Essentially, globalisation is the sharing of trade, information and technology across the globe. This will affect various things in Media Studies as we are now exposed to a wider variety of representations and can access information from varying sources. Communicating internationally is now easier as we can use new technology to conduct conversations, share information and express opinions. Globalisation has made our lives easier as we now have a wealth of information at our fingertips. We can bridge cultural gaps and gain a deeper understanding of others due to such readily available information.
However, having all of this information does not necessarily mean we are more informed. The majority of media is owned by multinational corporations who are able to control the messages they put out. Globalisation is great news for big corporations as they can stick to their own agenda and make plenty of money at the same time. Some of these corporations also join forces with other companies and this then means that the corporation may present a biased view according to who they have merged with. e.g. If a newspaper corporation merged with a petrol company then they are likely to avoid printing stories about the prices of petrol being extortionate or the dangers of pollution.
You must remember that big corporations want big profit. They don't want to make you aware that they might be influencing your opinion or limiting the representations you see. The wealthiest countries have the resources to produce the most media; therefore, the media delivered to the global audience will promote the culture of the wealthiest countries. That need you have to buy something? It's probably due to the media telling you that you are not good enough without it. You must have it to succeed in life. This is the effect of living in a consumerist society and having the majority of messages given to us by large corporations who want us to keep spending.
It is also extremely difficult to regulate the media (as you will know from the Leveson inquiry) and therefore it can mean that the representations we find are actually quite limited as opposed to varied. Smaller voices are drowned out by the big, wealthy ones. We don't have content diversity as media producers compete for audience share and therefore become more standardised in order to follow a formula that works. It is easier to develop stereotypes or work with representations that the audience already recognise so media producers stick to that in order to maintain their popularity and keep selling their product.
Media shapes the way that people think and form opinions. If you are only presented with one representation then you will eventually come to believe it must be true.
How does this relate to your chosen case study?
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