Youth in India. Media, Sex, Violence, and Drugs in the Global Village. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Stald, G., & Tufte, T. (2002). Global Encounters: Media and Cultural Transformation. Kent, UK: University of Luton Press, Thanet Press.
Straubhaar, J.D., & Boyd, D.A. (2007). International Broadcasting. Global Communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Stichting Omproep Allochtonen (STO). (2001). Media Gebruik van Allochtonen in Nederland [ Media Use of Immigrants in Holland]. Feiten & Cijfers [Facts & Numbers].
Wieten, J., Murdock, G., & Dahlgren, P. (2000). Television Across Europe. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Outline # 12

Brief History of Advertising and Public Relations Worldwide

* Western in Origin
* Corporate purpose
* Manipulative in their Role, Function, and Design
* Democratic in tradition
* Capitalistic in Heritage
* Postmodern, Postmillennial, Post-Cold War Era

Environmental Challenges, Population Growth, Poverty and Hunger, War

The Management of Change

Tensions from Technology, Globalism, and Multiculturalism

Governments, Corporations, and Private Citizens

Nationalism versus Globalism

Past versus Future

Tensions Among the First, Second, and Third Worlds

Class Stratification Control of Technology

An Ideological Foundation for Advertising and Public Relations

Outline # 11

Introduction

Origins of Propaganda

Seeking a Definition

Propaganda and Public Relations

Public Diplomacy

Research on Persuasion

Wartime Propaganda

Strategies of a Propaganda Campaign

· Name Calling
· Glittering Generality
· Image Transfer
· Testimonial
· Plain Folks
· Card Staking
· Bandwagon Approach

Modern Use of Propaganda

Terrorism as Propaganda

Addressing Terrorism

Conclusions

Outline # 10

The Three Substantive Domains

The Beginnings

* Telecommunication
* Intellectual Property Rights
* Mass Media
* New Multilateral Institutions
* Specialized Agencies
* The Non-Governmental Organizations
* Shifts in Global Communication Politics
* The World Trade Organization

Current Practices

* The Domain of Telecommunication
* The WTO Telecommunication Treaty
* Changing the Account Rate Settlement System
* The Domain of Intellectual Property Rights
* The Domain of Mass Media

Lessons form a key project in the domain of global mass media politics

Global Communication Politics Today

* Access
* Knowledge
* Global Advertising
* Privacy
* Intellectual Property Rights
* Trade in Culture
* Concentration
* The Commons
* Civil Advocacy
* The World Summit on the Information Society

Outline # 9 - Detailed

Three Development Paradigms

Dominant Paradigm : Modernization Model
Dependency Paradigm : Dependency Critique
Alternative Paradigm : Development/Participatory Model

The Modernization Model

Modernization Perspective:

- the human society progresses in a linear fashion from traditional societies to modern systems of social organization
- will continue to do so in an evolutionary manner

Traditional Societies:

- predominantly rural
- providing limited social and geographic mobility
- subscribing to cultural practices à don’t support materialism or capitalism as a form of wealth.

Modernization theory about traditional societies:

- oriented in maintaining a status quo dominated by ascribed status
- Fatalism: lack of self-efficacy à attribute of traditional society

Modern Societies (according to Weinstein):

- characterized by:

* materialism
* the dominance of capital as a form of wealth
* consumerism
* rational-legal authority
* sub-cultural diversity
* positive evaluation of change

Modern society à to get a modern society fast, new ideas and practices should be introduced.

Talcott Parsons’ Functionalist Theory:

* “human society is like a biological organism” where:

- economy
- government
- law
- religion
- family
- education

play a role in maintaining social stability that is needed for the development of a society.

- Advanced Modern Societies are characterized by the high consumption of material goods; people can by these goods because they make more money and have a high standard of living.

Walt Rostow

Four Stages to move from a Traditional to a Modern Society, and which must go through these stages to become a modern society:

- The pre-takeoff stage
- The takeoff stage
- The road to maturity
- The mass-consumption society

David McCLelland

- In order for a society to become modernized, the population should be motivated to make changes; a way to do this is to encourage individual achievement.

