Introduction
In the new wave of globalization, the world has become one small village.
Most importantly the role of the media in reducing both temporal and spatial distance cannot be ignored.
Thanks to the media, events taking place in any corner of the world are relayed to the world audience almost instantly.
This implies that, individuals are becoming like one large family, oblivious of the cultural diversities therein.
As a result, it is apparent that the media has a significant role in facilitating multicultural communication.
Before we can continue with the discussion, it is important to understand how the communication process takes place as depicted in the model below.
As stated above, the role of media seems to be as important as the role of food or clothing nowadays.
People cannot imagine their lives without communication, exchange of information, and search for some answers by means of media.
On this notion, numerous and diverse literature on the interrelationship between the media and multicultural communication is in existence.
However, for the purpose of this task , four distinct, but interrelated articles were selected.
Why these articles?
The first two articles are chosen to reveal the way media changes during long periods of time to meet the needs of society and their views are supported by this video.
Secondly, the articles “Structural Media Pluralism” and “Prologue to the Special Section: Network Multidimensionality in the Digital Age” by Klimkiewicz and Castells and Monge respectively were chosen to shed light on most significant media practice.
How the 4 articles are interlinked
It is imperative to mention that the above articles were to just chosen haphazardly, rather they portray some interconnection as described below.
Mclean provides information on how online media has promoted multicultural sociability as different people from every corner of the world exchange information and their opinion on various issues.
Similarly, Lewis article exposes how the media has downplayed spatial differences and that people from all corners of the world are able to communicate timelessly.
Cultural empathy and the media
McClean (1652) highlight that for communication to be effective the media ought to consider the numerous cultural diversities that exist among its users.
Question and Answer Session
The media facilitates multicultural communication across societies.
Through the media we are able to learn that non-verbal clues are interpreted different in different cultures. Name a few instances when non-verbal clues maybe interpreted otherwise in different cultures.
Conclusion
People cannot stop communicating and using media for different purposes.
Thus the role of the media in promoting online participation and other forums is very significant for multicultural communication.
With the help of the articles considered in this project, it is possible to identify the most appropriate steps in understanding the connection of media and multicultural communication.
Works Cited
Castells, Manuel and Monge, Peter. “Prologue to the Special Section: Network Multidimensionality in the Digital Age.” International Journal of Communication 5 (2011): 788-793.
Klimkiewicz, Beata. “Structural Media Pluralism.” International Journal of Communication 4 (2010): 906-913.
Lewis, David. “The Paradoxes of Time Travel.” American Philosophical Quarterly 13 (1976): 145- 152.
McClean, George. “Multicultural Sociability, Imperfect Forums and Online Participation.” International Journal of Communication 5 (2011): 1649-1668.