TEST 3 MMC4300

Journalism in Latin America

As you can see from the map above, the region is all over the place in terms of editorial autonomy. Brazil has the lowest levels, but journalists in Mexico,Argentina and Colombia have quite a bit of personal freedom. As the map above indicates, procedural influences tend to have very little impact on how Latin American journalists say they do their jobs. By contrast, the map below indicates that Latin American journalists feel as though their managers and the owners of their company have quite a bit of influence over there work. As the map below indicates, journalists in much of Latin America (Argentina being the exception) feel as though advertising considerations and profit expectations have a medium to medium-high influence on how they do their jobs. The map below suggests that many journalists in the region feel it's their job to convey a positive image of political leaders and to support government policies. The map below suggests that while many Latin American journalists embrace the watchdog role (especially in Mexico and Colombia), journalists in Brazil think this role is only somewhat important. The map below suggests that although journalists in Mexico and Colombia feel quite a bit of pressure to reach the widest possible audience, journalists elsewhere in the region (especially Argentina) feel less pressure. The final map indicates that journalists in Colombia and Mexico see it as their job to set the political agenda and support national development. Although journalists in other parts of the region don't feel as strongly about this, it's worth noting that nowhere in Latin America take as much of a hands-off approach as do American journalists Journalism in Brazil What follows is a brief look at journalism the Latin America's largest country, Brazil. Much of the information that follows is drawn from a chapter by Heloiza Goldspan Herscovitz in a book titled The Global Journalist in the 21st Century. Herscovitz suggests that "Brazilian journalism operates in an ambiguous framework in tune with the country's ambivalence toward democracy... [in] attempts to control the media far and wide." Brazilian journalists, according to Herscovitz, "pride themselves on being creative in tough circumstances, which is what journalism is all about in transitional Brazil." Brazil's 10 largest newspapers have a combined 2.2 million subscribers. Newspaper readership and advertising revenue have increased in recent years due to increasing literacy rates and a growing middle class. Brazil's literacy rate is 87 percent, but its as low as 70 percent in some rural areas. Due in part to illiteracy, broadcasting is the dominant medium in Brazil. Nearly 95 percent of homes have a TV, and one in four of those homes have a satellite dish. About 82 percent of people have a cell phone. You should download and read the following chapter. Second ChapterPreview the document Once you've read the chapter, please answer the following questions: What does the chapter mean when it says "Brazilian journalism operates in an ambiguous framework"? Explain how a 2002 law changed the landscape of media ownership in Brazil. How have news organizations responded to the fact few journalism schools in the country enjoy good reputations? What's the level of job satisfaction among Brazilian journalists? How does job satisfaction vary by industry? In what sector of journalism are people most likely to say they're very satisfied? What two media roles have become less important to Brazilian journalists over time? Why do these two roles seem to have diminished? Journalism in Argentina What follows is an excerpt from Argentina's country report from the Worlds of Journalism Study. This link is below if you want to red the full report. https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/29696/1/Adriana_Amado_Country_report_Argentina.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. According to Argentinian journalists, technology brought the most important changes in the profession over the last five years: technical skills, the use of search engines and interactions with the audience are the most mentioned options (see Table 5). A large majority of respondents reported an increase in their average working hours. Furthermore, most interviewed journalists felt that their professional freedom and the time available for researching stories had dropped. Another major concern for Argentinian journalists was the decrease in the public credibility in journalism, whereas the respondents held that the relevance of journalism for society has increased. Table 5: Changes in journalism N Percentage saying has "increased" Percentage saying has "decreased" The use of search engines 299 96.7% 1.0% Technical skills 297 79.1% 7.4% Interactions of journalists with their audiences 289 78.9% 6.2% Average working hours of journalists 291 72.5% 4.5% Having a university degree 296 56.8% 9.5% Having a degree in journalism or a related field 297 51.2% 11.8% The relevance of journalism for society 294 46.9% 27.6% Journalists' freedom to make editorial decisions 295 27.1% 40.7% The credibility of journalism 298 18.8% 60.1% Time available for researching stories 293 11.6% 66.2% Journalism in Mexico What follows is an excerpt from Mexico's country report from the Worlds of Journalism Study. This link is below if you want to red the full report. https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/30990/1/Country_report_Mexico.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. The typical journalist in Mexico is male, in his late thirties and primarily holds a university degree in the field of media, communications or journalism. Of the 377 interviewed journalists, a little less than a third (n=120) were female, making for a proportion of 31.8 percent of the overall sample. On average, Mexican journalists were 38.41 years old (s=10.38), with 50% being 37 years old or younger. In fact, nearly a fourth (26.0%) of the respondents were between 21 and 30 years old. Journalists in Mexico tend to be university-educated: 75.1 percent of the respondents hold a Bachelor degree, while 4.5 percent undertook some university studies but did not complete them. Another 11.4 percent hold a postgraduate degree, mostly at the Masters level. Of those respondents who held a university degree, the majority (68.4%) specialized either in journalism, another communication field, or both, but 31.7 percent had specialized in a different field. Professional Ethics Mexican journalists generally demonstrated a strong commitment to professional standards of ethics. The respondents almost unanimously agreed that journalists should always adhere to the codes of professional ethics, regardless of situation and context (see Table 2). However, when broken into more specific stances, the responses were less consensual. Nearly 6 out of 10 interviewees agreed or strongly agreed with the view that what is ethical in journalism depends on the specific situation, whereas a little less than half agreed that their ethical decisions are a matter of personal judgment and nearly 4 in 10 agreed that sometimes it is acceptable to set aside moral standards if extraordinary circumstances require it. However, the high standard deviations suggest that there is considerable variation in level of agreement about these views. The picture was mixed with regards to a selected number of potentially controversial reporting techniques. Less than half of journalists in Mexico think that using confidential business and government documents without authorization or using hidden microphones and cameras is justified at least on occasion. Around three journalists out of ten also think that on occasion, getting employed in a firm or organization to gain inside information, using re-creations or dramatizations of news by actors and claiming to be somebody else could be justified. However, there is nearly no controversial reporting method that journalists feel that is always justified. Table 2: Ethical orientations of journalists N Percentage saying "strongly" and "somewhat agree" Mean Standard Deviation Journalists should always adhere to codes of professional ethics, regardless of situation and context 376 96.0 4.73 .58 What is ethical in journalism depends on the specific situation 374 59.4 3.36 1.44 What is ethical in journalism is a matter of personal judgment 376 44.9 3.00 1.50 It is acceptable to set aside moral standards if extraordinary circumstances require it 375 39.2 2.93 1.46

Cartoon Controversies

Europe has been ground zero for conflict between Muslim extremists and political cartoonists. On more than one occasion, cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed have led to bloodshed. Many Muslims consider it blasphemous to depict the prophet in an unflattering light, and some extremists have responded with violence. In January 2015, the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists who killed a dozen people after the magazine published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed. This was no the magazine's first run in with extremists. Its offices were firebombed in 2011 and in 2014, the French government closed embassies in 20 Muslim countries after the magazine published a dozen images of the prophet. You will find a link below to a story you should read that discusses reaction to that incident. Similar controversies have arisen elsewhere. In 2005, a Danish newspaper caused outrage and violence in large parts of the Muslim world when a dozen of his cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were published. One thing that should be clear from the previous stories is that many media outlets around the world shy away from depicting the Prophet Muhammad. You will find a link below to an article that consider whether that should be the case.