- Other scholars (Lerner, Schramm, Rogers) state that mass communication/broadcasting is an important feature that accelerate the behavioral and structural changes required for modernization.
- Communism/Socialism

Soviet Union

- achieve progress through revolutionary socialism.
- true progress could only occur in a socialist society.
- socialist transformation à replace unequal economic practices, and give everyone equity in access to education, health, and nutrition.

Communication

- Important in the development of a scientific look by individuals.
- Help in the understanding of diverse phenomena and processes that take part in a society.
- Increase their level of culture and their general education
- Assimilating and carrying out laws and general principles
- Overcoming bourgeois and revisionist ideologies that are foreign to socialist norms.

Outline # 9

Post-World War II Realities

What is Development?

Communication for Development

* Southeastern Ohio, USA
* Turkmenistan
* Eritrea
* The Caribbean Community

The Modernization Model

* Modernization through Capitalism
* Communism

The 1980s: Development Support Communication and Project Support Communication

* Broadcasting
* The Dependency Critique

Another Development

The World Conferences

Contemporary Strategies in Communication for Development

* Public Awareness Campaigns
* Social Marketing
* Entertainment-Education
* Advocacy

Challenges in the 21st Century

Lessons Learned

Detailed Outline #13

CH 13: CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION

* How the West Dominates in Production of Culture (Part II)

- Researchers have little information on how Western cultural products influence people in their taste in food and music, and behavior and attitudes.

* To find out:

- Conduct of ethnographic studies at how popular culture has influenced people in their attitudes and behavior by focusing on a particular program, product, etc.
- Analyze volume of texts exported from the U.S. and Europe on film or in television programs.

- Power of media:

- The power of media to change any ethnic group is limited since “local resistance and persistence” prevent imported media from having powerful effects on their culture.
- Media in ethnic groups is not powerful to cause cognitive, affective, or behavioral changes.

* Satellite and cable television:

- Satellite and cable television have extended the reach of national channels and privately owned transnational channels to television markets in every part of the world.
- People living abroad receive channels from their home country so as to stay up to date.
- Satellite culture in Europe; neighborhoods full of satellite dishes.

* What Cultures Do to Defend Cultural Autonomy

The international diffusion of television programs, films, and other media is not new; silent films were easier to export films; there were no language barriers.

Several strategies for maintaining one’s culture:

- Quotas
- Subsidies and grants
- Regional Alliances, including co-productions
- Adaptations
- Resistance Measures

Quotas

* Example of the European Union

- E.U.: policy for supporting domestic television production aka “Television Without Frontiers”.
- Half of the schedules of the countries in the E.U. are scheduled to broadcast European programs; i.o.w. countries in the E.U. should not only broadcast programs that were produced in their country.

* France

- Protectionist cultural policy (no foreign product and language)
- Wants its television stations and film distributors to import European products.
- No more than 40% of foreign films screened in France; 40% of broadcasts French in origin.

* U.S.

- Cultural trades should be treated like any other goods traded in the market, yet has opposed quotas on film and television imports, viewing such quotas as trade barriers.
- Other countries: cultural exception for audiovisual products in the GATT (General Agreement of Trade Tariffs)
- No protection for cultural expression, no survival for those industries.

Subsidies

* U.S.

- Use of government subsidies provided for development of films and television programs

* E.U.

- Working together to harmonize their national subsidies, in order to protect their film and television industries.
- However, European made films are not as popular as films from abroad, especially from the U.S.

MEDIA (Measures to Encourage Development of the Audiovisual Industry)

- supplies grants for new media products
- provides training and stimulates the distribution and development of European audiovisual works and to boost production companies.

- Feigenbaum: subsidies offer the most promise for boosting production of cultural products, and he argues that government aid to film and television production should not have to be justified on an economic basis. “Culture is its own reward”.

Regional Alliances, including co-productions

* National Subsidies

- guarded and opened up only in the case of co-productions

* Co-productions

- the combination of talents and resources of 2 film production companies in 2 countries.

Advantages:

- Larger domestic market (two or more countries)
- Appeal across cultures; not one particular culture.
- Wider name recognition (actors, directors, etc.)

* European MEDIA (=regional alliance)

- Loans and subsidies are the main support for local projects.
- Because of regional organization, more moral support is given for local ventures.

