Today we are living in an era of globalization in which media and advertising have crucial roles to play. With the beginning of the new form of market-driven governments, globalization has filtered down to almost all walks of life like media, art, culture, and of course the trade and business practices. Media has indeed emerged as a potent force in the spread of globalization and cultural exchanges. It plays a very important role in telling the people about the values, ideas, opinions, and culture of any country and organization. For this reason, Multi-National Organisations hire Public Relations companies to undertake the task of influencing the communicative practices of individuals and institutions, which in turn influences the people and societies. Some critics argue that this is leading to another form of imperialism known as cultural imperialism. Growth in Information Communication Technology (ICT) has made people dependent on the modern means of communication, thus creating an ‘information society’ in which social interaction becomes dependent on the use of such technology. The political establishment desires to make the best possible use of media in order to fuel their ventures for propagating their ideas amongst the masses.
Therefore the political economy depends on how the advertising and media world is depicting the beliefs and philosophies being propagated by the political establishment. Mosco (1996, 153) states that there’s a growing tendency amongst people to go for products and services advertised on media channels, which in some ways satisfies the esteem needs of the individual besides satisfying the physical needs. The endorsements by celebrities and well-known figures also result in further aggravating this hunger for advertised products. For example, 17% of 700 U.S. consumers surveyed in 2003 said T.V. that ads influenced their car-buying decisions. Ads on Internet search engines influenced 26% of consumers (AdAge, 2003)[1]. Mosco (1996, 153) comments that such developments have started suggesting that, “The process of ‘commodification’ has extended into places and practices that once tended to be organized according to a different social logic, one based on universality, equality, social participation, and citizenship, which, for all of its well-chronicled shortcomings, broadened the grounds of social action now increasingly reduced to a market logic that equates rights with market power.” Commodification as such depicts the manner in which capital is accumulated in capitalism and how the ‘use values’ are transformed into ‘exchange values.’ Commodification researches include[2] studies on class power, media elites, ownership patterns, the audience commodity, and government–lobbyist relationships. These are the
There are different viewpoints on the correctness of the compulsive buying that customers resort to by continuous instigation from the advertisements being aired on television and other media channels. Two of the distinct approaches to the Political Economy of the Media include liberal pluralists and radical Marxists. Lee (2001, 4) states that the radical Marxism approach is basically a top-down approach which is more of an ‘economic’ political economy. This approach happens to be critical of the liberal-capitalist approach. It terms the commodification of the consumer as a distortion of the democratic principles as it leads to resource inequity and cultural distortion. The Marxist analysis denounces the market economy concept and believes that the media under such a regime keeps the people under a state of psychological terror, as these people are under constant attack[3] from a host of media entities like television, print, radio, and Internet.
With globalization, MNCs too require a favorable environment from the political establishment of the concerned region or country. To this end, MNCs try to propagate good words about their business activities and philanthropic activities, which can help in preparing a favorable opinion about the company and its overall objectives. Similarly, the political establishment requires media and industries to help in raising funds for election run ups and other campaigns. Therefore, the mutual relationship amongst media, advertising, and political establishment is quite an intricate one, with dependence of one on the other two in different forms. For example, in earlier times, trading companies used to travel long distances from one continent to other, on the lookout for business opportunities. Gradually, these trading companies would try to influence the political class in different forms, which often resulted in their taking over the reins of those very countries. This way, many trading companies from UK, France and Germany etc. established their colonies in far off places like South Africa, India etc. This is an example of how trade used to be an important factor in deciding the fate of the nation, even during those early days.
With the spread of globalisation, the mutual dependence of media and political economy has become more prominent. While the political establishment in a number of countries require the media to propagate their ideologies amongst the masses, the media too is on the lookout for wider acceptability amongst more number of people and societies. To this end, media requires to have more advertisements, more audience and political patronage to reach out to more areas. With the advent of satellite broadcasting, IPTV, webcasting, internet streaming etc., the reach of media content has indeed gone out of closed area. But just sending out signals to all around the globe doesn’t necessarily ensure the acceptance.
