DE- AMERICANISATION OF GLOBAL MEDIA DOMINANCE
by (Jiali Lao)
The Name of the Class (ALM215 – Global Media)
Professor (Dr Jian Xu)
The Name of the School (Deakin University)
24-May-20
Word Count: 2020 Words
Introduction
Global and cultural hegemony occurs when a structure of the media or culture is dominant and applied in production, distribution, and institutions because they are most preferred (Artz, 2013, p. 336). Hegemony’s main feature is consent, where a particular group or class leads others, and they have accepted to be led using the cultures or media that originate from the group. America has been leading in developments, especially in media structures. Most of the world countries are applying the developed media structures in productions and daily operations, hence making the country dominant. However, recently other countries in Asia have developed new media flows that are highly competing with the Americas developed media. For example, the pan-Arab, which created a transnational media system, the contemporary Chinese media, and the Russian media. Using soft power, Americanisation and media imperialism, the American global press will soon lose its dominance in the world and be replaced by Asian countries’ new global media.
America Global Dominance
America has been enjoying soft power through its global media and cultures, where other nations have been attracted to the developed media systems of the country. The soft power is based on its cultural policies, which has led to the development of the technological media systems (Katerji, 2014, P. 2). The theories of soft power in global communication are in media and cultural imperialism, which led to the emerging cultural dominance of the country. The gained soft power by America led to the new theory of Americanization, where American culture influenced the political and economic wellbeing of other countries without coercion. However, with the global objective of achieving media imperialism, the global expansion of transnational media from the Asian countries will lead to the Asian countries taking over domination of the media systems. The development of global media structures and transnational industries and corporations and the emergence of media products from the Asian countries contest the American media systems.
Growth of Asian Media Channels
American dominance is based on globalization that arose because of the financial dominance that the country enjoyed. The country also has symbolic power in the global media channels, which is also supported by global structures of the economy and information systems. The global media channels have evolved from physical to virtual, with the development of newspapers, T.V. channels, internet, and portable communication devices. America has been at the forefront of embracing new technologies and creating new media platforms. The development of the HBO Channel was a great contribution to America and the world at large (Herman and McChesney, 2004, p. 80). However, as the channel grew, Asia has taken dominance of the platform and is now booming, having contracts granted to exclusive continental rights of films. The HBO Asia channel has taken over the American Netflix, having more subscribers all over the world. Even though U.S. domination existed with much more media platforms in entertainment, news, and social media, Asia is competing closely with developments in the same sectors, but with an added advantage.
China Global Growth
Asian countries, specifically China, is working on improving its infrastructure and platforms in T.V. programs, even though the competition is high. The development of infrastructure and media allows the movement of information from one station to another (Osman, Subhani, and Hasan, 2013). When the system is well developed, the information system is fast and reliable, which attracts users worldwide. China has advanced its infrastructure and platforms, which is a great competition to that of America. Therefore, the T.V. channels for the countries may be having the same advancements, but recent developments apply new strategies and concepts which may make China dominant in global media hegemony. China has the Central China Television, which now broadcasts in six international channels and five languages. It has attracted a global audience with more than 125 million people. Currently, Xinhua News is one of the most influential T.V. channels in Africa (Gagliardone, Stremlau, and Repnikova, 2020, p. 8). The number of subscribers shows a contest in the domination of America. Chinas media is growing globally, and there is much probability for soft power.
Media imperialism due to the global expansion of transnational media in America also led to worldwide media dominance over the world. Transnational media flows allow a strong understanding of the cultural dimensions of the global circulation of media (Christensen, 2013, p. 2401). However, Asian countries are also working towards gaining media imperialism through the worldwide expansion of transnational media corporations such as news agencies, social media, film industry, and media technology firms. Asian countries’ governments are now agitating for media freedom, which encourages the development of transnational media in countries such as China and Russia. Chinese media have rapidly evolved, supported by financial news and transnational influence of the larger ecosystem of information flow. The important elements of the multinational media regime are the media corporations and technology developers who have the core elements of a transnational media regime.
In 2009, China launched the media’ going out’ project focusing on the development of transnational media companies to have unbound communication within the country and with the outside world (Zhao, 2016, p. 30). The development of transnational media encourages media imperialism in China, as technological innovations increase the flow of information. The development of Chinese television channel phoenix is one of the emerging new media that is highly competing with America’s channels to gaining a huge audience. Also, with the development of China threat theory, the country is progressing prominently in economic, technological, and political sectors, leading to growth in the global media (Yang and Liu, 2012, p. 701). China’s ‘going out’ project aims at attaining soft power, and to reverse the media imperialism from the western countries. The development of transnational media is one of the ways where China is aiming at achieving media imperialism. The technological developments will highly contribute towards the objective of dominating the media worldwide, taking the title from America.