* E.U.

- Restriction for European governments to link industry subsidies to domestic production.

Adaptations

- For countries with smaller markets and fewer resources, film and television program production is too expensive to release many new products.
- Local programs are preferred (own language, own cultural settings).
- Programs that are broadcasted internationally, but adapted in terms of language and culture (Weekend Millionaire, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Man sa yarbah al-malyoon, Wer wird Millionär? Qui Veut Gagner des Millions? ¿Quién quiere ser Millonario?) (American Idol, Pop Idols, Idols, Deutschland sucht den Superstar, Super Star).

* Reality Television

- Low cost
- Easily exportable
- Fit in any cultural environment through local adaptation (Big Brother, Star Academy).

Resistance

* Cultural Groups

In order to not get overwhelmed with products from abroad, they produce more products about themselves.

Brazil
- Kayapo Indians record their tradition and broadcast them.

Punjabi
- watch Indian movies together; the BBC is developing station/channels that target Blacks and Asians.

Israel
- Mizrahi Jews; broadcast channels that interest them as a minority.

Canada
- Ministry of Canadian heritage proposed a bill that would make it a criminal offense for Canadians to buy advertising in the U.S. that is initially meant for the American market.

Others
- E.g. ban on direct broadcast satellite and the associated subscription fees.

Assignment # 3

How to Promote Moroccan Culture Industries

· Encourage festivals that will attract the attention of people all over the world.

- Advertising in different countries; not only focus on Moroccans living abroad, yet focus on people who are not familiar with the culture.

· Organize exhibitions and concerts in different parts of the world that will promote or celebrate Moroccan culture.

- Make it a yearly event, and come up with topics that might interest people who have no knowledge about Morocco. In other words, make it a fun experience to discover Moroccan culture.

· Engage people in the Moroccan culture.

- People love it when they can be part of a culture. Show them the true Moroccan tradition and pride for the country.

· University seminars.

- Morocco can cooperate with international universities in organizing seminars about Moroccan culture, but really focus on Moroccan culture in Morocco and not Moroccan culture abroad. They can communicate values and beliefs through these seminars, and talk about how our culture has evolved and preserved over the years.

Outline # 8

CH 8: The Global Implications of the Internet: Challenges and Prospects

Convergence Theory and Cultural Identity

Systems Approach and Social Networks

- Systems
- Social Networks

Convergence Theory and Communication Networks

A Structural Model of Intercultural Communication

The Network Structure of the International Internet

Implications of the Structural Model for National Identity: Current Trends

Implications for National Identity: the Future

Outline # 3 - Detailed

Detailed Outline # 3

Globalization of the Telecommunications

Globalization of telecommunication has revolutionized international communication.
Global trends in telecommunication:
- liberalization of telecommunication
- privatization of telecommunication (government owned)
- deregulation of telecommunication (independent autonomous agencies)

* The state provided a national infostructure, equipment and regulation in international communication
* The state controls market figures.
* Telecommunication increased the demand from transnational corporation for the reduction of tariffs.

Liberalization of Telecommunication

Free trade in communication:
- Free marketers wanted to end state intervention in world trade and promote liberalization in privatization.
- The WTO was set up with a clear agenda for privatization.
- Competition and cooperation makes “comparation”.

* Center/core= Japan, South Korea, Finland à in terms of production and consumption
* Theory: spiral of silence; related to the idea of the majority rules.
* “Marketplace of ideas” à ideas circulate.

Globalization

* Immanuel Kant à “we are unavoidably side by side”
* Globalization is the “Zeitgeist” (Spirit of the Time) of the 1990s.
* Globalization: a complex set of processes, not a single one
- embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions, generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction and power.


Globalism:
- Beck à ideology of rule by the world market, ‘globalism’ as distinct from globalization.
- The adoption of a ‘globalist’ interstate policy regime has diluted the commitment of first modernity states to both social citizenship and to republican constitutionalism.

Globality:
- From now on nothing which happens on our planet is only a limited local event.
- All inventions, victories, and catastrophes affect the whole world.
- We must reorient our lives along a local and global axis.

