Neoliberalism and Global Media: What are the relations between neoliberalism and global media?

1. Introduction
This paper aims to examine the relationship between neoliveralism and global media. The paper is divided into four main parts. The first part is introduction that provides general idea focusing of this paper. Secondly, the definition of neoliberalism and global media are indentified with appropriate relevant perspectives. Relationship between neoliberalism and global media that is the central focusing of this paper is discussed in the third part. This part presents American cultural imperialism and domination of global media system by Americabased corporations . The last part is the conclusion to summarize entire paper.

2. Definition of neoliberalism and global media

2.1 Neoliberalism Referring to the neoliberalism term as the school of thought that generates from the liberalism. This has turned to be influential and widespread over the past few decades throughout global. A Brief History of Neoliberalism1 provides obvious meaning about the neoliberalism to us as the political economic practices theory, that suggests the human well-being, which can be best advanced via the single entrepreneurial free wills, and expertise within the institutional framework portrayed by the tough private rights on property, open markets, and open trade2. According to this meaning, neoliberalism processes best when the government

1 Nicki Ward, "The. Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy",
Equal Opportunities International 26 (2007): 512

2 Ward, 513

enterprise and the liberal private enterprise allow the liberated capital, products, and service movement. However, neoliberalism supports the exclusion of intervention by government in economy, the important role still take by the state to maintain the proper institutional framework, forming the law structures to guard the private rights on property and make confident on the adequate markets functioning. A further meaning of neoliberalism rises from Robert W. McChesney who explained it as the profit-making and the market role maximizing policies and that lessen the nonmarket institutions role3. Neoliberalism is shown by the definition in its prime concerns on the economy, market, and profit. Since, neoliberalism is the major factor that impact on the world media system, it usually be viewed as synonymous as stated by John Williamson, the economist that the Washington consent: tough fiscal regulation, tax improvement in order to enlarge tax base, cutting the public expenditures, free trade, foreign direct investment supportive, viable rates of exchange, state-owned enterprises privatization, deregulation the states control removal on the economic activities and secure on property rights4

2.2 Global media

As a tool for neoliberalism, global media is employed, which in the view of researcher the major role is played by media to change the world into similar direction. Usually, it has the values, attitudes, and behaviors changing power easily through the exposure of individuals on the media content that is manipulated.5 As people often rely on the media mainstream, it
3 Dieter Plehwe, Bernhard Walpen, Gisela Neunhffer, Neoliberal Hegemony: A Global Critique (New York: Routledge, 2006), 63.

4 Richard L. Harris, Critical Perspectives on Globalization and Neoliberalism in the Developing Countries, (USA: BRILL, 2000), 132

5 Jan Aart Scholte, "Governing a more global world", Corporate Governance 10 (2010): 460.

portrays the tale, for instance, the achievement resulted from the neoliberal policies implement. When the conquered over the economic crisis by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan via neoliberal policies had known by other countries6, it turns to be the model that follows by the government suddenly with this untold instruction to guide their country throughout the crisis. In addition, the media has inculcated to us that it is correct to process neoliberalism, which embeds the neoliberal idea in people7.

3. Relationship between neoliberalism and global media

In conventional parlance, the current era in history is generally characterized as one of globalization, technological revolution, and democratization. In all three of these areas, media and communication play a central, perhaps even a defining, role. Economic and cultural globalization arguably would be impossible without a global commercial media system to promote global markets and to encourage consumer values. The very essence of the technological revolution is the radical development in digital communication and computing.

3.1 Globalization and Traditional Global Media The Internet decentralization nature makes it so diverse from the global media that more traditional, which the content that it is distributed has formed by the media industries. The media industries development of global messages is distributed via the global media systems like CNN8. Similar message can be distributed via CNN throughout its television system worldwide. Previously before the 1990s, primarily media systems were the national systems, however, in between 1990s decade there was the emerged of global commercial media market. McChesney (1999) stated, "the growth of a global media market is supported by new satellite
6 Scholte, 462

7 Scholte, 472

8 Kavous Ardalan, "Globalization and culture: four paradigmatic views", International Journal of Social
Economics 36 (2009): 522.

technologies and digital that form the global markets in both lucrative and cost-effective".9 The trend contributing to toward globalization media was the establishing of international firms, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The new form of global capitalism helps generated from these all organization as they use the global media to publicize the messages to the world consumers. Although transnational media corporations are attempting to establish operations in nations around the world, some countries want to protect their domestic media and culture industries. Some nations, including Norway, Denmark, Spain, Mexico, and South Korea, have established government subsidies to maintain their own domestic film industries.10 The British government proposed a voluntary levy on the revenues from domestic film theaters, which show predominantly Hollywood movies. These theater revenues could then be used to subsidize the British commercial film industry.11 However, the proposal was not passed by Parliament. Culture ministers from a variety of nations have been discussing how they can protect their own cultural identities in an increasingly American-influenced global media environment. Some nations, such as Singapore, edit and censor for broadcast media content created in the United States. Language usage, for instance, in the Singapore version of the Sopranos is vastly different from the American version because curse words have been edited out of the sound track.12 In such ways, individual nations can establish barriers that make it more difficult for global companies to broadcast their American-produced content.