Journalism in Europe

Note: Much of the information that follows comes from one or more chapters of a book called "The Global Journalist in the 21st Century." It's difficult to describe European journalism because there are several different traditions of journalism that still play themselves out to varying degrees. For example, much of Western Europe practices journalism in a way that we would recognize in America. In fact, some have suggested British journalists are even more gung ho about being a watchdog to government than are journalists in America. In other parts of Europe, there is a history of partisan journalism because many newspapers were controlled by political parties or labor organizations. Although that's less frequent these days, there remains a strong tradition of journalism that emphasizes commentary from a particular political perspective. For example, Italian and Greek journalists have been said to practically be politicians themselves. And in Eastern Europe and the former soviet republics, journalists are only slowly transitioning away from the time when they were mouthpieces of the government. Another distinct thing about much of Europe is the degree to which governments controls the broadcast media. The Scandinavian countries tend to have generous subsidies for public broadcasting. As a result, about six in 10 people watch public broadcasting in Denmark. That figure is closer to 2 percent for PBS in America. Plus, there's an expectation the major commercial stations also provide public affairs programming. Another interesting thing is that in Western Europe the major national newscasts are staggered at different times much more so than in the U.S. About three quarters of people in Western Europe watch national TV news more than 4 days a week. Less than 4 in ten Americans do the same. European news tends to have a much better balance of national and international news. British and Finnish TV news have about 50 percent more international news than U.S. broadcasters. All of this seems to play out in what people know. The only area where Americans hold their own is the ability to recognize celebrities. We know less about international news and comparable domestic news. What's interesting is that in Europe, things like education and wealth have very little to do with public affairs knowledge. There are much bigger knowledge gaps in the U.S. In terms of demographics, European journalists are increasingly young and more likely than ever to be female, but men still tend to outnumber women in European newsrooms. For example, seven out of 10 journalists in Belguim are men. What follows is a closer look at journalism in two European countries: Great Britain and Germany. Great Britain Note 1: If you get confused between the use of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, click here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Note 2: Much of the information below is drawn from a chapter by Karen Sanders and Mark Hannah that appears in a book titled "The Global Journalist in the 21st Century." When it comes to journalism, Great Britain offers a little bit of everything. On the one hand, the BBC is arguably the premier news organizations in the world with more news bureaus than any other organization on the planet. But if you want trashy tabloids with naked pictures and reporters who aren't afraid to cut ethical corners to get a story, Britain has that too. For example, Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper is the ninth most read paper in the world in part because of "Page 3 Girls" who often appear in the nude. Britain has 10 national daily newspapers and another eight national Sunday newspapers. It has around 340 local commercial radio stations, most of which are legally obligated to include at least some news coverage. The dominant broadcaster is the BBC, which controls 8 TV channels, 10 national radio stations, 40 local radio stations and BBC Online. According to Sanders and Hannah, "The country's news agenda continues to be set mainly by national newspapers, which are more highly competitive, in terms of breaking news and "exclusives and readership figures, and more truly "national" as a media sector, than their counterparts in other large European countries and in the United States. " The authors note that the BBC often is criticized by whatever political power happens to be in power at the time, but "enjoys wide political consensus" that it should continue to function more or less as it has since its creation. Although the BBC is generally a highly regarded news organization, some critics charge that because the BBC is funded by license fees that are determined by the government, there is a limit to how tough BBC journalists are willing to be on politicians, especially those in the ruling party at any given time. Newspapers tend to have a partisan slant, which "at the best of times, this produces challenging and rigorous reporting; at the worst of times, reporting is scurrilous and invasive and news gathering techniques are frequently condemned as immoral or illegal." In comparison to America, a case can be made that British newspapers are more partisan than American newspapers but British broadcast outlets are less partisan than American TV outlets, at least in terms of American cable outlets. Put another way, the British newspaper the Daily Mail has been compared to Fox News whereas The Guardian newspaper has been likened to MSNBC. British journalists tend to be more likely than British people as a whole to have come from a middleclass or upper-class background. Some fear that this is likely to increase in the future because of the cost of higher education combined with the fact many employers require unpaid internships. "These requirements discriminate against those who cannot draw on parental financial support, and low wages in journalism deter some young people whose families cannot help by funding them in the early stages of their careers." London has been referred to as "a town called sue," because of something known as libel tourism. That is if a potentially libelous story is published in several places, the best place to sue is typically England because English libel law is the opposite of America's in many ways. In the United States, the accuser must prove that the statement in question was false. Public officials also have to prove the statement was made with "reckless disregard" for the truth. In England, the burden of proof rests on the defendant, whose statements are presumed false until he or she can prove they are true. Plus, the accuser need not show actual harm to reputation. In addition to journalists, activists, bloggers and others who post comments on discussion boards have been sued in the recent past. Because of the threat of costly lawsuits, some American newspapers have considered stopping distribution in England and installing firewalls to block access to their web sites in England. Germany Note: Much of the information from this section comes from a chapter by Sigfried Weischenberg, Maja Malik and Armin Scholl in a book titled "The Global Journalist in the 21st Century." The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and East and West Germany became a single country again a year later. The way journalism had been practiced in the two countries had been very different, and journalists in what was formerly East Germany generally adopted a more West-German approach. Weischenberg and colleagues note that the number of media outlets in Germany has increased but the number of journalists has decreased. At the same time, the average number of media outlets a typical freelance journalist works for has increased. "The journalist's job has become more stressful because fewer journalists do more coverage for more media," according to Weischenberg and colleagues. A 2005 survey found that in comparison to 1993, journalists spent an average of 23 fewer minutes a day gathering information and instead spend more time on administrative tasks. Finally, the authors note that, "German journalists as a whole do not mirror demographically the German population as a whole: They usually belong to the middle class, tend to hold political attitudes that are more liberal than those held by the general population..." Finally, don't forget to read the two chapters you were given on the introduction page and make sure you can answer all the questions you were given.

Media Ownership in Latin America

Although there are exceptions, the media in most Latin American countries are privately owned. However, research suggests that these that the relationship between the government and private media has often been one of "mutual support and ideological consensus." In other words, the rich and powerful people who can afford to own media outlets don't always feel a need to rock the boat. And if they take care of the people in power, the thought is that the people in power will take care of them. Author Martin Becerra had this to say: "This has a lot to do with the unequal societies we have built in Latin America, the most inequitable region on the planet. I believe that if control of the media was not so highly concentrated, the situation of inequality in Latin America would be more actively challenged." Even as countries have become more democratic, there hasn't always been a culture in place that would automatically mean journalists were balanced and acted as watchdogs. However, there is an argument that over time companies seek to minimize their risk by being balanced because you never know who's going to win the next election, and you don't want to risk alienating somebody. The fact that most media sectors tend to be controlled by a handful of dominant players means those organizations have a disproportionate amount of power. For example, Mexican broadcasting giant Televisa has been accused of playing favorites more than once. Read more about it here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. In Brazil, media were once controlled by nine wealthy families but now instead are controlled by a small group of corporations. Following a 2002 law that made it possible for foreigners to control up to 30 percent of a Brazilian media company, a number of these corporations have significant foreign investors. The dominant broadcaster in Brazil is the Globo network, which controls 128 radio stations and 122 TV stations. The company has 3,000 journalists that produce 62,000 hours of journalism programming per year. There are hundreds of private broadcast stations in Brazil, but many of them are controlled by politicians because the have influence with the government ministry that hands out licenses. Religious groups also get more than their fair share of broadcast licenses. Argentina-based Clarin Media Group owns Latin America's most widely circulated newspaper as well as other media properties, including television and radio. It also controls Argentina's major supplier of newsprint, which gives it a major advantage over its competitors. Brazil-based Abril Group is the largest magazine publisher in Latin America. The company owns more than 90 magazine titles, including Brazilian versions of Cosmopolitan, Elle and Playboy. However, the company's flagship magazine is Veja, which is the world's third bestselling weekly magazine. The largest media company in all of Latin America is Mexico-based Televisa. The company is produces Spanish-language TV, radio, movies and magazines. Among other things, the company controls four broadcast networks in Mexico. The company's stock is traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Communication Technology in Europe

As a continent, Europe is one of the global leaders in communication technology. For example: It has an internet penetration rate of 80 percent, compared to 53 percent globally. It has 131 mobile connections for every 100 people, compare to a global average of 68. It has a social media penetration rate of 53 percent compared to 42 percent globally, and it has a mobile social penetration rate of 45 percent, compared to 39 percent globally On the other hand, other parts of the world are slowly catching up with Europe. As the charts below show, internet penetration grew by 6 percent in Europe in 2017, compared to 7 percent globally. Both social media penetration and mobile social penetration grew by 8 percent in Europe, compare to 13 and 14 percent growth globally. As you may have noticed in the earlier charts, although Europe has higher than average social media penetration rates, the rates aren't as high as you might expect given how much access there is to the internet. This combined with slower than average growth rates would suggest that Europe much of the rest of the world will soon be spending more time on social media than Europeans do.