This calls for practical aspects to be taken for and where the areas become somewhat greyish, because of evolving nature of the political economy equations. For broader acceptability amongst the masses, the media must also carry relevant local content together with localised international content. This requires the media houses to adhere to the laws of the land, being acceptable amongst the ruling elite, and means of sourcing the local content, be it on the Internet, television programme, newspaper or a trade journal. This essentially calls for political patronage and tie-ups with business houses. The global advertising players are continuously on the lookout for newer approach roads and methods to align the markets in their favour. Evolving consumer habits and an increasing number of avenues to reach out to the audience has made the task of gaining consumer loyalty much more difficult, though.
“Mass media” as such can be stated to be a perfect combination of ‘Mass’ i.e. the public and ‘media’ i.e. the means of communication, is a deceptively simple yet broad term which encompasses Institutions
as well as individuals. Communication process involves the exchange of information, ideas and attitudes between sources and receivers via a channel or media. This exchange has the potential of affecting the thought process, attitudes and the behaviour of masses in almost all walks of life. The political field is no exception, in fact, in today’s society political arena happens to be the most affected. Today mass communication media has almost saturated the industrialized world and it follows the ‘publics’ everywhere. Living room has the television, outer lawn has the newspaper, car has the radio, mailboxes are full of mailers and journals while office table has the Internet and computer. The penetration is so deep that it won’t be an exaggeration to say that no citizen can escape the news, views, and opinions, in different forms from the mass communication channels. The political field is one such field which encompasses all aspects of our social life, and it is indeed affected the most by media. Media has become an integral part of our lives, and therefore they generate popular interest and debate about any social problem that we can think of. Media prospers and becomes more meaningful in a democratic environment where considerable importance is attached to the independence of the media.
In general mass media plays a very crucial role in influencing the decision making process in different walks of life. For example;
- Mass media can make the political system more ‘transparent’ in the following respects:
- It provides information: Media provides access to government decisions and the decision making process. Media also provides a scope for the public to know as to why the decision taker has taken such a decision.
- It provides scope of Public Participation: Public Participation in political decisions is possible either through fair representation by direct participation or by expressing their opinion and votes during the policy making process.
- Accountability: Media has the ability to hold government officials accountable – either to the legal system or to public opinion – when they violate the law or when they act in ways that adversely affect people’s interests. For example, there are a number of controversies involving political leaders. When media highlights such stories and expresses the general public sentiments, the political leadership has to take note, which has the potential of affecting the political fortunes of the many leaders and political parties.
- The economic aspect too is dependent on the media in different ways. While media needs funds to survive, the industries require wider publicity and establishment of goodwill amongst the consumers for their goods and services. The expenditure on advertisement therefore keeps rising. As per the statistics revealed by Datamonitor (2007, 3), the global advertising market saw a growth of 4.7% in 2006 to reach a value of $70.7 billion. This growth is expected to continue in times to come, and it has been forecasted that by 2011 the global advertising market will be able to reach a value of $90.4 billion, an increase of 28% since 2006. The advertisement market in U.K. also registered robust growth figures during the period of 2002-2006. In U.K., the advertising market generated total revenues of $3.5 billion in 2006, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4% for the period. This growth is directly linked to the growth in the number of media channels, media partnerships, and the penetration of the broadcasting and cable T.V. market. The United Kingdom broadcasting and cable T.V. market grew by 5.1% in 2006 to reach a value of $19 billion.
Communications through mass media can also highlight many sensitive issues related to the welfare of the masses, which in turn forces the political establishment to take cognisance of the issue, thus compelling the political class to take appropriate action on the issue. This, on the one hand, indicates towards the increasing power of the media, while on the other hand it also indicates the vulnerability of the political establishment. At times, industrial houses also try to highlight their side of the story by planting them in the mainstream media in the form of news stories or human interest stories. Such an arrangement requires a delicate balancing act on the part of the industrial house as well as the media house. While the earlier notion about media was to inform, educate and entertain the masses, in the globalised economy, media has acquired the shape of an industry in itself, which explains the mutual interdependence of media, politics, and economy. At times shrewd political parties and politicians manipulate the media to serve their own interests. In fact, now there are media channels/ newspapers set up by political parties/ leaders to influence the public opinion.
