Analysis Question #2

Question: "As global journalism faces difficulty in a time of global economic crisis, should nation-states think seriously about revising the global governance of media systems? We know that some markets have exploded into many different channel offerings, even while media conglomeration continues to accelerate. Given what we know about the role of media in culture and conflict, is it time to revisit the older concerns about media ownership and rights of information and communication as discussed in the previous readings?"

Maybe?

I’m still not really sure how I feel about media ownership and rights of information, especially after watching the Disney Copyright Laws video in class last week. On the one hand, I can understand why individuals and companies want to keep what they created to themselves. A lot of time goes into media production, and it is not fair for someone to profit off of something they did not put the time into creating. On the other hand, is it fair for large media conglomerates to make millions of off filing lawsuits against unsuspecting individuals for using their ideas?

I’m still debating that issue over in my head. One issue, however, that I do feel very strong about is media literacy.

As communication technologies advance to allow citizen journalism in the forms of blogging, social networking, etc. traditional objective journalism is on the decline. People of the world should be permitted to say (write, blog, post, comment, upload, etc.) what they want, but we should be encouraged to do so in an original, educated, and respectful way.

Governments globally should advocate for media literacy and media production education. People need to learn at an early age how to determine reliable sources, identify where or from whom a message comes from, and evaluate the effectiveness of a message. People should also learn how to produce media responsibly so there won’t be as much out there to have to weed through.

Global governance of media systems is not something that can have just a one time fix. As Elizabeth C. Hanson discusses in her chapter “the Globalization of Communications” in the Information Revolution and World Politics, media is always converging and changing. The global governance of media systems must be constantly updated to allow for changes and advances in communication technologies.