Sylabus
SYLLABUS
Globalization of media industry
Time & place: Tuesday 15.30-17.00 , room H112
ECTS Credits: 6
Lecturer: Dr. Václav Štětka, Ph.D.
Contact: stetka@fsv.cuni.cz ; Skype: vaclavstetka ; Office hours: Monday 14.00-15.30
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 (one of ) the readings before each class (min. 7; 20%)
- 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 (30.9.): Introduction to the course, requirements ; + special guest lecture
"Blurred Lines - The New Gatekeepers & The Power without Responsibility", by Dr. Marko Milosavljevič, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
Readings
Döpfner, Mathias (2014) Why we fear Google. At http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/mathias-doepfner-s-open-letter-to-eric-schmidt-12900860.html van Eijk, Nico (2009) Search Engines, the New Bottleneck for Content Access. In B. Preissel et al. (eds.), Telecommunication Markets: Drivers and Impediments. Springer Physica-Verlag, pp. 141-156.
Week 2 (7.10.) The globalization discourse: political, economic and cultural perspectives
Readings
Scholte, Jan Aart (2005): Globalization: a critical introduction. Palgrave. Pp. 13-61
Week 3 (14.10.): Building global communication infrastructure: from telegraph to the Internet
Readings
Standage, Tom (1998): The Victorian Internet. The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Centuryʼs On-line Pioneers. Penguin Press. Chapter 1: The Mother of All Networks, pp. 3-22; Chapter 5: Wiring the World, pp. 72-87; Chapter 9: War and Peace in the Global Village, pp. 145-163.
Case study
● Global digital divide: history, myth or continuing problem?
Week 4 (21.10.): 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.
Thussu, Daya Kishan (2007): International Communication: Continuity and Change. London: Holden Arnold. Chap. 4: The global media bazar, pp. 99-115.
Case study
● AOL Time Warner - rise and fall of the "dot.com bubble"
Week 5 (28.10.): [National Holiday] - reading week
Readings [COMPULSORY]
Flew, Terry (2013) Global Creative Industries. Polity Press. Chap. 4 - Market, pp. 79-108.
Castells, Manuel (2009) Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Pres. Chap. 2, sec.3 - The Organization and Management of Communication: Global Multimedia Business Networks, pp. 71-87.
Week 6 (4.11.): 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 7 (11.11.): Media and cultural imperialism discourse: history and current implications
Readings
Mirrless, Tanner (2012): Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization. Routledge. Chapter 1: Paradigms of Global Entertainment Media, pp. 21-58.
Week 8 (18.11.): Media power in a globalized world: critical approaches
Readings
McKnight, David (2010): Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation: A Media Institution with A Mission, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 30:3, 303-316.
Street, John (2001): Conglomerate control: media moguls and media power. Chap.6 in Mass Media, Politics and Democracy, Palgrave Macmillan 159-184.
Case study
● News Corporation and the "hacking scandal"
Week 9 (25.11.): De-westernization and regionalization of media production
Readings
Thussu, D.K. (2006) International Communication. Continuity and Change. Chap. 6: Contraflow in global media, pp. 180-206.
Case study
● The Third World strikes back: globalization of telenovelas
● Bollywood: world’s biggest film industry
Week 10 (2.12.): Global music industries
GUEST LECTURE: Dr. Charles M. Elavsky, Associate Professor at College of Communications, The Pennsylvania State University
Readings [CHOOSE TWO]
Elavsky, C. M. (2013). "The Czech Republic." The International Recording Industries. In Lee Marshall (Ed.). New York: Routledge. Pp. 95-114.
Marcus, G. (1995) Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography, Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 24: 95-117
Wikstrom, P. (2013). "Introduction - Music in the Cloud" and "Future Sounds". In The Music Industry: Music in the Cloud (2nd ed.) Cambridge: Polity Press. Pp 1-11; 170-178.
Week 10 (9.12.): 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 12 (16.12.): Regulating the global media industries: mission impossible?
Readings
Mirrlees, Tanner (2012) Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization. Routledge. Chapter 3:
Anotace
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.