Mass Media & Government in Europe

Europe is home to the five freest press systems in the world (and 16 of the top 20), according to Reporters Without Without Borders. Norway is ranked No. 1. Finland is ranked fourth after spending five straight years in the top spot. Freedom House splits European countries into two groups: The first is Eurasia. Although none of these countries are considered free and none has a free press, according to Freedom House, the situation in actually better than several years ago. The second region is Western/Central Europe. Some 86 percent of Western/Central Europeans live in a free country with the 66 percent living in a country with a free press. I've pasted below the relevant regional reports from Freedom House's most recent overall freedom report. Once you've read it, you should be able to answer the following questions. How does the refugee crisis of 2015-2016 continue to influence European politics? Hint: Be sure you can provide specific examples. How did populist leaders is Poland and Hungary continue to consolidate their power? What's going on in Turkey? Hint: Be sure you can go into a fair amount of detail. Explain the following statement: "Perhaps the most alarming threats to democracy in the region involved authoritarian forces reaching across borders to punish their critics." Europe: Right-wing populists win seats and reject democratic values Reverberations from the 2015-16 refugee crisis continued to fuel the rise of xenophobic, far-right parties, which gained ground in elections in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria. Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Front, defeated mainstream presidential candidates with her pledges to suspend immigration and hold a referendum on France's EU membership, though she lost in the second round to centrist newcomer Emmanuel Macron. The Euroskeptic, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany became the first far-right party to enter Germany's legislature since 1945, following a campaign in which its leaders demanded the deportation of "large numbers of refugees" and characterized Islam as incompatible with German identity. In Austria, the similarly Islamophobic Freedom Party finished third in parliamentary elections and entered a governing coalition headed by the conservative People's Party. In the Netherlands, the notoriously xenophobic Party for Freedom chipped away enough support from mainstream parties to finish second, becoming the parliament's primary opposition group. In Hungary and Poland, populist leaders continued to consolidate power by uprooting democratic institutions and intimidating critics in civil society. Smears of the opposition appeared in public media in both countries, and both passed laws designed to curb the activities of nongovernmental organizations. Poland's ruling party also pressed ahead with an effort to assert political control over the judiciary, adopting laws that will affect the Supreme Court, the local courts, and a council responsible for judicial appointments. Events in the Western Balkans demonstrated a need for continued engagement in the region by major democracies. In Macedonia, mediation by Washington and Brussels helped resolve a years-long political crisis, paving the way for a new, democratically elected government. But in Serbia, EU leaders' tolerance of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić's authoritarian tendencies allowed him to further sideline the opposition and undermine what remains of the independent media after winning the country's presidency in April. Turkey moves to 'Not Free' Turkey's passage over the threshold from Partly Free to Not Free is the culmination of a long and accelerating slide in Freedom in the World. The country's score has been in free fall since 2014 due to an escalating series of assaults on the press, social media users, protesters, political parties, the judiciary, and the electoral system, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fights to impose personalized control over the state and society in a deteriorating domestic and regional security environment. Erdoğan has pushed out his rivals and former allies within the ruling party, reshaped media ownership to fit his needs, and rammed through an unpopular constitutional referendum to create a "super-presidential" system without meaningful checks and balances. His response to the July 2016 coup attempt has become a sprawling witch hunt, resulting in the arrest of some 60,000 people, the closure of over 160 media outlets, and the imprisonment of over 150 journalists. The leaders of the third-largest party in the parliament are in prison, and nearly 100 mayors across the country have been replaced through emergency measures or political pressure from the president. The government has even pressed its crackdown beyond Turkey's borders, triggering a flood of Interpol "red notice" requests to detain critics abroad, among other effects. Eurasia: Some doors open as others close Observers have long speculated about the problems and opportunities posed by presidential succession in Central Asia, where a number of entrenched rulers have held office for decades. In Uzbekistan, speculation turned into cautious optimism in 2017, as the country's new administration—formed following the 2016 death of longtime president Islam Karimov—took steps toward reform. Among other moves, the government ended forced labor in the annual cotton harvest for some segments of the population, and announced plans to lift the draconian exit-visa regime and make the national currency fully convertible. The new administration has also granted more breathing room to civil society; some local groups reported a decrease in state harassment, and a Human Rights Watch delegation was allowed to enter Uzbekistan for the first time since 2010. In other parts of the region, however, governments sought to stave off change. In Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, heavily flawed voting highlighted the continuing erosion of democratic norms surrounding elections. The dominant parties in both countries relied on harassment of the opposition, voter intimidation, and misuse of administrative resources to maintain a grip on power. In Armenia's case, the blatant electoral misconduct stands at odds with the country's pursuit of a closer relationship with the European Union, with which it signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement in November. Perhaps the most alarming threats to democracy in the region involved authoritarian forces reaching across borders to punish their critics. Exiled Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was kidnapped in Tbilisi by men who allegedly spoke Georgian, then transported across the border to Azerbaijan, raising concerns that Georgian authorities were complicit in the abduction. In Ukraine, a prominent Chechen couple who were fierce opponents of Vladimir Putin and supported Ukraine in the Donbas conflict fell victim to an assassination attempt that killed one and injured the other. Numerous plots against politicians were also reported during the year, with Ukrainian authorities mostly pointing the finger at Russian security services. I've pasted below the Eurasia and Europe regional reports included in Freedom House's most recent press freedom report. When you're done reading, please answer the following questions: In what ways has the Russian government attempted to further control the internet? What's going on in Georgia? How are libel lawsuits in Kyrgyztan shaking things up? What happened in Hungary? What happened in Turkey? Eurasia The Russian (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. government took further steps to control the internet, adopting new legislation banning VPNs that can be used to circumvent censorship, a law requiring messaging applications and other online services to identify their users, a law barring foreign ownership of telecommunications services in Russia, and a new government strategy calling for all information infrastructure to be consolidated under state control by 2030. Separately, an investigative journalist was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for "extremist" actions and attempting to overthrow the authorities. Georgia's (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. media landscape has been shaken by an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the opposition-oriented television outlet Rustavi 2, which has led to financial difficulties for the station; a more progovernment editorial policy at Georgia's public broadcaster; and the extrajudicial abduction of an Azerbaijani journalist with the apparent assistance of Georgian security services. In Kyrgyzstan (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., the courts levied large fines against journalists and media outlets as a result of defamation suits filed on behalf of outgoing Kyrgyzstani president Almazbek Atambayev and his successor, Sooronbay Jeenbekov. In August 2017, a district court ordered the closure of Sentyabr TV, one of the few media outlets that was openly critical of the authorities. Europe In Hungary (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., wealthy businesspeople associated with the ruling Fidesz party acquired most of the last bastions of independent journalism, including the leading online newspaper and all remaining regional newspapers. The purchases went forward without objections from the Hungarian Competition Authority or the Media Council. Turkey (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. remained the world's worst jailer of journalists, with 73 behind bars as of December, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The government permanently blocked Wikipedia in late April 2017, and 17 journalists from an opposition newspaper were tried on charges of aiding a terrorist organization. In Serbia (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., the newspaper Danas suffered a rapid cancelation of advertising contracts after it failed to support Aleksandar Vučić's successful candidacy in the 2017 presidential election, while progovernment media were bolstered by front-page advertisements purchased by the ruling party.

Advertising in Europe

European Advertising As you'll see in the chart below, Western Europe has the third largest advertising market in the world after North America and the Asia Pacific regions. You'll note that Western Europe's market share has shrunk somewhat in recent years. By contrast, advertising revenue in Central/Eastern Europe is small but growing. (Note: The chart only covers digital advertising but the trends mentioned above hold for overall ad spending.) As you'll see in the chart below, the United Kingdom is the by far the biggest advertising market in Western Europe, followed by Germany and France. As the chart below indicates, the top three in overall advertising are also the top three in in social media advertising. Interestingly, Spain jumps up to the fourth spot. As the chart below indicates, advertising revenue in Western Europe is growing slower than the global average but advertising revenue in Central and Eastern Europe is growing faster than the global average. Finally, here are links to an article and a video that make comparisons between American and European advertising. As always, you will be held accountable for the content. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/07/business/forum-why-european-ads-are-more-amusing.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. If the link above doesn't work, here's a PDF of the articlePreview the document. One you've read the article, you should answer the following questions: How do European ads differ from American ads? What trend does the author identify as the explanation and how has this had a "deadening effect" on American advertising? What's the difference between a "motivating" and a "discriminating" argument? For which type of argument does humor work better? What explains market fragmentation in America? Does the author suggest over time that American advertising is more likely to become like European advertising or that European advertising is more likely to become like American. What's the reasoning? Here's a brief video that explores the differences between American and European advertising. The explanation for differences addressed in the article above doesn't seem to be at play here. You should give some thought to what you think explain the difference in the video. Comparing European vs American commercials; Seatbelt (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Government & Mass Media in Latin America

