ARTICLE: GLOBAL MASS COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA SYSTEM By Aimé MUYOMBANO (PhD Scholar), Senior Lecturer. 2016

ARTICLE: GLOBAL MASS COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
SYSTEM 
By Aimé Muyombano  (PhD Scholar), Senior Lecturer

ARTICLE: GLOBAL MASS COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
SYSTEM 
By Aimé Muyombano  (PhD Scholar), Senior Lecturer
       Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)

        26th November 2015 

ABSTRACT
Global mass communication and media system have got both advantages and disadvantages. People across the world are able to access information about what happens everywhere given the fact that there are various media platforms which broadcast information needed in the social, political and economic transformation of the world Affairs

The availability of the internet facilitates global communication given the fact that many media channels are connected to it thereby making it easier for people to access information across the world. The emergence of social media platforms also facilitates global communication. However, the western world has tendencies of controlling global communication owing to the fact it has the economic power to influence the flow of information. The other challenge associated with the use of online channels of communication is that they are not regulated to a greater extent whereby some people misuse them.

Keywords: Global mass communication, media systems and economic power

INTRODUCTION
According to DeFleur and Dennis (1994:50), the term Mass Communication could have different explanation to the people. But hire it define as the process in which professional communicators use media to disseminate messages widely, rapidly and continuously to large and diverse audience in attempts to influence them in a variety of ways.

Globalization can be described as the movement of resources such as raw goods, information, technology, capital and culture across borders. For the sake of international mass communication, globalization is mostly concerned with the transfer of information, technology and culture.

The state of global mass communication today can be identified through a discussion of key concepts like globalization, media concentration or conglomeration, electronic colonialism, and consumerism. Global Mass communication is a double edged sword because it has both good and bad aspects to it.

DEVELOPMENT

Global Mass Communication
According to Muyombano, mass communication syllabus (2015:5) Mass communication is a process in which a person, group of people, or an organization sends a message through a channel of communication to a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people and organizations. You can think of a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people as either the general public or a segment of the general public. Channels of communication include broadcast television, radio, social media, and print (new papers).

The sender of the message is usually a professional communicator that often represents an organization. Mass communication is an expensive process. Unlike interpersonal communication, feedback for mass communication is usually slow and indirect.
You can even analyse it on different way of communication like

Advertising, which consists of communications attempting to induce purchasing behaviour
Journalism, such as news

Public relations which is communication intended to influence public opinion on a product or organization

Politics ex.  Campaigning

Media System
The different systems are public service, a `dual' model and the market model. The comparison shows that public service like media house (television and radio) devotes more attention to public affairs, international news and fosters greater knowledge in these areas than the market model. Also gives greater prominence to news, encourages higher levels of news consumption and contributes to a smaller within-nation knowledge gap. But wider processes in society take precedence over the organization of the media in determining how much people know about public life, Inka Salovaara-Moring, Media System (2000:3)

As far as Muyombano said, mass communication syllabus (2015:7) the question arises as to whether and to what degree the discrimination of nationally bounded communication system is still a valid and meaningful concept for social scientific inquiry. If the answer is yes, we need to ask how we can readjust our approach to compare media systems facing global phenomena of governance and communication. we can found the answer on the impact of globalization on comparative media systems by raising other elements like:

*      First of all, Globalization can be considered as a starting element of media development, reflect on the nature and the meaning of “global”. By other we can come up with different interrogations such as “Does a perspective exist, how should it be conceived? Does the affirmation of global research connect with the end of the comparative approach and in particular the comparative analysis of media systems? Our argument here is that global social science research must not be re-defined in terms of the level of global or national analysis.

*      Regarding politics and political communication, globalization leads to more trans nationalized forms of governance. As a consequence, we also face new forms of legitimization and therefore political communication that transcend the nation state, while at the same time media systems are bound to national political cultures and communication infrastructures.

*      If global influences are to be incorporated into comparative research, however,
            We need to broaden our view and revisit theoretical concepts about
            Communication flows within and across media systems.