Glocalization:

- Origins are in the discipline of marketing to express.
- Global production of the local: McDonaldization
- Localization of the Global: Frech/Indian/Arab McDonalds

Three positions: globalization literature puts forward three views of globalization

- Hyperglobalists
- Skeptics
- Transformationalist

Hyperglobalists: we are already in a globalist world.
Skeptics: globalization is an old term; economic point of view.

Globalization theorists: no globalization without…

- Manuel Castells: network society
- Anthony Giddens: third way à capitalism, socialism, social free market economy (hyperglobalist).
- Marshall McLuhan: global village (hyperglobalist).

Globalization: the consequence of modernization.

Hyperglobalists

- Argue that globalization increases.
- Hollows out the state.
- Hollows out citizenship both on the level of global market forces and at the level of regional blocs like the European Union.
- The force of globalization has made an authoritarian regime go to a libertarian.

Skeptics

- Argue that globalization is not a new phenomenon and it is not historically unprecedented.
- Globalization is not new, but the speed of spreading of information is.

Transformationalists

- Multifaced contextual phenomenon of human civilization.
- Globalization is transforming and reconstituting the power and authority of national governments.

Outline # 2 - Detailed

Normative Theories

Authoritarian: effectively dictatorial.
Soviet: communication based on communist dictatorship.

[Prime difference between the Soviet bloc dictatorships and “authoritarian” regimes lay in the particular political ideology that under girded the Soviet regimes, namely Communism, which claimed to show the way to construct a just and equal society.]

Liberal: free-market based.
Social responsibility: media operating within a capitalist dynamic but simultaneously committed to serving the public’s needs.

Deontic or normative theories: explain or contrast comparative media systems but to define how those systems ought to operate according to certain guiding principles.

Development model:

Media that addressed issues of poverty, health, care, literacy, and education, particular in Third World settings.
Fostering a sense of nationhood in countries with highly disparate groups in the population.

Participatory media:

Local, small-scale, and more democratically organized media.
Closely involved with the ongoing life of the communities they served so that their readers or listeners could also have considerable influence over editorial policies.

Categories and models: these terms might be a problem because people use them as something that ought to be followed.

Free Flow of Information

-Theories have their own history and reflect.
- For the supporters of capitalism, the primary function of international communication was to promote democracy.
- Free flow: state regulation and censorship of the media and its use for propaganda.
- Free flow promotes democracy; capitalist are traditionalists and only want to promote their products.
- Glocalization: localization of a certain production or company on a global scale.

Modernization Theory

- International communication was the key to the process of modernization, and development for the so-called “Third World” . Spread the message of modernity, thus to transfer democracy, human rights, civil society, nation state, etc.
- Transfer political and economic models of the West to the newly independent countries of the South.
- Help transform traditional society was very influential and received support from local and national governments; and international organizations such as the UNESCO.
- Modernization theorist: Daniel Lerner, political scientist à we can pass from a traditional society to a modern society through mass communication.

Dependency Theory

- Emerged in Latin America in the late 1960s, as a result of political situation in the content, partly with realization that the developmentalist model to international communication had failed.
- Dependency theorists provided an alternative framework to analyze international communication.
- Hollywood in the West, Bollywood in the East.
- Central to dependency theory was the view that global players exercise control over the developing countries.
- Structural imperialism: the world is divided into a developed center and underdeveloped periphery.
- Modernists argue we need free flow of information to promote democracy or to change from a traditional to a modern society.
- No structured imperialism; if you want to keep your culture you fight for it.
- Hegemony: the dominant social group in a society has the capacity to exercise intellectual and moral direction over society at large to build a new system of social alliances to support its aims.


- Gramsci: military was not necessary as the best instrument to retain power (hard power).
- The more effective way to use power was to build consent by ideological control of cultural production (soft power).
- Media is free of government control, but act as agents of legitimization of the dominant ideology.
- Dominant classes exert moral and intellectual leadership through its control of such institutions as schools, religious bodies, and mass media.

Critical Theory

Cultural products manifested the same kind of:
- management practices
- technological rationality
- organizational schemes

Hybridity: forming a blended community à problems: underestimating complex media and cultural blend.

Samizdat: hand circulated/self published
- Radical Media
- Alternative Media
- Small Media

Comparison of World Media System
- Underground public sphere is to counter the mainstream.

