Global Communication: Current Trends

In the past decades, global communication has developed into a rapidly expanding field with a number of players. Communications across borders consist of flows of words, images, texts and data that move between and among individuals, governments, social movements and business organizations. However, according to Thussu (2006), as a result of the deregulation and liberalization of the international communication during the 90s along with new communication technology developments, especially the satellite, cable, digital and mobile, the world media marketplace has turned into a “global media bazaar.” (p. 98)
The first current trend is the media convergence. Before the globalization, most media corporations had very distinct area of business and functions. However, with the game-changing movement of privatization across the globe and the fascinating invention of information digitization, that distinction has dissolved drastically. From then we have seen a huge wave of mergers and acquisitions, which resulted in an unbelievably huge drop in number of private corporations. In 1983, there were 50 private corporations and in 2004, only five major ones remained, including Time Warner, Disney, News Corp, Bertelsmann, Viacom and NBC as a close sixth. (Thussu, 2006, p. 99)
As being said, the convergence of the media has given the major corporations the ability to “integrate content origination with delivery mechanism”. Not only that they create their own contents, but they also have a global distribution network to support their international visibility and impact. Thus, the five major game players above dominate the global market and control all the major aspects of mass media. (Thussu, 2006, p. 99)
Even though that trend creates a few criticisms, such as the limit of sources of information since there are very few conglomerates distributing information across all platforms, it leads to the next trend, which is the western domination in cultural and media products.
All five major corporations are western based, especially the U.S., which caused the West to dominate the world’s entertainment and information networks. They cleverly utilized the two major entertainment factors that can “cut across national and cultural and even linguistic boundaries,” which are sport and music respectively.
Now we see a wide variety of formats of western-made cultural products became international franchises. For example, the Idol Series, which originated from the UK, has been licensed and adapted in more than 30 countries. The multi-million-dollar franchise also created the foundation for subsequent franchises such as the X Factor, The Voice and the Got Talent series (Simon Fuller on how ‘Idol’ began, 2011). We also witnessed a lot of international mega stars who gained worldwide fame and popularity such as Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. The Harry Potter fantasy novel series have been translated into 67 languages and created enormous international cultural and social impact. (Record print run for final Potter, 2007)

In the news arena, the West, led by the U.S., is also dominating. However, with another current trend of “contra flows” in global media, the major game players mentioned above should be a little concerned. In the past, U.S. media used to have strong credibility because of its independence of government control. However, in recent years, that credibility has been “severely dented” due to their biased coverage; for example, the extensive coverage of the so-called open-ended and global war on Islamic terrorism after 9/11. The news discourse is also biased in terms of nuclear issues. Additionally, with the cut back on foreign news coverage, a lot of U.S.’s way of framing stories on countries with geopolitical and economic interest is not really universally accepted.
Moreover, in the entertainment arena, the world is also seeing a subsurface wave of eastern culture, especially China, India and South Korea. While the Indian film industry has created its own reputation with “Bollywood,” China has also had a few international kungfu blockbusters and South Korea is spreading its culture with the “hallyu” wave.

 

A very recent example would be Psy – a South Korean artist – who has dominated the international music charts, including the U.S. and U.K., with the smash hit single Gangnam Style. He also took over Justin Bieber’s spot as the most liked video on YouTube (Guinness World Records, 2012). A few Chinese actors has had established international career such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li. As a result, now we see more and more Hollywood movies with multi-nationality cast.
Nevertheless, the U.S.’s domination in TV shows creation is also losing its position. One good example would be the hit TV show Ugly Betty, which originated from the Colombian show Yo Soy Betty, La Fea. That adaptation led the trend of U.S.’s adaptation of other countries’ TV shows, such as The Voice from Holland and reality TV series from the U.K. These examples serve as a precedent for the future and set the foundation for a more balanced media power concentration system.