We think the contribution in this special issue as a glimpse at a larger set of questions, each of which deserves deep reflection. However, we are analysing Global mass communication and media systems with intention of point out challenges that stir up new thoughts and to further reasoning in comparative communication studies. Needless to say, it is easier to raise new questions than to provide substantial

Economic Power
Political scientists have devoted considerable attention to the ways in which economic power can be translated into political influence. Yet there has been little empirical research capable of confirming or denying general assumptions about the political and media system implications of various aspects in the economic structure, Lester M. Salamon and John J. Siegfried (1977:2).

As Mass communication Expert, I can brand geo-economics as one of the power tool used by different countries fight seeking for domination section Vis a Vis to the rest of the world affairs.

Beyond that, they have a strong reasonable relationships between political influence and Economic power which are supporting by media system, before a state become a polarity (political influence), it have first to assist economically and showing its social-welfare Vis a Vis to the rest of the world affairs.

CONTEXT
According to muyombano, mass communication syllabus (2015:13), The progress of technology in mass communication has allowed media to reach every corner of the world fast with vivid graphics. Therefore, global media plays a very important role in international relations, and most policymakers depend on live news coverage provided by different media Institutions and other outlets. This phenomenon provides a positive effect, as it introduces democratic and humanitarian aspects in the policy-making process. On the other hand, it causes a bigger burden to both policymakers and reporters. Under the time pressure required by global media live coverage, journalists may take risks by reporting what they see without deeply analysing the situation and politicians may respond quickly without carefully considering their overall situation.

One important reason for the revitalized interest in this analysis of global mass communication and media systems is clearly related to the object of research itself. The last decades have been period of constant and profound transformation, Thomas Hanitzsch (2008:15)

The world has seen changes affecting many central aspects of our lives, most notably in the sphere of the political, the mediascape, and everyday life. It was and it still is a time of systemic shifts mainly triggered by political, economic, technological and cultural factors

Paradgms of Global Mass Communication and Media System
According to Thomas Hanitzsch (ibid) the Global mass communication and Media systems research has a relatively long history in the field of communication studies. During the past sixty years ago, research in this particular area has gone through roughly different stages that were assisted the Mass communication professionalism, the first of which could be labeled The U.S. and the rest.

This paradigm has dominated communication and media studies from the 1950s to the 1960s, and is exemplified by the influential work of American scholars such as Daniel Lerner (1958) as well as that of Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm (1956). U.S.-centrism and the juxtaposition of the “modern” West and the “traditional” East were particularly prevalent in this period of time. In a sense, the U.S. and the rest paradigm has been a product of its time that was clearly dominated by the ideological (communism and capitalism) rivalry between two geopolitical blocks (bipolarity influence).

And although global mass communication and media systems in Africa, Latin America and Asia have often developed as derivatives of those in the West (Golding, 1977), modernization theories have failed in many of the countries in these rest regions.

Eventually, the paradigm lost its momentum in the mid- 1970s when researchers begun to realize some of its ideological bearings, even diagnosed a “research imperialism” that legitimized and reinforced established order while strengthening the Third World’s economic and cultural dependence on the West. James D. Halloran (1998:44)

The second period, The North and the South, was primarily shaped by major political processes that took place within the UNESCO and European Community. In the mid 1970s, the growing recognition of uneven communication flows between the industrialized North and developing South fueled a controversy, staged at UNESCO, on the need for a New World Information and Communication Order. Thomas Hanitzsch (ibid)

The focus of international communication research consequently shifted to the inequalities between the northern hemisphere and the global South. The UNESCO inspired a 29-nation study on foreign images which, to date, belongs to the largest concerted research endeavors ever conducted in our field. Sreberny Mohammadi, Nordenstreng, & Stevenson, (1984).