In the region Freedom House calls the Americas, 69 percent of people live in a free country and 40 percent of people live in a country with a free press. There is one Latin American country (Costa Rica) in Reporters Without Borders' Top 10 and one Latin American country (Cuba) in the Bottom 10. Violence against journalists has been a major problem in recent years. RWB estimates that at least 88 journalists were killed between 2000 and 2013. I don't have updated numbers, but suffice it to say the problem continues. Mexico tied for the second deadliest country in the worlds in 2017 with 14 journalists killed. The problem is so bad a newspaper in Mexico in 2012 announced it would no longer carry stories about organized crime in an attempt to shield its journalists from reprisals. Although one thing that makes it so dangerous to be a journalist in Mexico is drug violence, Reporters Without Borders noted in 2010 that the government plays a role as well: "The threats to news organisations fail to elicit an adequate response from the authorities, who are often implicated themselves. It is very dangerous for the media, especially the local media, to try to cover allegations of government corruption, collusion with drug traffickers or human rights violations by the police or armed forces. A recent study by Article 19 and the National Centre for Social Communication (Cencos), a Mexican NGO, blamed 65 per cent of the attacks on the press on the authorities, and only 6.15 per cent on organised crime." Although the problem of violence against journalists is perhaps at its worst in Mexico, as the article here Links to an external site. suggests, this is a problem that has existed in a number of Latin American countries for a number of years. I've pasted below the relevant portion of Freedom House's most recent report on overall freedom. When you're done reading, you should answer the following questions: In what way have events in Ecuador "demonstrated the potential for regular elections and transfers of power to disrupt authoritarian entrenchment"? What happened in Argentina? Overall, does Freedom House say the region is headed in the right or wrong direction? Defend your answer. What happened in Nicaragua? Americas: Gains and declines show value of electoral turnover Despite the decline in democracy worldwide in 2017—and Venezuela's continued descent into dictatorship and humanitarian crisis—the Americas region displayed some signs of resilience. Under new president Lenín Moreno, Ecuador turned away from the personalized and often repressive rule of his predecessor, Rafael Correa. Moreno has eased pressure on the media, promoted greater engagement with civil society, proposed the restoration of term limits, and supported anticorruption efforts, including a case against his own vice president. Moreno had been Correa's chosen successor, but his unexpectedly reformist stance once again demonstrated the potential for regular elections and transfers of power to disrupt authoritarian entrenchment. Meanwhile, under a new administration that took office in late 2015, Argentines benefited from a freer press as part of the country's recovery from the authoritarian tendencies of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. In Colombia, more citizens could enjoy basic due process rights as the government implemented reforms to limit pretrial detention and continued to expand its territorial control under a 2016 peace agreement with left-wing rebels. Nevertheless, declines outpaced gains in the region as a whole in 2017. In Honduras, after an early presidential vote count favored the opposition candidate, a belatedly updated total handed victory to the incumbent, prompting protests, curfews, and calls for a new election. In Bolivia, the constitutional court—which had been elected through a highly politicized process—struck down term limits that would have prevented incumbent leader Evo Morales from seeking reelection. Voters had rejected the lifting of term limits in a 2016 referendum, and international observers called the court's reasoning a distortion of human rights law. Nicaragua carried out deeply flawed municipal elections that favored the party of President Daniel Ortega, and the government enacted judicial reforms that further centralized state authority and shifted power from juries to judges. Separately, Mexico was shaken by new revelations of extensive state surveillance aimed at journalists and civil society activists who threatened to expose government corruption and other wrongdoing. https://rsf.org/en/news/community-media-under-attack-three-countries

Owners Influencing Content

It has been said that the power of the press belongs to he or she who owns the press. That may be a slight exaggeration, but there's a good deal of truth to this statement. Media owners, such as News Corp's Rupert Murdoch, can use their empires to help further both their commercial and political interests. As the article below makes clear, this power is exercised in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. After reading the article, you should be able to do the following: Explain what the author means by "by phone and by clone" and by "participatory compliance. Offer specific examples of how News Corp. has used its extensive media holdings to promote its own interests and hurt its competitors. Explain what the author means when he says "public interest obligations" should be in place in return for a media merger being approved. https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/sep/11/leveson-inquiry-rupert-murdoch

Mass Media in Japan

Japan has a long history of government secrecy and press restrictions, but that largely came to an end of World War II, when Japan's constitution was rewritten to include (among other things) freedom of the press. About that same time, several universities began journalism departments that were heavily influenced by the American way of doing things. But as you'll see, the Japanese media system is far from a carbon copy of the American system. Before going further, I should acknowledge that much of the information here is drawn from a chapter on Japan written by Shinji Oi, Mitsuru Fukuda and Shinsuke Sako that appeared in a book titled The Global Journalist in the 21st Century. One thing that is unique about the Japanese press system is the Kisha Club system. Much of the information that the Japanese government and major organizations put out to journalists is only made available at these press clubs. There are about 800 clubs in Japan (typically set up in a government office or some other official place), and only members of the club have access to the information. And clubs determine collectively what things individual journalists may report. News organizations must pay dues to belong to the clubs, which exclude freelance journalists and foreign correspondents. Critics of the Kisha system say that journalists get too chummy with their sources. Oi and colleagues described it this way: "The Kisha clubs operate as a kind of cartel for news based on close relationships between journalists and sources. This brings traditionally bland and homogeneous journalism." Among other things, this means there is very little investigative reporting and Japanese journalists tend not to try and scoop one another. The club system, combined with demographic attributes of Japanese journalists, tends to shape their view of the world. "Generally speaking, Japanese journalists are elite, well-educated, and high-income earners compared with ordinary citizens," according to Oi and colleagues. "Because journalists belonging to Kisha clubs, for example, often spend most of their waking hours working sources, it is difficult for them to keep in personal touch with the public on a daily basis. Such factors may contribute to journalists' low estimation of their audiences." Based on survey data, most Japanese journalists believe that their two most import roles are to provide accurate information and to serve as a government watchdog. However, Oi and colleagues say there is a difference between what journalists think they should do and what they actually do. "Although the watchdog role is considered an important media function, only about one-third of Japanese journalists believe they actually fulfill this function." The authors also note that most journalists view their relationships with government sources as "symbiotic rather than antagonistic." Generally speaking, Japanese journalists don't see it as their role to seek social justice, arouse public opinion or to be a voice for the voiceless. This perhaps speaks to something known as fuhen futo, or the "principle of neutrality." Most western journalists subscribe to the idea that they ought to be objective and impartial, but Oi and colleagues suggest fuhen futo goes beyond that. "Objectivity is an assertion that facts should be reported fairly and in as balanced a way as possible. The principle of fuhen futo demands more. It states that journalists not only should be impartial observers or bystanders of events, but also should not take sides in analytical stories or editorial stories." The authors note that the policy is often used to avoid criticizing those who are in power. Despite recent declines in newspaper readership, Japan still has five newspapers that reach 1 million readers each. This means Japanese newspapers have higher penetration rates than nearly any other country in the world. Japan is the second most wired country on the continent and the eighth most connected country in the world. Virtually everybody in Japan has access to television, and the Japanese TV market is served by both public and commercial stations. The NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, which translates as the Japanese Broadcasting Corp.) is similar to the BBC in England. It's funded by a tax on television sets that's used to fund 54 local stations as well as national satellite TV and radio networks. In addition to NHK, there are five national commercial TV networks. Each of these networks has a working relationship with one of the five leading newspapers in the country.

