Global Media News

Death of the Newspaper in the UK

As we expand our technological horizons in the 21st century, some industries are beginning to feel the pressure of the changing times. Wired.co.uk says, since former President Richard Nixon decreased the rules of competition of newspapers in the 1970 Newspaper Preservation Act, big US newspaper groups have created "monopolies" in the newspaper market of major cities. And now the newspaper industry has been in some decline the last few years due to the popularity and easy access of the internet. Along with the accessability of the internet, groups.google.com says that newspapers "lose business due to news outlets getting paid to receive traffic from search engines and receive advertising money".

According to wired.co.uk, a online magazine started in March 2009 with US and UK paper magazines, British advertisers spend a larger amount of money from their budget on digital advertisements than their US counterparts."British national newspapers are less reliant on advertising and classified advertising than regional newspapers", it said. Since they don't depend on advertising as much, national papers profit loss isn't as hard hitting as regional papers. Unfortunately for US newspapers, their advertisements decreased over a span of months as "US advertisers fled the costly monopoly newspapers" and went to...you guessed it, the Internet. Jobs are at stake with the decrease of sales and revenue declining to 40 percent in the UK.

But some papers aren't feeling the pinch, with the ever growing popularity of tabloids see their sales and revenue to float above water as well as the having the benefit of being "privately owned" (wired.co.uk). To conform to the changing times and use their resources to their advantage, papers might have to consider (and fast) whether or not the decision to use digital advertisements and the Internet is the best one.

Source: Groups.Google.com/soc.culture.british

Source:Wired Magazine (UK)  

Telecommunications in India

 

 The North Block- New Delhi, India

India has an extensive bureaucracy that has had a major impact on its economic and social growth as a nation. By the 1990's, the private sector had seized an opportunity to establish a major computer software and services industry inside India. These major industries can be found in the cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad. India has become a major target by many US telecommunications companies, since the nation has become a low-cost option. Furthermore, since many citizens of India are fluent in the English language, it has made it easier for the transition of Western companies to India.

After the Liberalization of India in the 1990's, the telecommunications sector has become strongly controlled by state-owned organizations and the Department of Telecommunications. One main thing to note is that telephone service is mainly unavailable in many areas of the country. However, cell phone service is widely available in certain major urban centers. Yet, cell phone service may require private vendors. Now one thing i want to point out is that if a person wanted to access an internet connection, there are many cyber cafe's in most urban areas that provide access for many Indian citizens.

For more on this subject please refer to Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Is the Grass Greener?

So we hear about how our television is different then other countries. How we are more reserved and censored, how countries allow nudity on there television stations. Whats really the difference. For example there is a link below that leads you to a New York Times article that will take you on a journey thru the world of BBritish advertising on television. In this article it is characterized as creative and goes beyond the call of duty of that American advertisers usually go to. 

What this illustrates is another glaring difference in british television. However what it also illustrates is the difference in the strategies between the am erican and anglo broadcasting styles that just so happens to bleedin to the network channels as well. In American channels are flooded with reality television shows while England's landscape of television is shaped by shows that reflect the English lifestyle. This is perhaps one of the most glaring difference's in the anglo american broadcasting styles. 

 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/arts/television/14sfculture.html

Hollywood? How About Bollywood?

 

 

Well since our next show is on India, we just had to touch on one of the biggest things in India and that is Bollywood. Bollywood is the slang term that we all commonly use to refer to the Hindi Cinema. The term Bollywood can be traced back to the 1970's after India over took the United States as the top movie producer in the world.

The name Bollywood is interesting in its origins. Amit Khanna basically came up with the name Bollywood. The two words he blended together to form Bollywood were "Bombay" and "Hollywood." Bombay was used because at the time that was the name of present day Mumbai and Hollywood was used for obvious reasons.

Raja Harischandra was the first movie to ever be produced in India. It was a silent movie and debuted in the year 1913. As time progressed, by 1930 over 200 movies per year were being produced in India. In 1931, India released its first movie with sound. That movie was Alam Ara directed by Khan Bahadur. Throughout the 30's and 40's India went through a depression and was also affected by World War II. Movie production didn't really hit its full potential until India gained its full independence in 1947 and then Bollywood was officially born. Next week we will take a look at India's movie business beginning in 1950.

 

The "British Invasion"

During the 1960 there was a "British Invasion" in the music industry in the United States. The term British Invasion was commonly used in America to describe the  large numbers of pop and rock and roll performers from the UK during 1964 to 1966. These British artist transformed the music industry by combing there distinctive style with various American styles of music. During 1962 the creation of Mersey beat came about in the UK and it basically was a fusion of rock and roll, R&B, doo wop, skiffle and soul music. This British beat music was predominately in Liverpool and was responsible for the British invasion of the American music charts. The British invasion had an enormous impact on the music industry world wide and lead to the internationalization of rock and roll.

Great Britain Most Likely to Pass the Digital Economy Bill

The Digital Economy Bill still remains one of the hottest issues in Great Britain. If passed the bill would help make Great Britain the world leader in Digital media and help control the type of material being shared over the internet. One of the main concerns government officials have is the use of copyrighted material being easily accessed by the general public over such websites as Youtube, Facebook, and Myspace.

This video hosted by Stephen Timms, goes in depth about the plans and goals of the bill and describes its 4 key themes in what the bill aims to do. First off the bill seeks to help the growth of creative industries in the digital world. Second it strives to promote digital safety especially to the content children twelve years and younger can easily access. Third the bill wants to regulate public services broadcasting. And finally, it aims to strengthen the communications infrastructure. These four goals outline the basic issues the bill would tackle as well help Great Britain maintain its leadership in the digital world.

