LECTURE 7 COMM 2920

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LECTURE 7 - COMM 2920 Transnational
Communications I Case Studies CNN and
Al-Jazeera 9 November 2006
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THE QUESTION What is the impact of satellite
communications?
1. Satellite technology
2. Satellite television how did we get there?
3. What is the impact of transnational
communications on - media content -
politics - news
4. CASE STUDIES CNN Al-Jazeera
5. CONCLUSION
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1. SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY
1957 Sputnik
1963 Syncom-1 first geostationary communication
satellite
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1. SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY
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2. SATELLITE TELEVISION HOW DID WE GET THERE?
- Ideological changes in international politics
liberalization/privatization/deregulation
1984 Reagan open skies
1985 Thatcher privatization of BT
1986 Uruguay Round of GATT includes services
1995 WTO trade is not possible without a free
flow of information
1997 GATS 4th Protocol on Basic
Telecommunications Services 69 countries
obliged to liberalize telecommunications
INTELSAT
ITU (International Telecommunications Union)
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2. SATELLITE TELEVISION HOW DID WE GET THERE?
Why is this important?
- Priority to services favours Western countries
- TNCs
- Convergence
- Synergies
- Search for profit rather than public utility
- Marginalization of small players
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3. IMPACT OF TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA CONTENT Most of the worlds entertainment
is transmitted through television
Homogenization? Satellite television is
routinely cited as a vehicle of cultural
globalization, favouring concentration of media
ownership, enlargement of audiences and
homogenization of cultural production (Naomi
Sakr 2001)
Or resistance? When Arabic-speaking households
in France started to install very large satellite
dishes, the French authorities were alarmed,
interpreting this as an affront to the countrys
policy of cultural assimilation. ... In these
circumstances, any link between satellite viewing
and homogenization must be questioned. Words like
resistance and reorientation seem more to the
point (ibid.)
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3. IMPACT OF TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
POLITICS Cross-border communication breach of
national sovereignty

• Offshore democracy

- Mobilization on global scale
-Changes in the way politics is run
- Blurring of domestic/foreign
Yo Blair!
- Blurring of private/public
- CNN effect?
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3. IMPACT OF TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
NEWS Satellite broadcasting allows extremely
fast exchange of huge amounts of information
(images too!)
Q Why is news important?
Q Do images matter?
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4. CASE STUDIES
CNN Globalization of news?
-Is this true?
-Diffusion of same journalistic model?
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4. CASE STUDIES
AL-JAZEERA globalization of news?
An example of how content of communications,
politics and news are interrelated
Documentary Control Room
1. Samir Khader, Senior producer
2. Joanne Tucker, Manager of Al-Jazeera
Is objectivity possible? Q Why this concern
about objectivity?
3. Bombing of Al-Jazeera
Q Just news?
4. Deema Khatib, Producer of Al-Jazeera
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5. CONCLUSIONS
- Technological DETERMINISM VS. Social USE of
technology
- Satellite television has deep consequences on
society
-Impact depends on a variety of factors
- Regulation (and politics)
- Audience (society) why is satellite television
so important for Arab market? - 310 million
people! - common language and interests -
illiteracy rates! - NOT the same in Europe
WE ARE HERE TO UNDERSTAND THESE FACTORS!