Mass Media & Government in Asia

Mass Media & Government in Asia Government and Mass Media in Asia According to Freedom House, 38 percent of people in the Asia-Pacific region reside in a free country, but only 5 percent of people reside in a country with a free press. The only Asia-Pacific country in Reporters Without Borders' Top 10 is New Zealand at No. 8. By contrast, Viet Nam, China and North Korea all rank in the Bottom 10, with North Korea holding down the bottom spot. I've pasted below what Freedom House has to say about the Asia-Pacific region. When you're done reading, you should answer the following questions: What happened in Cambodia? What happened in Hong Kong. What does it have to do with sporting events? Which country did FH list as the one bright spot? What happened there? What happened in Myanmar? Who are the Rohingya? Asia-Pacific: Antidemocratic forces on the march Repressive regimes in Asia continued to consolidate their power in 2017, while marginalized communities faced dire new threats. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen oversaw a decisive crackdown on the country's beleaguered opposition and press corps as his Cambodian People's Party prepared for national elections in 2018. The politicized Supreme Court dissolved the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, and party leader Kem Sokha was charged with treason. In a series of blows to free expression, the authorities shuttered the independent Cambodia Daily, pushed several radio stations off the air, and announced that sharing criticism of the government on social media was a crime. The Communist Party leadership in Beijing exercised ever-greater influence in Hong Kong as it attempted to stamp out growing public support for local self-determination. Four prodemocracy lawmakers were expelled from the legislature on the grounds that their oaths of office were "insincere," making it easier for progovernment forces to pass major legislation and rules changes. In addition, the government obtained harsher sentences against three prominent protest leaders, and the Chinese legislature annexed a law criminalizing disrespect of the national anthem—which is often booed by Hong Kong soccer fans—to the territory's Basic Law, effectively compelling the local legislature to draft a matching measure. In Myanmar, the military's brutal campaign of rape, mutilation, and slaughter aimed at the Rohingya minority forced over 600,000 Rohingya to flee the country. The crisis, and the civilian leadership's failure to stop it, underscored severe flaws in the country's hybrid political system, which grants the military enormous autonomy and political power. The Maldives suffered from acute pressure on freedom of speech and dissent in 2017. The murder of prominent liberal blogger Yameen Rasheed had a chilling effect, encouraging people to self-censor rather than speak out against religious extremism. Moreover, the military was used to block opposition efforts to remove the speaker of parliament, and a number of lawmakers were ousted for defecting from the ruling party. In a bright spot for the region, Timor-Leste, one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, conducted fair elections that led to a smooth transfer of power. The process helped to consolidate democratic development in the country and allowed new parties and younger politicians to gain seats in the parliament. Ethnic cleansing in Myanmar Myanmar has a long history of persecuting the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim community of more than a million people living in western Rakhine State. In August 2017, the military reacted to attacks from a small armed faction of the Rohingya by launching a violent campaign against civilians that many in the international community have described as ethnic cleansing. Over 600,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh, reporting widespread arson, rape, and mass murder by military personnel. These horrific events underscored how far Myanmar still is from becoming a democracy. In 2015, voters elected a civilian leadership after decades of military rule. However, under a hybrid political system created by the outgoing regime, the military retains immense power and autonomy. It continues to use brutal tactics to fight multiple ethnic insurgencies, and its campaign in Rakhine State is supported by radical Buddhist leaders who portray the Rohingya as a menace to national unity and security. I've pasted below Reporters Without Borders' most recent Asia-Pacific report. Once you're done reading, you should answer the following questions: What's going on in North Korea? What's going on in China? How is what's going on in China spreading? What topics are off limits for bloggers in Viet Nam and what's the penalty? What challenges do foreign correspondents as well as journalists from Myanmar face when it comes to trying to cover ethnic cleansing? How is what's going on in India similar to what's going on in Myanmar? What is primarily responsible for India's low ranking? What's going on in the Philippines? Which country saw the biggest increase in the region? Why? What's the big news regarding media consolidation in New Zealand? The Chinese model of state-controlled news and information is being copied in other Asian countries, especially Vietnam and Cambodia. North Asia's democracies are struggling to establish themselves as alternative models. Violence against journalists is increasingly worrying in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. The Asia-Pacific region still has the world's worst violator of the freedom to inform: North Korea (180th). The recent widespread adoption of smartphones in North Korea has unfortunately been accompanied by draconian control of communications and the national intranet. The state news agency KCNA is the only authorized source of news for all of the country's media. Just reading, viewing, or listening to a foreign media outlet can lead to a spell in a concentration camp. More censorship and surveillance in China Unchanged at 176th in the Index, Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism. During President Xi's first term (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., censorship and surveillance reached unprecedented levels thanks to the massive use of new technology. Foreign reporters are finding it harder to work (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and ordinary citizens can now be jailed just for sharing content on a social network or during a private chat on a messaging service. More than 50 professional and non-professional journalists are currently detained in China, many of them the victims of mistreatment and a lack of medical care (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. that poses a threat to their lives. Liu Xiaobo (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., a Nobel peace laureate and recipient of RSF's Press Freedom Prize, and the dissident blogger Yang Tongyan (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. both died last year from cancers that were left untreated in detention. Internationally, the Chinese government is trying to establish a "new world media order" under its influence (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., by exporting its oppressive methods, information censorship system and Internet surveillance tools. Its unabashed desire to crush all pockets of public resistance unfortunately has imitators in Asia. Under Chinese influence This is particularly so with Vietnam, which at 175th is just one place above China in the Index. Its traditional media are completely controlled, but citizen-journalists defend the freedom to inform with great courage, and the government's response (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. has been merciless (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Bloggers used to be sentenced to two years in prison, but now those who blog about banned subjects such as corruption or environmental disasters can expect a (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.15 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.-year jail term (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Cambodia, another country that seems to be taking the dangerous Chinese road, has fallen 10 places in the Index to 142nd, one of the biggest falls in the region. Prime Minister Hun Sen's regime launched a ruthless offensive (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. against media freedom in 2017, shutting down more than 30 independent media outlets (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and jailing several journalists in a completely arbitrary manner. His suppression of independent voices, his increased dominance of the mass media and his meticulous control of social media are a disturbing echo of the methods used in China, which has invested millions of euros in Cambodia's pro-government media. The Chinese model's influence is also felt by the media in Thailand (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (140th), Malaysia (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (145th) and Singapore (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (151st). Hate speech The other fall in the region that speaks volumes is Myanmar's (down six places at 137th). In the past year, the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has lost all credibility (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. as regards its obligation to defend the role of the media in a functioning democracy. The worst violations took place after the start of the Rohingya crisis in August 2017. The international community now knows that "elements of genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" occurred, to use the UN's terms. But proper reporting on this tragedy from within Myanmar is still impossible because the military continue to deny access. Two Reuters reporters who tried to investigate are still in prison (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Myanmar's coverage of the Rohingya crisis has been marked by the growth of hate messages on social networks, especially Facebook (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Any journalist who does not fall in with the prevailing anti-Muslim discourse is subjected to violent verbal harassment (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. by Buddhist extremists. This has done much to encourage self-censorship within the media. Leaders hostile to press freedom Hate speech is also an issue in the continent's other giant, India (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., which has fallen another two places to 138th. Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, Hindu fundamentalists have been referring to journalists in extremely violent terms. Any investigative reporting that annoys the ruling party or any criticism of Hindutva, an ideology that blends Hindu nationalism with an almost fascistic rhetoric, elicits a torrent of online insults and calls for the death of the reporter or writer responsible (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., most of it coming from the prime minister's troll army. This unbridled verbal violence serves to support a leader who asserts himself as a strongman, a leader whose authority does not tolerate being undermined by reporters or editorialists. As elsewhere in the world in 2017, this verbal violence has tragically led to physical violence. The newspaper editor Gauri Lankesh was gunned down (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. outside her home in September after being the target of hate speech and death threats for criticizing Hindu supremacy, the caste system and discrimination against women. The physical violence against journalists is largely responsible for India's low ranking. At least three journalists were murdered in connection with their work (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. More were killed in circumstances that were unclear (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., as is often the case in rural areas, where reporters are poorly paid. The situation in the Kashmir Valley, a news black hole (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., contributed to the poor ranking of a country whose long tradition of vibrant media could nonetheless enable it to rise again in the Index. In the Philippines, down six places at 133rd, the dynamism of the media has also been checked by the emergence of a leader who wants to show he is all powerful. President Rodrigo Duterte lost no time in warning the "sons of ***** journalists" that they would not be spared. There have been countless examples of Philippine government harassment (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. of media that voice any kind of criticism (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. of Duterte's "war on drugs." Here again, verbal violence and physical violence are closely linked. With four journalists murdered in connection with their work in 2017, the Philippines is one of the continent's deadliest countries (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Physical violence The high level of violence to which reporters are exposed in Pakistan (139th) accounts for its failure to rise in the Index.What with death threats, abduction (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and torture, journalists are still threatened (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. by both Islamic fundamentalists on the one hand and by the all-powerful intelligence services on the other. Violence is even more worrying in neighbouring Afghanistan (118th), where 18 journalists and media workers were killed in 2017. It nonetheless rose two places in the Index, above all because of an improvement in the legal environment (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. with the creation of coordinating committees for the safety of journalists and media. These committees handled around 100 cases in the past year, with the result that in some cases sanctions were imposed on senior civilian and military officials. Similarly, the efforts undertaken in Sri Lanka to combat physical attacks against media personnel and impunity for acts of violence against journalists account for its 10-place rise in the Index to 131st. Democracies that resist Despite an overall improvement in the media environment in Mongolia, pressure on the media during the presidential election accounts for its slight fall (down two places at 71st). Japan's rise (up five places at 67th) reflects a relative easing in pressure on the media from Shinzo Abe's nationalist government, although journalists are still constrained by the weight of tradition and business interests. Hong Kong (70th) and Taiwan (42nd) each rose three places, resisting China's growing influence in their different ways. South Korea (up 20 places at 43rd) rose more than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. After a terrible decade, the new president, Moon Jae-in, has brought a breath of fresh air that helped resolve a conflict (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. between journalists and management at the public broadcasting service. Structural problems still need addressing, including decriminalizing defamation and repealing a national security law that continues to threaten journalists. Near the top of the Index, Australia has not budged from 19th place, above all because media ownership continues to be highly concentrated. Simple legal safeguards would nonetheless have allowed it rise a few places. This was the case in New Zealand, which is up five places at 8th. The authorities blocked a proposed merger between the country's two biggest media groups, thereby providing media pluralism and independence with new guarantees. At the same time, investigative reporting should soon be strengthened by a law protecting whistleblowers. A good example to follow

