Are Media Geographies De-Territorialising?

Are media geographies de-territorializing?

The development of science and technology has aided the process of globalisation, advanced forms of communications has allowed the efficient transmission of information and knowledge across boundaries, consequently effectively dissolving the old structures of national states and communities. However, with the course de-territorialization there is also evidence of the medias growing efforts of localisation and the formation of culturally and regionally specific identities. The media as an institution is also steadily becoming hugely influential in the economical structure of capitalist society. ‘the necessity of rethinking our sense of place in the context of the transformations and destabilisations wrought both by the forces of economic globalisation and by the global media industries.’ (Morley 2000:5).

The evolution of communication technologies has allowed the spread of media across the world, making media a powerful force within politics and the formation and spread of culture. Newspapers, magazines, television, radio, films, music, and not forgetting the Internet, are the primary mediums of informational communication throughout the public sphere. The sending, receiving and experience of media messages have become a large part of daily life, and individuals are unknowingly bombarded with advertising messages everyday. The reception of media is not only for instructive purposes, it has become a huge source of public interest and leisure. The role of the television is a prime example of how important the media is for the progression of globalisation, within the modern domestic home the television is a form of electronic media that allows the consumer to experience through sound and images different exotic locations and novel encounters without leaving the comfort of their own personal space. It can also be said that a type of culture has emerged from the consumption of the television, as people schedule their lives around the broadcasting timetable, in the home furniture is arranged around the television, and finally television programmes have provided mutual grounds for conversation in social interactions. On a social scale the television has initiated the de-territorialization of boundaries such as age, gender, class and culture, the same can be said for the role of film, music and radio.

Satellite television has further enhanced media globalisation by increasing the range of available messages from around the world. Here the public pays for the option to watch international media channels such as CNN for 24-hour real time news from across the nations at any time, allowing the migration of information that would ordinarily be restricted within the boundaries of a state. Furthermore, music channels such as MTV have been specifically designed for a global audience, and authentic channels from different countries and therefore cultures have been made available to the worldwide audience.

In terms of the media we now live in a ‘globalised village’, the role of the Internet and satellite television has also allowed for a diverse range of messages to be transmitted across space and time, and subsequently contact or encounters across territories. This variety of information gives the audience the ability to create their own sense of identity, a homogenised culture formed from their own experiences through the media. ‘The more that content is filtered through the national media system, the more it is subject to selection and adapted, re-framed and contextualized to fit local tastes, attitudes and expectations. The chance of ‘culture clash’ is diminished.’ (McQuail 2000:225). Contrast to these forms of global broadcasting, there also exists national broadcasting, culturally specific images and sounds used to create a sense of unity within a nation, encouraging the consumer to identify and imagine themselves as members of a national community. For example in Wales there are welsh speaking channels transmitting traditional and culturally specific programmes in order to create a sense of national identity. This is also true in terms of the Internet, radio and films, as culturally or nationally specific forms are also available to the public. ‘…as a result of new communication technologies which focus on diversified, specialized information, so that the audience becomes increasingly segmented by ideologies, values, tastes, and lifestyles.’ (Castells 1996:368). As a result there is evidence of what K. Robins describes as the global-local nexus both where both globalisation and localisation exist in parallel to each other, this media system is such where not everybody consumes or are audiences to the same thing at the same time, each culture or social group has a specific relationship to the media, but there also exists a standardised mass media.

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