The Digital Economy Bill still continues to bring in more controversy than supporters because many feel this is just another attempt at censoring what can be viewed by the general public and what cannot. Big companies such as Microsoft, Youtube, and Google are especially concerned because Great Britain is a huge region where the companies do a majority of their outsourcing of media and content. Should the government officially start regulating and cutting out a significant amount of content that can be accessed by the public, this will surely cause a great deal of damage to these businesses as well as affect the millions of daily internet users in the United Kingdom.

The bill is currently being finalized in the House of Lords after it was put into "Report Stage." A list of the daily day by day changes as well as information included throughout the Digital Economy Bill can be accessed here.

"The Independent Republic"

After World War II Ukraine reamained a Soviet communist state. It was operating as bureaucratic, centralized politicized state.Ukraine has since reformed and it is remains a republic state in Soviet Eastern Europe. Ukraine is rich with agricultural and industrial regions. Ukraine is an Independent country which in the 1930's founded the Social Soviet Republic. Ukraine sits bordered by Russia to the north and east and Belarus to the north.the black sea is to its southern border. Ukraine during the Cold War remained a Sovielt Slavic state. The idea of democracy hence was null.Hence, media over the years was controlled in Ukraine. This is a crucial issue, how is the media in Ukraine is optimally operated. Who then owns the media???

"In modern societies, the availabiity of information is central to making better decision making by voters,consumers, and for global investors".   

 

A study for Europe and Asia media by Marta Dyczok ask was Kuchma's Cencorship Effective? It analyses Mass Media in Ukraine before 2004. Media in Ukraine has been under government control.  It states that although protest continued the media political and economic elites effectively manipulated and muzzled the main stream media.

A Media Trip Through Eastern Europe

This week on Global Media News, we took a trip to Eastern Europe. On our journey, we focused on censorship in Belarus and Ukraine, the Polish press, life in the Czech Republic, and video game devlopers in Romania.

Take Our Radio Tour Here!

Next week on the Global Media News Hour we will be taking a look at the Media of Great Britain.

Listen live on March 18th at 11:00am or anytime after 1:00pm  

This Week's Playlist

Belarus:

"Partyzanskaja" by Shkola Nie

"Neuro-Dubel" by Belarus-Uber-Alles

Poland:

"Tadeusz Nalepa" by Kiedy Bylem Malym Chlopcem

Ukraine:

"Fleshgore" by Disaster Like Brand

Czech Republic:

"The Krystof" by onaNe

Romania:

"Elena Gheorghe" by Te Ador

North Koreas Auto Tune

The media in North Korea is tight lipped to say the least. It is beyond heavily regulated and not much goes on air that is not influenced by the government. In other words what North Koreans see is what the government lets them. All television sets are preset and tuned to the government operated stations. One must register with the police as if it were a gun. In addition there is limited programming which translate into only having four channels.

 
In summation North Korea media policy  is not at all liberal. Given that television sets are pre tuned to station to certain channels its easy to determine that North Koreans hear bias opinions that reflect the nations governmental stance. Perhaps one can infer that North Korea's policy on media is just as unruly as its dictator.

BBC Monopoly and Deregulation

BBC, or British Broadcasting Company, was founded in 1922 as a broadcasting monopoly because of the "scarcity of radio frequencies and the need to protect public service ideals." Its mission is "to inform, educate and entertain" and was established with secure funding by license fees. Therefore, the government appointed governors, set the fees and retained general oversight but could not have the corporation under state control. (Press Reference)

Then in 1955, ITV (Independent Television) was introduced by the government under Winston Churchill. The only difference ITV has from BBC1 and its second station, BBC2 is its funding, which comes from advertising not license fees. ITV and BBC thus began "competing" for viewers, not funding. Channel 4 and Channel 5 were also created under the BBC News and ITV umbrella, creating a monopoly of television channels. ITN (Independent Television News) was created as well to be a competing news gathering organization. (Press Reference)

Local radio began in the 1960's, in which BBC has a hand in, and by 1995, there were 5 BBC stations, 3 national and 5 regional stations along with local stations contributing to a total of 160 commercial stations and 38 BBC stations. (Press Reference)

In 1989, satellite television was introduced to Great Britain by Sky Television. BSB, who was a competitior in the satellite TV market, was overrun by Sky, thus being renamed BSkyB. A stir was caused by Sky when they acquired rights to sports events and movies but were charging their customers 10 pounds more and nothing was done about it. (Press Reference)

Digital television came to Britain in the late 90's and digitization allowed for telecommunications and internet companies (AT&T and AOL for example) to enter the playing field. Thus the two leading internet companies in Great Britain are Freeserve and America Online. (Press Reference)

A Communications Bill was submitted to Parliament in May 2002. The proposal called for strong measures of deregulation. It established the Office of Communications (OFCOM), which is a single regulating body replacing five existing ones and it would liberalize media ownership laws, for example by ending all restrictions on foreign ownership. Diversity would be protected by the mandate that at least three local commercial radio operators existed in most local communities. The Bill also proposed the introduction of more self-regulation, allowing commercial broadcasters to police themselves. Therefore, no one company can control 15% of the television audience share. Now more companies are able to compete in a market that was once dominated by BBC. (Press Reference)

Press Reference