Mass Media in China

Mass Media in China China has more broadcast TV stations than any other country in the world, and it has more than 2,000 newspapers and another 9,000 magazines. Until the last few decades, all Chinese media were owned and controlled by the state. Even now, most media are owned by the government or the communist party. However, even government owned media outlets are expected to pay their own way through advertising revenue. China is controlled by the Communist Party of China. If you want to get ahead in virtually any job, you have to be a member of the party in good standing. But while there remains very little political freedom, the government has increasingly open up business. Whereas key industries used to be owned by the government, there's now a much greater reliance on private enterprise. Suddenly, there are lots and lots of business opportunities and a growing middle class in a country that just so happens to be the largest on the planet. It wasn't until 1979 that media were even allowed to sell advertising. In the last three decades, advertising has gone from nonexistent to ubiquitous. Over the last 30 years, advertising in China has grown by an average of 35 percent a year. This growth has been fueled by a couple things. The first is China's growing middle class, which has money to spend on products and services that are advertised. The second is that China has deregulated various business sectors and allowed more competition, firms in those sectors have had a greater need to compete for customers. Of course, media revenues in America are about six and a half times larger than those of China despite the fact China has one-fifth of the world's population. It's remarkable to think that 34 years ago there was no advertising revenue in China, and today 80 percent of all media income comes from advertising. The Chinese people have a voracious appetite for news and information. That's in part because they lived in a closed society for so long. Chinese news consumers have had to become sophisticated and to get their news from multiple sources. They use the state media to find out the government's current policy and commercial media and the Internet to figure out what's really going on. This is particularly true during a crisis. Even when bad news is reported, it's often downplayed. Information on a mine accident might wait until the last sentence to mention the number of dead. That's the sort of info that would be in the headline and lead in most other countries. China has always been a very collectivist culture. That appears to be changing as advertising and the consumer culture emerge. However, it's still the case that advertising in China is less likely to focus on individualistic aspects of a product or service. China has the largest censorship apparatus of any government in history and reportedly spends billions of dollars to control information. China is rated as "not free" by Freedom House and falls just outside the worst of the worst. In 2010, two journalists received life sentences not for their deeds but their words. But many have suggested that the government is fighting a losing battle, Freedom House put it this way: "It is noteworthy that despite such pressures and often at great personal risk, many of China's bloggers, journalists, legal professionals, workers, petitioners, and members of minority groups continued to push the limits of permissible activity in increasingly sophisticated ways." An interesting dichotomy about China is that on the one hand the government is becoming more transparent and tolerant of at least some journalism. But on the other hand, it spends massive amounts of time, money and energy on censorship. In general, the government seems ambivalent toward the media. On the one hand, the government recognizes that you can't have a vibrant economy or even understand what's going on in your own country without a vibrant media. On the other hand, it understands that watchdog journalists and freedom of expression could ultimately bring a change in government. Some suggest that every year China comes up with another reason to restrict freedom of expression. In 2008, Beijing cited the need for security during the Olympic Games as the reason for its crackdown on dissident intellectuals, journalists, and others. In 2009, the rationale for repression was the need for order surrounding the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Communist Party's seizure of power. In 2010, the authorities' mobilization was presented as a response to the supposed hostility behind the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. The relationship between the government and media isn't entirely adversarial. The media do serve as an early warning system for officials. If problems are identified soon enough, they can be dealt with before large scale unrest. A number of high ranking officials have been fired over the last decade after scandals brought to light by investigative reporting. China has 33 provinces, and corruption is rampant at the local level. The media serve as watchdogs for the central government. Of course, the local governments do what they can to shut things down. Interestingly, regional newspapers often report on corruption outside of their local area. Often, it's local journalists who do the reporting and then e-mail it to somebody in another region who can write it. In other words, journalists can help hold government officials accountable just as long as those officials don't have direct control over them. The first TV station was launched in 1958 with the express goal of promoting the government and party agenda. There are 2,262 broadcast stations in China, more than any other country in the world. Every single station if affiliated with some level of government. All stations have to give a portion of their advertising revenue back to the government. Competition for ratings has become fierce. But because of the power of TV to reach large audiences, stations are censored to a greater degree than other media. For example, a talk show that discussed homosexuality was shutdown even though the topic is widely discussed on the Internet. The government a few years back came up with a moral code it called the 8 Honors and 8 Shames that identified good and bad behaviors and all stations were forced to promote it. On one American Idol type show, all eight finalists sang the theme song. The government keeps a particularly close eye on the internet. For one thing, China essentially has its own version of the internet because of what's know as the Great Firewall of China. People in China can communicate with one another but are largely cut off from the outside world. Then there's the fact that every person in China needs an identification code to log onto the internet, which means there's no such thing as anonymity as far as the government is concerned. Lest anybody forget, cartoon figures pop up on the Internet to remind people that the government is watching what they read and write on the Internet. Finally, there's something called the 50 Cent Army. These People are paid that amount to post pro-government comments on websites. The Internet drives a good deal of the content in traditional media. One reason is that if a story is already on the Internet, then editors feel a little more emboldened to cover it themselves. It's also the fact that China is a massive place and no news organization can possibly know everything that's going on. By watching what non journalists are posting (and what people are already talking about and commenting on), journalists find stories they might no otherwise know about. For example, in the summer of 2006 a student posted pictures of parents of incoming freshmen who'd come to drop off their kids sleeping in doorways and on sports fields because they couldn't find affordable hotel rooms. Two days later, the Being News do a story, which prompted a larger debate about access to education. More than 60 articles and editorials appeared in a variety of publications over the next month. Some have argued that Chinese Media are in a "Strategizing Phase," where they try to figure out ways to push the boundaries of what's allowed and to build audiences. Gone are the days when journalists obediently do what the government and party officials want them to do. One area where Chinese Media have changed and grown dramatically is the area of business journalisms. This includes business journalism in traditional newspapers and magazines as well as business publications and websites. As China has moved to more of a market-based economy, there has been a much larger demand for business information. If you want to make money, timely and accurate information is crucial. Interestingly, the government has show much less inclination to censor business information than other types of information. The government seems to understand that financial markets work best when there's transparency. Investors want to feel like they have all the facts before they invest in something. Interestingly, business publications seem to have wider latitude than others to cover broader events such as natural disasters and government corruption that could influence the financial markets. As Ann Cooper-Chen and Yu Leon Liang write in a chapter in a book titled "New Media For a New China," "Television plays a quintessential role in the lives of virtually every Chinese." More than 96 percent of people have access to TV, and most watch several hours a day. What's remarkable about this is that when the first TV network was launched in 1958, there were only about 30 TV sets on which to watch it. The dominant network is China Central Television, which has 16 channels and reaches the entire country. References to sex and violence are generally censored. And if there ever is any violence, the bad guys must eventually pay. The government limits the amount of foreign content that can be shown, but American shows such as "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "ER" have been broadcast. But what happens more often than not is that Chinese producers rip off an idea from another country without paying any royalties. Game shows and other forms of reality television are hugely popular. In fact one critic noted that "the curse of Chinese TV, apart from being state-controlled and defacto censored, is the proliferation of stupid low-budget 'reality' shows." In terms of media ownership in China, one increasingly major player is the Alibaba Group. Alibaba is one of the 10 largest companies in the entire world and when it began selling stock on the New York Stock Exchange a few years back it had the largest initial public offering in history up to that point. The company initially began as China's alternative to eBay but it's expanded well beyond that. In a Harvard Business Review article, author Ming Zing described the company this way: "Alibaba today is not just an online commerce company. It is what you get if you take all functions associated with retail and coordinate them online into a sprawling, data-driven network of sellers, marketers, service providers, logistics companies, and manufacturers. In other words, Alibaba does what Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Google, FedEx, wholesalers, and a good portion of manufacturers do in the United States, with a healthy helping of financial services for garnish." You should watch the following video about Alibaba. What is Alibaba? | CNBC Explains (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. What is Alibaba? | CNBC Explains Once you're done, you should answer the following questions: Where did Alibaba begin and how many countries does it operate in? Who founded Alibaba? What are his ambitions? Alibaba has various ways it profits on any transaction. Explain. To what extent is the company's founder investing around the world? Although Alibaba is still typically described an as an online retailer, it increasingly finds itself competing with media companies. You should read the following article (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Once you're done, you should answer the following questions: Describe Alibaba's "second mandate." When did it enter the media space? Describe the company's three pronged approach. Describe how Alibaba hos multiple ways to monetize a single media product. How does data play into all of this? If the link above doesn't work, copy the url below and paste it into your browser. https://www.alizila.com/alibaba-e-commerce-entertainment/ (Links to an external site.)