At the same time, as the European Community became further integrated during the 1970s, the political processes that took place within its institutions attracted the interest of many European researchers. The mid-1980s have then seen the rise of another paradigm in international communication research, The West and the West. This period was very much driven by European scholarship and also marks the beginning of methodologically more advanced comparative research. Scholars became more cautious in selecting countries, turning their attention to mostly Western countries due to their similarities and, hence, their comparability. This paradigm has retained its vitality until today, as exemplified work. Hallin and Mancini’s (2004)

However, a new era was already dawning: The West and the Global. Within this most recent paradigm, scholars have started to assess media systems on a truly global scale. Research has clearly become more collaborative, increasingly involving researchers from Asia and Latin America, though still not so much from Africa. One noteworthy example is the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that has developed a Media Sustainability Index (MSI) which it subsequently applied to a total of 76 countries across Africa, Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East. Thomas Hanitzsch (ibid) 

Analysis
Media convergence which is as a result of digitalization brings together several media channels and the people are able to select what they want to consume. They can read online newspapers and they can also use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to generate and share news across the world. Digitalization facilitates quick movement of messages and it caters for interactivity between journalists and audiences. This is a positive aspect of global mass communication.

Media systems across the world operate in such a way that the availability of bigger international media channels like CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera enable the local ones especially those based in the developing world to access international news easily. The local ones do not have the capacity to collect news from the various parts of the world because they have limited resources. They simply subscribe to the international media agencies to be able to access international news.

Global mass communication has made the world to be like a small village in a way that people who are far apart can easily communicate with one another using mobile telephones, Skype connections, emails, Facebook and WhatsApp among others. Such communication facilitates trade and cultural exchange among people in the world.

However, global mass communication and media systems have some negative aspects in the way they operate. The western world seems to be the one that controls communication around the world. During the decades of the Cold War, the flow of information arose as a key topic in global affairs. As Western, particularly American interests fought for the hearts and minds of countries at risk of falling to Soviet control, the impact of international mass communication power and information took center stage.

This continues to date when you closely follow the media in Russia and the one in America because global media has been turned into a propaganda tool. Most global mass media channels frame news to promote interests of their respective countries.  Today, most of the international media platforms are being used to fight the cold war between the West and Russia, and they also refer to some countries like North Korea and Iran as rogue countries.
For example, CNN and BBC portray North Korea as a rogue nation in the hands of irresponsible rulers who are a threat to the security of the entire world. Usually because these media houses are powerful, their message is what is spread across the world as the true story. For example, in Africa, most media houses simply republish international news from the western media houses. 

Most of the media channels in Africa just reproduce the narrative and framing of the western media as far as global mass communication is concerned. Most of the African media republish or air such stories under foreign news section which is usually the same news from Western media to which most newspapers and electronic media in Africa subscribe to.
“North Korea is believed to have more than 1,000 missiles of varying capabilities, including long-range missiles which could one day strike the US.” This was the screaming introduction on the BBC’s website on June 17, under the story “North Korea Nuclear Programme.” Quoting government officials, BBC claimed that Pyongyang's programme has progressed over the last few decades from tactical artillery rockets in the 1960s and 70s to short­-range and medium-range ballistic missiles today.

The paper further wrote that “According to the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent think-tank, some of North Korea's missiles also have the capability to carry nuclear warheads. A US intelligence report leaked in April 2014 said it may now be capable of firing a nuclear-armed missile, though with low reliability.”

This is the typical framing of North Korea in the international media. Most of the international media portray the country as a rogue nation in the hands of irresponsible rulers who are a threat to the security of the entire world. Many of the stories are speculative and usually without any evidence to back up the “great concern over North Korea’s nuclear threat.”
As a result of this framing, the world has been swayed to believe that North Korea is a big threat that should be restrained before causing havoc to the world. This kind of media propaganda by western powers through the global mass media has been able to win public sympathy towards the Western governments’ harsh policy against North Korea.

Related to the above, independent observers have noted that media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict by journalists in international news media has been said to be biased by both sides. These perceptions of bias, possibly exacerbated by the hostile media effect, have generated more complaints of partisan reporting than any other news topic and have led to a proliferation of media watchdog groups.

This problem has been exacerbated by media concentration or conglomeration of the movement of media owned by many, to media owned by few and driven by corporate interests. Most media houses are either state owned or owned by businessmen with strong links to the ruling class.