Pan-Arab Media Development
America’s trans nationalizing media and culture was expected to remain dominant for a long while due to the developments in technology. However, the increasing importance of transnational corporations and non-state agencies have survived being intact and even paving the way or new agencies (van, 2011). The opportunity leads to more transnational media emerging from other countries. For example, pan- Arab media has developed pan-Arab satellite broadcasting with over 200 channels and an audience of more than 350 million. The satellite has led to a new transnational media system, with a huge audience that can easily overhaul America’s dominance. It has an advantage over the American satellite as it can broadcast content that is highly unrestricted by state-controlled media. The Arab satellite broadcasting has also incorporated western commercial broadcasting models, making it have an advantage over the existing western satellites hence attracting a larger audience all over the world. Therefore, the Arab satellite has the prospect of surpassing the American media, thus becoming dominant in the future.
The pan-Arab media brought about the editorial alignment of Aljazeera, which is one of the most subscribed channels in the world (Kraidy, 2014). With the controversial political postures in Egypt, media companies arose with vibrant media and cultures and the development of the Arab satellite. This emergence has led to 80% television penetration, attracting more audiences due to the high level of commercialization. The commercialization led to the rise of Arab uprisings, which enhances other media and culture in the Arab world. The rise of the Pan-Arab media has rejuvenated a common destiny in the Arab world, leading to the great support of the transnational media in most parts of the Arabic world (Alterman, 1999). The channels are becoming influential across countries in the world. The increasing influential power is likely to lead the American audience to change their preferences, which will make American dominance weaker, leading to the soft power of the Arab global media.
Russia Media Development
Other non-state actors are competing with America to attract the hearts and minds of people in the world (Dale, Smith and Cohen, 2012). They are seeking greater influence and access to global media through the allocation of resources for media growth. Russia is one of the countries fighting for soft power in the global media. It is expected that it will increase interconnectedness through new media. Russia has already gained national media control and has developed the premier soft power instrument, global television empire led by R.T., to improve Russia’s image around the world. The channel has become influential and is penetrating America’s states, such as Washington and New York. As it strives to gain its domination of America, the developed media can easily grow and be viewed across the world. Russian media has been influenced by the political economy, which has led to the globalization of Russian television, especially in the creation of television fiction. The specialization in fiction has led to dominance in the sector and improving with the features.
In the Post-Soviet period, the television station STS emerged, providing entertainment to Russians. The television station grew due to the blending of textual elements and integrating with new technological concepts that have enhanced globalization of the station (Brassard, 2017, p. 81). STS has been consistent and incorporating western majors, which has led to negotiations of complex cultural features, making Russia have a dominant position. The Russian media system is now characterized by the audience and information domination of terrestrial T.V. (Vartanova, Vyrkovsky, Makeenko, and Smirnov, 2016, p. 72). The competition is high, but the audience for the Russian media keeps growing. This fact shows a potential penetration to other countries, including America. Also, there is the domination of central media companies in Russia, within Asia and America as well. There is growth of Russia’s transnational media structures, which will enhance its hegemony in global media. The content and technological structures of Russians media attract more audiences making it prominent throughout the world.
Russian media development is supported by liberalizing media industry in print and broadcasting, cable and satellite T.V., productions of television, search engines, and online media. The industry is developing with more technological breakthroughs such as Runet and mobile telephony (Vartanova, 2020). The developments increase the quality of media in the country to the level of America. However, with the continuous innovations in global media and the technological advancements that occur periodically, Russia has the potential to increase its dominance in the world. In film and T.V. program production, Russia is a significant player, with a high increase in domestically produced films. According to Vartanova, Moscow media executives have common features with their counterparts in London, Paris, and New York in America (Vertanova, 2015, p. 134). The observations show the growth of Russia’s media, getting to America’s level; thus, continued growth may lead to dominance. Also, internet activism in Russia is more connected with social movements in other parts of the world, making its media have the power to dominate global media (Meng and Rantanen, 2015, p. 7).
Conclusion
America’s global media system is well developed and has earned global dominance throughout the world. The country is enjoying soft power as it has attracted a huge audience due to the quality of its global media. However, other countries and authorities are contesting America’s global media by improving its systems to attract more people, which makes them have an advantage over America. The states challenging America include China, Russia, and the Pan- Arab regions of Asia. China launched the media out a project which aims at developing its media to reach many countries in the world. The project led to the development of media corporations and systems to support the objective. Arab media grew pan-Arab satellite broadcasting with more than 200 channels, hence attracting a huge audience throughout the world. Russian media is also developing, especially with the emergence of Russian Television, which has gained lots of followers recently, especially from America’s global media platforms. The countries’ developments are increasing and highly contesting with America’s dominance. Soft power, media imperialism, Americanization, and globalization are the theories behind the growth of the global media corporations and media systems to have control over the world. The developments in the media in the countries will lead to de-Americanization soon as one of the Asian countries gains dominance of global media.
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