Mass Media in India

Mass Media in India India is the world's largest democracy and is rated a free by Freedom House. However, Reporters Without Borders notes that journalists and bloggers do face serious challenges. Economically, India is one of the four BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which refers to fast growing and developing economies. India has a huge population, and it's adding 15 million people added each year. More than a quarter of the population is under 15. Although India has an emerging economy, there are still many challenges when it comes to operating a media company. For example, there are 16 official languages, and approximately 1,000 dialects. The dialect changes every 60 miles or so. You can imagine what a challenge that poses to media companies. Add in the fact that literacy rates are still relatively low and the country is one of the least wired in world, and you can see how communicating with the masses becomes an issue. One of the most distinctive things about Indian mass media is Bollywood. This is the name form the Indian film industry based in Mumbai (which used to be known as Bombay.) The first film was made in 1913 and by the 1930s there were hundreds of films a year. Bollywood really came of age in the 1930s and 1940s. With India facing the Great Depression, WWII and social strife (it had yet to gain its independence from the British), people were looking for a way to escape. That tradition remains. The tradition is to try to appeal to a broad cross section of the audience rather than a narrower niche, as is often the case in Hollywood. These are mostly musicals with song and dance woven into the script. Indian moviegoers want to get a good value, so films typically try to give them a little bit of everything: music, a love triangle, comedy and action all mixed into one. You should read the following article (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (and take notes) about Bollywood. After reading the article, answer the following questions: How long is a typical Bollywood movie? Describe the content of a typical Bollywood movie? How does the number of films produced in Bollywood compare to the number produced in Hollywood? What explains the increasing popularity of Bollywood movies in the United States and Great Britain. What's a typical budget of a Bollywood film and what percentage of that might a star make? Next, please download and read this chapterPreview the document. After reading the chapter, answer the following questions: Briefly describe the history of broadcasting and cable in India. Hint: Pay particular attention to the passages I've marked. What is STAR TV and who owns it? Briefly describe broadcast regulation in India. . Hint: Pay particular attention to the passages I've marked. Describe the dichotomy in India television. What family dynamic is frequently portrayed in Indian soap operas? How is that dynamic portrayed differently than in American media? How has an increase in cable networks affected the distribution of advertising revenue. Were fears that foreign programming (including American soap operas) would have a negative effect on Indian culture ultimately realized? Defend your answer. What's been the trend in the number of Indian films since the 1990s? BOLLYWOOD LINK https://www.thoughtco.com/bollywood-and-geography-1434494 file:///C:/Users/Recruiter/Downloads/Global%20Ent%20Media%20Chap8.pdf

Mass Media in South Korea

Mass Media in South Korea Much of what follows has be drawn from a chapter on South Korean media written by Young Jun Son, Sung Tae Kim and Jihyang Choi that appeared in a book titled The Global Journalist in the 21st Century. Mass Media in South Korea changed dramatically in 1987 when the country got a democratic government for the first time. One big thing that changed was the level of media competition. For example, the number of newspapers jumped from 30 in 1987 to roughly 100 five years later. Many South Korean media outlets have sought to find an audience by placing themselves at a particular place on the political spectrum. In this sense, it's similar to what FOX News and MSNBC have done in America. One difference is that newspapers have done this as well as broadcast outlets. Both audiences and advertising for news (print and broadcast) have declined in recent years. Son and colleagues note that "advertisers have emerged as the most influential element that affects journalists news selection." More than 60 percent of journalists surveyed in 2009 said advertisers exerted control over their work. Results from a similar survey in 1993 found that fewer than 10 percent of journalists though advertiser control was an issue. Perhaps not surprisingly, only about a third of journalists in the 2009 survey said they planned to stay in journalism. That was down from more than 50 percent in 1993. South Korea has become a hub for popular culture that is exported to the rest of Asia and even the United States (see Gangnam Style). The word for this is "hallyu," which means Korean Wave. South Korean media content reportedly sells better than American content (although that's popular as well) in Southeast Asia because Korean sensibilities are closer than American sensibilities to those of other Asian audiences. It's also the case that people find it easier to relate to TV and movie characters that look more like them. Here's a link (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. that takes a detailed look at Gangnam Style. You should read it carefully and take notes. If the link doesn't work, here's a PDFPreview the document of the article. When you're done reading the article, you should answer the following questions: What makes Park Jaesang such an unlikely star? What is "Gangnan Style" about? What makes the song "surprisingly subversive"? What do credit cards and coffee have to do with anything? What's surprising about the fact Psy writes his own songs and choreographs his own videos? What are Psy's ties to America? How does the article suggest these ties may have influenced him?

Media Ownership in Europe

Much of what we've observed about media consolidation around the globe is also playing itself out in Europe. Fewer people continue to own more of Europe's media outlets, and there are increasing concerns about cross-national ownership. For example four out of five newspapers and magazines in the Czech Republic are owned by Swiss or German companies. And between 2012 and 2016 in Italy, there was a so-called "French Invasion," where more than 175 Italian media properties were purchased by French firms. At the same time, there's a growing transparency movement designed to make it easier for Europeans to figure out who owns which media outlet. Seven of the world's 30 largest media conglomerates are based in Europe. Here's a link to the global list (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. You should pay particular attention to the European entrants (numbers 6, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28) and take some notes. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-30-biggest-media-owners-in-the-world-2016-5/#27-gannett--295-billion-in-media-revenue-4

Brazil

Once you've read the chapter, please answer the following questions: Why is Brazil sometimes referred to as "Belinda"? What percentage of Brazilians have a TV in their home? Who is the "father" of TV in Brazil? What's his story? What's the Tupi Network, and how has it shaped broadcasting in Brazil? Briefly describe Globo Network. Describe the state of educational TV in Brazil and how its changed over the years. How do political party's get their campaign messages out? In what five ways do Brazilian telenovelas differ from other Latin American forms of the genre? Describe Brazilian comedies. Are foreign humor programs popular? Does Brazil tend to export or import more media content? file:///C:/Users/Recruiter/Downloads/Global%20Ent%20Chap%2011.%20pdf%20(2).pdf