Assignment #2

“And because mass media and communication convey powerful images in an instant across the globe, it dictates that struggles are fought as much through propaganda, ideas and values as through conventional means, military or diplomatic”.

Media plays a huge role in providing the world with images and information from different parts of the world to another. We can trace this back to the period of World War II in the 1940s, when radio and newspapers were the main providers of information about what was going on during the war in Europe. We can also refer to Vietnam in the 1970s, when images were widespread of what was really going during the war, which basically was that of innocent people dying. The fact that these images and information were widespread all over the world, made people think about the war and its moral purpose. In recent years, and even today, we can take the example of what is going on in Palestine and Iraq. A very famous video that shocked people everywhere was that of a Palestinian father trying to protect his son while Israeli soldiers were shooting at them. The media has an immense power over the opinions of people, and the consequences of what these images might provoke. Good examples of this are the numerous demonstrations against events that occur in different parts of the world. Darfur, the war Iraq, the headscarf ban in France, the Sahara issue: all these issues were widely demonstrated because media has provided the world with this information, and because of this, everybody creates an opinion about this issue. Politicians have had to deal, and still deal, with media in the sense of explaining themselves in front of others because of what they stated. From the Dutch politician who “misspoke” about Moroccans, to President Bush using inappropriate words talking about political issues, to Prince Charles being “unpleased” with photographers during a photo shoot. Politics and communication trigger issues like credibility, truth, power, and political events from all over the world.

Outline # 13

CH 13: Communication and Culture

What is Culture?

Culture Industries

- Other Cultural Groupings

Transmission of Culture

How the West Dominates in Production of Culture

What Cultures Do to Defend Cultural Autonomy

- Quotas
- Subsidies
- Regional Alliances Including Coproductions
- Adaptions
- Resistance

Not All Pop Culture is American

Role of Journalists in Production of Culture

Managing Cultural Conflict

Hybrid Cultures and the Media

What We Can Conclude

Outline # 6

CH 6: Global News and Information Flow in the Internet Age

Origin and Early History of News Agencies

- Agence France-Press
- Associated Press
- Reuters
- United Press International
- ITAR-TASS

International News Agencies Today

- Associated Press
- United Press International
- Reuters
- Agence France-Press
- ITAR-TASS

Supplemental News Agencies

Broadcast News Services

Global Newspapers, Magazines, and Broadcasters

News Flow Patterns: Offline and Online

The Outlook

Outline # 3

CH 3: Global Economy and International Telecommunications Networks

Premodern World

Division of Labor

Imperialism

Electronic Imperialism

- Global Media Flows
- Transborder Data Flow

Emerging Network Structures

Toward a New World System?

Outline #1 - Detailed

The distinction between national communication and international communication is mostly about where and what is presented as communication. National communication we can define as communication that is produced in and for a certain country. We can take the example of Telquel, Nishane, and 2M who report events that relate to Morocco, and which information is focused on the Moroccan society.
International communication we can describe as communication that produces information for people all over the world. It targets a wide range of people in different countries, and covers divers topics that might be of interest of those all over the world. Examples of broadcast channels are the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, and print media like the Herald Tribune.

Geography is not an issue anymore ever since the development of communication. With the communication networks of today, information flows faster and farther as ever. In the past, it took days, weeks, months, even years for information to travel from one place to another. With the telecommunication networks, and especially the internet, people communicate from one part of the world to the other in seconds. The flow of information through bettered communication means, has made geography a term that can be remembered as what used to be an obstacle in the past.

Assignment #1

Allen Palmer quotes the following statement from Jacob „maps make the invisible visible“. Comments:

Key words: Mapmaking Google earth, Arab regimes and censorship

- Maps visualized that what used to be unknown; they helped in understanding geography. I think that most importantly, maps helped in the orientation of people. That which was invisible to them becomes visible through maps because they now knew where specific places were, like holy places, trade routes and places, and military navigation. Mapping has evolved throughout the years, and the latest technology on mapping is Google Earth. This technology provides people through the use of internet, to locate any place with very detailed vision. The latest satellite technology that Google Earth provides, has also some negative aspects. Especially Arab regimes seem to have a problem with this new form of technology because of the lack of privacy they are getting. It can have a negative influence on their politics and details about their country are exposed for everyone to see (poverty/chantey towns). Censorship is then implemented by these countries because of the lack of appreciation they have for invasion of their privacy. The thing with censorship is that they are often criticized by others for taking their freedom away.