Politicians have now realised how important mass media have become towards retaining power and influencing citizens. At times the some actions of the media have generated intense debates. For example, the Public Vs Private life of a political leader issue has generated a lot of heat, like in the case of the sexual habits of Bill Clinton. The run up to the U.S. Presidency is promising to be yet another golden time for media in general, as the points and counterpoints have already started generating the heat. Such issues get both bouquets and brickbats in public opinion. While many people decry the mass media’s increasing intrusion into the private lives of public figures, there are also people who believe that public figures should behave in a manner most appropriate for them in their new role. But in any case, the media stories about the flirtation of President Bill Clinton surely affected his political fortunes, and perhaps to some extent the political aspirations of Hillary Clinton. Well, the final word is yet to be said on the presidential candidature of either Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama, but the ghost of some past demeanour is bound to affect the fortunes of Hillary while Barak Obama has the advantage of no such past (till now at least).
The rivalry to reach out to the maximum number of people through media is also taking a toll on the media industry. Under such circumstances, at times media appears to play a negative role. For example, in view of the cut-throat competition amongst media channels, the breaking news concept may be used by anti-society groups like terrorists in propagating their cause. These organizations spread their message through some sympathizers in the media. In the name of freedom of expression, the media may end up propagating what the terrorists themselves are unable to do. This may influence the tender mindset of teens at times, giving strength to such anti-social elements. At times this results in an unintentional abetment to such anti-social elements.
Media encourages the ordinary citizen for taking part in the political process by making him understand the benefits and ways and means to do so. At times media can make heroes out of ordinary citizens. Media stories also affect the neutral/ inactive citizen to take part in the political process. It makes them understand the value of their ‘one single vote in changing the fate of the government. While highlighting many issues through investigative journalism, media helps in generating healthy debates on sensitive issues. But in sharp contrast to the health related stories being propagated in the media, the advertisements of Alcohol and Cigarette have become quite peculiar for the mainstream media. While such advertisements prove to be money-spinners for the media channel and the industry, the spirited campaigns from NGOs and some governments against the use of Cigarettes in particular is proving to be a difficult task to manage.
In fact, the trend of surrogate advertisements and shadow advertisements has been generating intense ethical debates and dilemmas for the media industry as well as for the respective governments. For example, many Hollywood movies have strategic tie-ups with Cigarette and liquor companies. As per this agreements, some visuals are depicted in the movies which show their respective brands in the gracious company of the well known actors. The cigarette companies while, readily agree to pay good amounts for such visuals, for the filmmaker too it turns out to be a win-win situation. In fact such advertising does not even require the company to go in for segmenting the market and prepare target specific advertisements. The appeal of a film carries a shade of uniformity in its appeal. There are also instances when liquor companies come out with their advertisements in the mainstream media, even if such ads are banned in the media.
In such cases, the liquor companies resort to surrogate advertising i.e., they’d start advertising a similar sounding brand in the form of mineral water or some other beverage, but the connotations of the advertisement are enough to remind the viewer, listener, or the reader about what it means. The internet route is proving to be yet another forceful route to reach out to the audience. The growing number of internet websites, IPTV growth etc have further fuelled the growth of consumerism in general. The global IPTV households are estimated[4] to be around 14 million in 2007, up from 4.7 million in 2006. Such an exponential growth promises to make the internet route much more lucrative in the near future. The European region in particular saw strong growth in IPTV homes, with numbers rising by more than 250%. This region now accounts for nearly 60% of worldwide IPTV households. eMarketer (2008) further projects an overwhelming growth in IPTV households stating that it will be around 61.1 million by the year 2012. Therefore the media scene promises to be much more eventful in the coming years, as the political establishments would surely like to have the power in their hands with the interests of media industrialists interspersed in between.
References
AdAge (2003). Influence of Advertising. Web.
Datamonitor (2007). Global Advertising. Datamonitor, UK, London.
Datamonitor (2007). Broadcasting & Cable T.V. in the United Kingdom-Industry Profile. Datamonitor-UK. London.
eMarketer (2008). European IPTV Homes Skyrocket. Web.
Mosco, Vincent (1996). The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal. Sage Publication. ISBN:0803985614. Web.
Rantanen, Terhi (2005). The Media and Globalization. Sage Publications, ISBN:0761973133. Web.
Shade, Leslie Regan (nd). Political Economy of Communication: Canadian Theorists. Web.