Telenovelas

One unique aspect of mass media in Latin America is the telenovela. These TV programs are produced in various Latin American countries and are now seen in more than 100 countries around the world. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, "telenovelas in most Latin American countries are aired in prime-time six days a week, attract a broad audience across age and gender lines, and command the highest advertising rates." I have pasted below an excerpt from a journal article titled "The Centrality of Telenovelas in Latin America's Everyday Life: Past Tendencies, Current Knowledge and Future Research" by Antonio C. La Pastina, Cacilda M. Rego and Joseph D. Straubhaar. Once you've read the excerpt, you should be able to answer the following questions: The authors suggest that people aren't always "talking about the same thing" and go on to describe two different perspectives about telenovelas. In your own words, describe, compare and contrast the two perspectives. In what ways are Latin American telenovelas distinct from U.S. soap operas? Describe the divergence in style of Mexican and Brazilian telenovelas? How has increased competition affected this divergence? Describe the role Colgate played in the development of telenovelas. What country helped supply the talent and scripts for many telenovelas in the 1950s? Describe the demographics of the typical telenovela audience. "Telenovelas' popularity has lead to its increased scrutiny among scholars and the media industry, and yet it seems that not everyone is talking about the same thing. A number of arguments start with the contention that Latin American telenovela is a mere showcase for "bourgeois society" with the pernicious effect of mitigating - through the illusion of abundance - the unfulfilled material aspirations of its audience, all the while legitimating a way of life that takes consumerism to the extreme (Oliveira, 1993). From a less radical - but no less critical -- point of view, some scholars contend that despite the heavy dependence of Latin American television on corporate sponsorship, the telenovela has created the space for critical-realist dramas whose narratives [and controversial issues such as, for instance, women's liberation (Vink, 1988), political corruption (Porto, 1998; 2001) and homosexuality (La Pastina, 2002)] have called attention to actual conflicts and mobilized public opinion for social change. In other words: within certain limits, the telenovela is a vehicle of innovative, provocative and politically emancipatory popular culture rather than a mere instrument for the reproduction of capitalist ideology and consumer desires (Vink, 1988). Those are rather simplified extremes of the debates over telenovelas, but they illustrate well the lack of consensus among those who write about telenovelas. But, then, neither is there much consensus among those who write telenovelas themselves. Walter Durst, a Brazilian writer and director of telenovelas, has quite ironically stated that he was very jealous of those experts in the genre, for they all knew what telenovela was while he didn't (Fernandes, 1987, p. 19). To Vink, "this seems to be a basic problem with genres; everybody recognizes them, but defining them is something else" (Vink 1988, p. 165) . The English language soaps in the United States, England and Australia The centrality of telenovelas in Latin America's everyday life Page 2 of 15 http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/OldSiteBackup/SubmittedDocuments/archivedpaper... 1/2/2007 have a well-developed research tradition (i.e.: Allen, l985; 1995; 1996 ; Cantor and Pingree, 1983; Modleski l982) . In the last few decades, in different parts of the world, the production of serialized television fiction has increased and so has the academic interest in its format and its role in society. Egypt developed its own local productions more than two decades ago, conquering local audiences and slowly increasing its penetration in the Arabic-speaking regional market (Abu-Lughod, 1993 ; Diase, 1996). At the same time many nations, such as China (Chan, 1996) , India (Singhal et al. l993) and Pakistan (Kothari, 1998) have increased production for their internal market, as well as for export. Similar to the Latin American model, these serialized programs in many other parts of the developing world have become central to the discussion of the nation. Distinct from U.S. soap operas, Latin American telenovelas are broadcast daily in prime time. They "have very definitive endings that permit narrative closure," normally after 180 to 200 episodes depending on their popularity. They are designed to attract a wide viewing audience of men, women and children (Lopez, 1991 p. 600). Telenovelas' narratives are dominated by a leading couple, and rely on class conflict and the promotion of social mobility (Mazziotti, 1993). According to Aufderheide (1993), Latin American television can be rich in wit, social relevance and national cultural style. Recent Brazilian novelas dealt with bureaucratic corruption, single motherhood and the environment; class difference are foregrounded in Mexican novelas; and Cubans novelas are bitingly topical as well as ideologically correct (Aufderheide 1993, p. 583) . In 1986, the Hollywood industry weekly Variety (Telenovela is ..., p. 15) defined the Latin American telenovela as a popular art form as distinctive and filled with conventions as the Western produced in the United States. The article reinforced the view that telenovelas and soap operas have common roots, but over time they have developed as clearly different genres. Within Latin American production centers, these distinctions have been emphasized, The centrality of telenovelas in Latin America's everyday life Page 3 of 15 http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/OldSiteBackup/SubmittedDocuments/archivedpaper... 1/2/2007 creating particularities in themes, narrative style and production values. For Lopez (1995), the Mexican telenovelas are the weepers, a-historical telenovelas with no context provided. Colombians are more comedic and ironic with a greater concern for context. Venezuelans are more emotional, but they do not have the "barroqueness' of Mexican sets. And Brazilians are the most realistic with historically based narratives that have a clear temporal and spatial contextualization. In a recent dissertation, Hernandez (2001) termed the classic Mexican style "bland" (blanda) and the classic Brazilian style "tough" (dura). Recently, however, these divergences in style have been challenged by the increasing competition within the two largest markets, Brazil and Mexico, from upstart networks such as TV Azteca in Mexico and SBT in Brazil. Hernandez (Hernandez 2001) notes that new competing networks in the same country tend to adopt the style opposite to the leading network that they are trying to differentiate themselves from. So TV Azteca, located in the industrial north close to the border with the United States, has produced politically charged telenovelas with a contemporary bend to their narratives, challenging Televisa, Mexico's giant network (Hernandez and McAnany, 1997). Similarly in Brazil, the more weepy melodramatic Mexican telenovelas aired by SBT and CNT are upsetting Globo's dominance. Independent of style differences, telenovelas are faithful to the melodramatic roots of the genre. Lopez (1995) argues that melodrama in Europe and the United States was discriminated against primarily due to its association with female audiences, while in Latin America, melodrama was devalued due to its class association that placed it in the realm of the popular. In this context of class identification, Lopez (1995) expresses how melodrama pertains to telenovelas: The telenovela exploits personalization - the individualization of the social world - as an epistemology. It ceaselessly offers the audience dramas of recognition and re-cognition by locating social and political issues in personal The centrality of telenovelas in Latin America's everyday life Page 4 of 15 http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/OldSiteBackup/SubmittedDocuments/archivedpaper... 1/2/2007 and familial terms and thus making sense of an increasingly complex world (p. 258). Mazziotti (1993), citing Gonzales, argues that telenovelas "allow for the viewers an emotional participation in a set of fictitious powers that play with elemental human questions: honor, goodness, love, badness, treason, life, death, virtue and sin, that in certain ways has something to do with the viewer" (p. 11). The radio soap model was developed in the United States by corporations such as Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor and Gamble and Gessy-Lever. Due to its success in reaching the female audience in the U.S., these corporations invested in introducing the soap genre into Latin American, starting in Cuba and soon spreading to the rest of the continent. But it was in Havana in the 1930s that the Latin American version of the radionovela began its transition. In the 1950s, Colgate and others similarly imported the television soap opera into Cuba, where it was transformed into the telenovela. As first radio and then television novellas spread around Latin America in the next few decades, Cuba became the supplier of artists, technical personnel and, most importantly, the scripts for most of Latin America. This process accelerated after the 1959 Cuban revolution which closed down commercial media and led commercially minded producers to move to other Latin America countries, which commercial television industries were flourishing (Ortiz et al., 1988). Traditionally seen as feminine text, telenovelas now attract males and females alike, of all ages and social classes. Throughout the years, it has provided both entertainment and information, and as a discursive practice and producer of cultural meanings it has been a major force in the production of images congruent with "the complex processes of Latin American modernization, nation-building, and increasing transnationalization" (Lopez, 1995, p. 257)." If you'd like to read the entire article, you may download it herePreview the document.

Internet & Social Media in Latin America

South America has an internet penetration rate of 68 percent and Central America has a penetration rate of 61 percent. The global average is 53 percent, so we can safely say that Latin America as a region exceeds the global average. South America has an internet penetration rate of 63 percent and Central America has a penetration rate of 59 percent. The global average is 42 percent, so we can safely say that Latin America as a region exceeds the global average. In fact, Latin Americas presence on social media so outweighs its percentage of the population that it's fair to say that Latin Americans LOVE social media.

Communication Technology in Asia

The International Telecommunication Union measures access to what it calls Information and Communication Technologies, which is just a fancy name for things like access to mobile and broadband wireless internet. Five of the most wired countries in the world are in Asia. As a region, Asia ranks behind Europe, the Americas and the former Soviet Republics but ahead of the Arab States and Africa. For example, India is considered the third least connected country in the world. Although the continent is home to a handful of the most connected countries in the world and countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia are increasing internet access quickly, the ICT warns that many Asian countries in the region are falling further behind the rest of the world. The most "wired," or connected, country in the world is South Korea. It has the highest percentage of households online of anyplace in the world at 97 percent. In terms of actual people, 84 percent of the Korean population is online. Internet access tends to be related to a country's wealth, and although Korea is by no means a poor country, it has out performed wealthier nations. The ICT credits this to both a strong educational system and government policies that promote internet access and keep prices affordable. Not only does South Korea have the highest internet penetration on the planet, it also has very, very fast internet. For example, internet speeds in South Korea are more than six times faster than those in China. As the charts below indicate, the Asia-Pacific region as a whole is technologically behind the rest of the world in some respects but ahead in others. For example: The internet penetration region is 48 percent, compared to the global average of 53 percent. On the other hand, the region has 102 mobile connections per every 100 people, compared to the global average of 68. In terms of social media penetration, the region tie's the global average of 42 percent and has a slightly higher mobile-social penetration rate (41 percent versus 39 percent). ass As the charts below indicate, the region is growing faster than the world as a whole in terms of mobile connections as well as social media penetration rates (including mobile social) but the internet penetration rate is growing slower than the global average. Of course, penetration rates are only one way to think about the spread of technology. As the final two charts on this page indicate, in terms of sheer raw numbers, the number of internet users and social media users is higher in Asia than any other place in the world. In fact the three regions in the world with the most users are all in Asia. You'll note that although Southern Asia (which includes India) has both the second most internet users and the second most social media users, its penetration rates are well below the global averages.

Advertising in Latin America

When I traveled by bus in Argentina in late 2018, I was struck by how few billboards there were. And when I talked to people familiar with the media industry, they lamented that that various levels of government were by far the biggest advertisers, far outspending the private sector. My experience in Argentina was emblematic of the region as a whole. Advertising spending in Latin America lags behind much of the rest of the world and represents only about 8.5 percent of worldwide advertising spending. However, things are slowly changing. The region has had the fastest advertising growth rate in the world for several years, and that is expected to continue to be the case for a while. You should read the following article (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for more information. Once you've read the article, you should answer the following questions. You've read the chapter, please answer the following questions: Which country has the fastest growing advertising market in Latin America? Which country has the largest advertising market in Latin America? What percentage of the market did it have in 2016? Which country has been the second largest advertising market in Latin America since 2013? Which country did it bump down to the third spot? Once you're done, you should check out the charts below.

Mass Media in Taiwan

You should watch the video below. Once you've watched the video, you should be able to answer the following questions: What American company operates around 5,000 stores in Taiwan? What's Taiwan's connection to China? How does press freedom in Taiwan compare to press freedom in other countries in the region? To what extent are governments and political parties (as well as their officials) allowed to have ownership interests in broadcast media companies? How are internet speeds in Taiwan? What's the most popular TV content in Taiwan? How is Taiwan's culture reflected in its television programming? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4yhz4i9HP4&feature=youtu.be

Cultural Indicators in Asia, Europe and Latin America

website: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/ Asia- China, Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan Latin America- Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chile Western Europe- Germany, United Kingdom and Switzerland Northern Europe- Norway, Denmark and Sweden Eastern Europe- Russia, Poland, Romania