Allen Palmer finishes his essay by saying that “The emergence of global communication imposes new frames of meaning about the winding path of historical change”. Discuss.

- Global communication has improved so much over the years, and most people cannot imagine themselves without using communication these days. When looking back at the history of communication and how far it has come, it is hard to define what communication was and its. It is hard to look at where communication is going, and how much further it can evolve.

Outline #2

CH 2: Drawing a Bead on Global Communication Theories

“Normative” Theories
A Different Approach I: Comparing and Contrasting Media

Political Power
Economic Crisis
Dramatic Social Transitions

A Different Approach II: Globalization and Media

A Different Approach III: Small-Scale Alternative Media

Conclusions

Outline #1

CH 1: Following the Historical Paths of Global Communication

Geographical Space: A Barrier to Communication

- Physical space is not longer an impossible obstacle to human interaction in international communication.
- Communication has evolved over the years; the broader concept of communication is relatively new.
- Communication history involves questions of how technologies arise from complex social conditions and, transform in human interaction.
- With faster and more far-reaching communication, important social and political developments occurred at the margins of technology and ideology, each interacting and expanding the potential outcomes of the other.
- Technologies are cultural metaphors for prevailing social and cultural conditions.
- Communication strategies and devices of many varieties were used to gain advantage in warfare and trade.
- The printing press and telegraph challenged the barriers of space and time, redefining individual identity and shrinking the world outside.

Geography and the Mythical World

- Travel in most of the historical pas was dangerous and unpractical.
- The vast world beyond one’s immediate reach was grasped thorough magical or metaphysical images.
- Foreign lands were believed to be the bizarre and frightening places.
- The product of fear and imagination, these mythical ideas among ancient cultures were richly symbolic and were accompanies by expression in art, science, language, and ritual.

Ancient Encounters of Societies and Cultures

- The accumulation of knowledge on papyrus rolls in the renowned library of Alexandria, was a momentous achievement but one soon lost because of the fragility of papyrus and the political upheavals that swept across the region.

Global Explorers: Migrants, Holy People, Merchants

- Except for trade caravans and emissaries on state business with armed escorts, travel was always considered hazardous and difficult.
- By the 9th century, Arab ships made regular trips from the Persian Gulf to China.
- The disappearance of Greek scholarship on geography left Europeans without many clues about the outside world.
- Among the known records of Jewish travelers are written accounts of the trade paths followed into the farthest reaches of the known world.

Mapmakers in the Medieval World

- Mapmaking was an integral part of communication history. Maps were widely considered to be valuable keys to unlocking unknown worlds.
- Maps were closely guarded by European royalty and considered to be state secrets.
- The information on most ancient maps reflected the mapmaker’s cultural and religious orientations, and much of the information was estimated, distorted, or just plain wrong.
- Maps served many purposes in ancient times, including maritime navigation, religious pilgrimages, and military and administrative uses.
- Because maps were an intellectual tool; travelers and military leaders probably seldom had access to them or practical reasons to use them.

Inventors: Signals and Semaphores

- The chronology of innovations can be atomized to discrete events, or viewed from evidence of cultural continuities.
- The Greeks attempted to develop a more elaborate torch signal system based on letters of the alphabet, but it proved to be too burdensome for practical use.
- Roman rulers adapted a type of heliograph, or visual signal system using reflected sunlight.
- In-transit message systems employed couriers both on foot and on horse.
- Romans: courier and message systems, using the highway system for moving troops commerce, and communications.
- Messages were conveyed on papyrus, parchment, and wax tablets.
- Reliability and speed of delivery through the medieval postal systems were remarkably good.
- Mongols in the 13th century dispatched everything from diplomatic messages to fruits from surrounding regions.
- The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan used pigeons in the 12th century for communication in his kingdom, which covered a vast area.
- Devices such as trumpets, drums, and even ordinary people’s shouting were used by many different cultures to extend the reach of physical sounds.
- Other communication innovations that were developed involved tapping codes on metal tubes with a hammer or blowing into cylinders to produce sounds.
- The magnetic compass was introduced to Europe form China at the end of the 12th century.
- Experiments succeeded in transmitting a cryptographic code using a crude system of magnetic compass needles, leading to eventual development of the electric telegraph.
- Then the subsequent development of the telescope in 1608 by Dutch spectacle maker Hans Lippersley extended the range of observers.
- German professor Johann Bergstrasser constructed an optical telegraph line that connected several cities.