 Today’s mainstream media are typically large corporations, ‘controlled by very wealthy people or by managers who are subject to sharp constraints by owners and other market-profit-oriented forces’.  Ownership, size and profit orientation will influence global media behavior in a range of ways.  Advertising is the principal source of revenue for most mainstream, commercial media, thus media operations tend to reflect the interests of advertisers. Herman and Chomsky, (1988, 14)

This is largely true especially in the developing world where the media is largely controlled by the state and big corporate companies through advertising and regulation. For example, in Rwanda some media organizations will think twice before publishing a damaging story about MTN Rwanda because through its huge advertising budget, it influences the media landscape.

Similarly many of the media owners are business-oriented and would not jeopardize their relationship with a big advertiser. The urge by media managers to make more money has made them slaves of the advertising corporations.

When dealing with global mass communication, the concept of power comes into play, stressing that dominant institutional actors possess the requisite social-political power to exert subtle or not-so-subtle control over patterns of media performance.

For most media houses globally, this assertion can be explained by looking at the pattern of media ownership. Who owns the media in these countries and who regulates it?  Governments tend to have almost unlimited power over the media through government owned media houses while the private media houses are controlled through setting up of media regulation laws that  make it hard for private media houses to publish what the state does not want for fear of penalties.  For example, in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, the media regulation laws have seen many media houses reprimanded. Therefore, it is right to say that dominant institutions like government wield a lot of power on how global mass media work today.

The state of international mass communication has been accelerated more today by technological advancements. Those who own information and its flow maintain economic, political and cultural control and this is facilitated through conglomeration, globalization, electronic colonialism and consumerism.

With so many of the world’s communications systems and media outlets controlled by western cultures, the developing world is often subjected to the ideologies dominant in those western cultures, chief among them, consumerism.

One can argue that the capacity to communicate with someone across the globe instantly has many benefits that can be positive. “The free flow of information in our contemporary societies has greatly enhanced connectivity and facilitated globalization, but it has also brought with it the threat of cultural standardization” Zayani, (2011:48).

The standardization that Zayani suggests is accelerated through the phenomenon of electronic colonialism. “The global electronic network that has evolved over the last decade is forcing us to redefine our ideas of sovereignty”. Hachten & Scotton, (2007:6-7).

McPhail has written on topics of international mass communication for years. Conglomeration and globalization are foundational pieces to electronic colonialism, which, he says, has “real potential to displace or alter previous cultural values, language, lifestyles or habits, activities, or family rituals”. McPhail, (2010:23).

A prominent example of electronic colonialism falls into the realm of music television. Specifically, Music Television (MTV) has focused on youth across the world. MTV promotes mostly western music and pumps western influence into countries across the world. MTV is owned by Viacom, one of the biggest media companies in the United States of America. McPhail, (2010:238-241).

CONCLUSION
Global mass communication is dominated by the voice of the powerful. It represents the power of the developed countries. Those who own the media, impose ideology on weaker nations who fall victim to globalization and electronic colonialism. As a result, it is right to assert that the developed world has usurped global media to drive its agenda across the world in all spheres including culture, politics and political economics.

Global processes of diffusion do not spell the global mass communication and media systems. They however demand for comparative designs that account for the fact that national media systems are becoming increasingly interconnected. Careful analyses time and again show that the national level is still relevant and meaningful and that media systems can be characterized and compared along these lines. Thus, we are not standing at the end of global mass communication and media systems research, but carefully advancing it further in the light of globalization and transnational communication.

RECOMMENDATIONS
There is need for more balanced coverage of news especially on issues that affect the developing world so that all the voices are represented effectively. The current international media systems favor the western countries because they have the power to influence the affairs of the world.

Media houses in the developing world should be given the opportunity to voice out the concerns of their people other than having a situation where western media houses want to take center stage in reporting on what happens in the developing world.


Small media houses should merge in order to compete favorably with the powerful western media channels like CNN, Al Jazeera, FOX and ABC which aim at promoting western propaganda.

Media conglomerates should be restrained from buying off the small media houses because by so doing, they deny certain groups of people from voicing out their concerns and they promote the ideologies of those who have power and resources.

 Include additional levels of analysis below and above the nation state level, as shown in the examples presented.

Break down the barriers between the disciplines Comparative Communication Research and International Communications and to acknowledge that both fields can become increasingly interlinked in their theoretical foundations.


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