Syllabus
SYLLABUS
Globalization of media industry
Time & place: Monday 14.00-15.30 , room H112
ECTS Credits: 6
Lecturer: Dr. Václav Štětka, Ph.D.
Contact: stetka@fsv.cuni.cz ; Skype: vaclavstetka ; Office hours: Monday 15.30-17.00
This course will provide an introduction into the rise and current state of the global media and communication industry, and will discuss its role and social and cultural impact in the contemporary world. The course will start with a brief insight into the academic discourse of globalization, followed by an overview of the evolution and present-day condition of the global communication infrastructure. The main focus of the course will be the presentation and critical discussion of the worldwide diffusion and cultural and political influence of transnational media corporations as the key actors of the global media system; both the multimedia conglomerates (Time Warner, Disney, News Corp., Sony etc.) as well as the companies primarily built around the Internet and social media (Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.). Attention will however also be paid to the increasing global prominence of media corporations based in Latin America and Asia, contributing to the reversal of international media flows and challenging the global hegemony of the Western media producers. In the last part of the course, the phenomenon of global TV formats (Big Brother, Pop Idol etc.) will be examined and discussed as an example of the processes of glocalization and cultural hybridization, offering a different perspective on the issues of global cultural production and reception.
Requirements:
- attendance and active involvement in discussions (15%) (max. 3 absences)
- summary (250-300 words) from the readings before classes (min. 7; 20%)
[ALL MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY]
- one short (10 min.) oral presentation on a selected case study from the list below (alternative topics possible) (15%)
- final test (20%)
- final essay (min. 2500 words) on an assigned topic (30%) [OPTIONAL]
Course structure:
Week 1 (5.10.): Introduction to the course, requirements
The globalization discourse: perspectives on globalization
Readings
Lule, Jack (2015): Globalization and media: Global village of Babel. Rowman & Littlefield. Chapters 1 & 2 : Introduction: Global Village of Babel (pp. 1-15), Language and Metaphor: What We Talk about When We Talk about Globalization and Media, pp. 19-36.
Week 2 (12.10.): Building global communication infrastructure: from telegraph to the Internet
Readings
Lule, Jack (2015): Globalization and media: Global village of Babel. Rowman & Littlefield. Chapter 3: The Role of Media in Globalization: A History from Bongos to iPhones, pp. 43-62.
Standage, Tom (1998): The Victorian Internet. The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Centuryʼs On-line Pioneers. Penguin Press. Chapter 5: Wiring the World, pp. 72-87.
Week 3 (19.10.): Media conglomerates I: marketization and the rise of global empires
Readings
Hesmondhalgh, David (2012): The Cultural Industries. 3rd edition. London: SAGE. Chapter 4: Marketisation in Telecommunications and Broadcasting, pp. 121-153.
Lule, Jack (2015): Globalization and media: Global village of Babel. Rowman & Littlefield. Chapter 5: Media and Economic Globalization, pp. 85-115.
Case study
● Time Warner
● Vivendi
● Walt Disney
● Viacom
Week 4 (26.10.): Media conglomerates II: towards a digital order
Readings
Vaidhyanathan, Siva (2012) The Googlization of Everything. (And Why Should We Worry). University of California Press, pp. 1-12; 115-148.
Case study
● Facebook: global reach and business model
● Twitter: global reach and business model
● Amazon: from online bookstore to multimedia conglomerate
Week 5 (2.11.): Critical approaches towards global media (I): corporate media and power
Readings
Street, John (2001): Mass Media, Politics and Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan. Chap. 6: Conglomerate control: media moguls and media power. 159-184.
Case study
● News Corporation and the "hacking scandal"
Week 6 (9.11.): Critical approaches towards global media (II): Internet and democratization
Readings [COMPULSORY]
McChesney, Robert W. (2013): Digital Disconnect. How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy. Chap. 5 The Internet and Capitalism II: The Empire of the Senseless? Pp. 130-171.
Case study
● Al Jazeera: challenging Western domination
● Social media and the "Arab Spring"
Week 7 (16.11.): De-westernization and regionalization of media production
Readings
Artz, Lee (2015): Global Entertainment Media: A Critical Introduction. Wiley Blackwell. Chap. 6: Power Decentered. Dominant Diversity, pp. 167-193.
Case study
● The Third World strikes back: globalization of telenovelas
● Bollywood: world’s biggest film industry
● Nollywood: from VHS to global multiplexes
Week 8 (23.11.): Television formats: from globalization to glocalization?
Readings
Albert Moran, Karina Aveyard (2014): The place of television programme formats. Continuum, Vol. 28, Iss. 1, 18-27.
Waisbord, S. 2004 McTV: Understanding the Global Popularity of Television Formats. In:
Television New Media; Vol. 5: 359-383
Case study
● Pop Idol: format adaptation and audience reception in [YOUR COUNTRY]
● Big Brother: format adaptation and audience reception in [YOUR COUNTRY]
● Got Talent: format adaptation and audience reception in [YOUR COUNTRY]
Week 9 (30.11.) Workshop
Comparing adaptation of television formats across countries: junctures of hybridity, homogeneity and national identity
Readings van Keulen, J. and Krijnen, T. (2013) The limitations of localization: A cross-cultural comparative study of Farmer Wants a Wife. International Journal of Cultural Studies, pp. 1-16.
Week 10 (7.12.): Regulating the global media industries: mission impossible?
Readings
Mirrlees, Tanner (2012) Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization. Routledge. Chapter 3: Governing Global Entertainment Media: The State, Media Policy, and Regulation, pp. 105-146.
Case study
● ACTA and TTIP: a global controversy
Week 11 (14.12.): Final debate: which paradigm for global media age?
Readings [COMPULSORY]
Mirrless, Tanner (2012): Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization. Routledge. Chapter 1: Paradigms of Global Entertainment Media, pp. 21-58.
REQUIREMENTS
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Annotation
This course will provide an introduction into the rise and current state of the global media and communication industry, and will discuss its role and social and cultural impact in the contemporary world. The course will start with a brief insight into the academic discourse of globalization, followed by an overview of the evolution and present-day condition of the global communication infrastructure.
The main focus of the course will be the presentation and critical discussion of the worldwide diffusion and cultural and political influence of transnational media corporations as the key actors of the global media system; both the multimedia conglomerates (Time Warner, Disney, News Corp., Sony etc.) as well as the companies primarily built around the Internet and social media (Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.). Attention will however also be paid to the increasing global prominence of media corporations based in Latin America and Asia, contributing to the reversal of international media flows and challenging the global hegemony of the Western media producers.
In the last part of the course, the phenomenon of global TV formats (Big Brother, Pop Idol etc.) will be examined and discussed as an example of the processes of glocalization and cultural hybridization, offering a different perspective on the issues of global cultural production and reception.