The Printing Press, Literacy, and the Knowledge Explosion

Clerics

- Were among the few literate people engaged in any task requiring writing.
- In additions to their religious duties, they drafted legal documents and letters for official dispatches.
- On occasions when written communication for diplomacy or commerce was necessary, the preferred means was through epistles (letters).

- Literacy for the common public required easy access to printed matter and the means to transport and circulate it widely; thus, a printing press and a postal service were prerequisites.

- The complexity and diversity of the intellectual and cultural life created a marketplace ripe for information, stimulation the spread of literacy in Europe after the development of the printing press.

- The social consequences of the printing press were far-reaching, eventually encouraging the practice of reading among common people and the reformation of medieval European institutions, religions, and governments.

- The world of printing was notorious for its piracy, incivility, plagiarism, unauthorized copying, false attributions, sedition, and errors.

- Books and other printed material eventually sparked social and political changes that gave rise to popular political consciousness and “public opinion”.

- New literacy introduced new kinds of social relationships and networks among both learned and common people.

- The postal service was an innovation patterned after older courier and messenger systems.

- Letters and other correspondence were available at a cost accessible to a growing middle class, opening a market for pamphlets and newspapers.

Scientists and International Networks

- Technological innovations in travel and the changing role of international science in the mid-19th century brought far-reaching changes in relations between nations.
- Introduction of the first user-friendly electric telegraph in 1844 was a breakthrough in the longstanding dilemma over development of two-way information exchange.
- It also marked a shift between transportation and ritual modes of communication and permitted the dissemination of strategic information over great distances.
- The electric telegraph was soon followed by the telephone and wireless radio.
- Beginning with the railroad and the telegraph, towns and cities were brought closer together within a nation, regardless of whether participants were reluctant or enthusiastic to embrace these changes.
- Because of strategic importance of communication for military and diplomatic purposes, communication between nations was regarded in most 19th-century political circles as strategic and proprietary.
- International agreements were being drafted to regulate postal and telegraph traffic.
- One of the earliest significant steps toward globalizing the world was adoption of a global time system.

The International Electric Revolution

- Steam power led to what had once seemed to be startling speeds of travel, first by steamboat and the by railroad.
- The railroad and telegraph systems were important in establishing international corporate empires that successfully brought technological innovations, linking the telegraph to the railway systems in England in 1839.
- The transatlantic line eventually became a landmark step in bringing nations together in an international communication network.
- Supporters of the project were primarily motivated by their desire to reduce the time required for news to travel from Europe to America by as much as 48 hours.
- Alexander Graham Bell, stumbled across the electrical signaling process used by the telephone in his effort to improve the telegraph; he wanted a system to send several simultaneous messages over a single wire without interference.
- The telephone was a communication innovation that was adopted and managed differently in each nation.
- Thomas Edison and others developed the elemental ideas for wireless transmissions.
- The first coded trans-Atlantic radio signal was received in 1901.
- Lee De Forest made significant advancement in the clarity of sound with his triode vacuum tube, making the transmission of sound – voice and music – possible (radio).
- Others who devised new technologies for communication also saw hope in the new information machines for ushering in an age of more authentic connections in society.
Summary: Global Immediacy and Transparency

- Communication across great distance has been a catalyst for many changes in human relationships.
- Through a variety of mediated technologies, the cumulative effect of these changes was a redefinition of space and time, and increasing immediacy and transparency in global connections.
- Communication is implicated in the sweeping social and political informationscape, including the shifting relations between capital and labor and the continuing struggle over old metaphysical symbols and obstacles.
- The emergence of global communication imposes new frames of meaning about the winding path of historical change.