3.2 Global media and neoliberal democracy

9 Stuart James, "Global Perspectives on the United States: Issues and Ideas Shaping International Relations.
Volume III", Reference Reviews 22 (2008): 54.

1 10 Robin Mansell and Marc Raboy, The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy (West Sussex:

John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 86.

1 11 Mansell and Raboy, 122

1 12 Plehwe, Walpen and Neunhffer, 88

Global media system is importance in the establishing and enlarges the regional and international markets of products and services that usually sold by the biggest multinational firms.13 Global media system emerging also possess the cultural essential and implication in political especially, in regard of the political imperialism, democracy, and the socialist resistance nature in the years to come. To balance this review, the outlines with few comments related to the issues are made. In the area of democracy, the emergence of such a highly concentrated media system in the hands of huge private concerns violates in a fundamental manner any notion of a free press in democratic theory. The problems of having wealthy private owners dominate the journalism and media in a society have been well understood all along: Journalism, in particular, which is the oxygen necessary for self-government to be viable, will be controlled by those who benefit by existing inequality and the preservation of the status quo.14 The attack on the professional autonomy of journalism that has taken place is simply a broader part of the neoliberal transformation of media and communication. Neoliberalism is more than an economic theory, however. It is also a political theory. It posits that business domination of society proceeds most effectively when there is a representative democracy, but only when it is a weak and ineffectual polity typified by high degrees of depoliticization, especially among the poor and working class.15 It is here that one can see why the existing commercial media system is so important to the neoliberal project, for it is singularly brilliant at generating the precise sort of bogus political culture that permits business domination to proceed without using a police state or facing effective popular resistance. As the media conglomerates spread their tentacles, there is reason to believe they will encourage popular tastes to become more uniform in at least some forms of media. Based on
1 13 Ura Golob, Klement Podnar, Marko Lah, "Social economy and social responsibility: alternatives to global

anarchy of neoliberalism?", International Journal of Social Economics 36 (2009): 631.

1 14 Harris, 176

1 15 Golob, Podnar and Lah, 631

conversations with Hollywood executives, Variety editor Peter Bart concluded that the world film going audience is fast becoming more homogeneous. Whereas action movies had once been the only sure-fire global fareand comedies had been considerably more difficult to exportby the late nineties comedies like My Best Friends Wedding and The Full Monty were doing between $160 million and $200 million in non-U.S. box-office sales.16 But it would be a mistake to buy into the notion that the global media system makes nationstate boundaries and geopolitical empire irrelevant. A large portion of contemporary capitalist activity, clearly a majority of investment and employment, operates primarily within national confines, and their nation-states play a key role in representing these interests. The entire global regime is the result of neoliberal political policies, urged on by the U.S. government. Most important, not far below the surface is the role of the U.S. military as the global enforcer of capitalism, with U.S. based corporations and investors in the drivers seat. Recall the approving words of Thomas Friedman: The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonalds cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-l5. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valleys technologies is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.17 In short, we need to develop an understanding of neoliberal globalization that is joined at the hip to U.S. militarismand all the dreadful implications that that suggestsrather than one that is in opposition to it. This core relationship between the U.S. military and the global neoliberal project, one of the central political issues of our times, also is virtually unknown to the journalism of AOL-Time Warners CNN and the other corporate media giants, who increasingly are the providers of substantive news concerning international politics.18 The very notion of imperialism has been dismissed as a historical artifact or a rhetorical ploy of desperate opportunists and the feeble-

1 16 Madeline Engel, Norma K. Phillips, Frances A. Dellacava, "International adoption: a sociological account

of the US experience", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 27 (2007): 264.

1 17 Engel, Phillips, Dellacava, 267

1 18 Engel, Phillips, Dellacava, 268

minded. In view of the corporate medias interdependence with the global neoliberal regime, any other outcome would be remarkable.

3.3 American cultural imperialism

Global media systems have been considered a form of cultural imperialism. Schiller defines cultural imperialism as: the sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system, and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even to promote, the values and structures of the dominant center of the system19. When the nation dominates others via the exporting of media for instance, films, advertising messages, television and radio programming and advertising messages, and the cultural imperialism derives. It is difficult for other nation to form and present their own cultural products since, America takes control over the entertainment industries. American popular culture supporters argued that the American media products universal popularity encourages the cross-national boundaries communication that promoted by the global media system. American popular culture in addition challenges authority and outmoded traditions. Critics of American culture contend that cultural imperialism prevents the development of native cultures and has a negative impact on teenagers.20 Teenagers in other nations have rejected their own cultural music and dress. Instead, they want to wear American jeans and listen to American recording artists. Rock groups from other countries will even sing in English rather than use their native tongue.

3.4 Domination of Global media system by America-based corporations

1 19 Robert Westwood, Gavin Jack, "The US commercial-military-political complex and the emergence of

international business and management studies", critical perspectives on international business 4 (2008): 372.

2 20 Stuart James, "Global Perspectives on the United States: Issues and Ideas Shaping International Relations.

Volume III", Reference Reviews 22 (2008): 54.

Recently, even more success global strategies are developed by the American firms in replace for the American conventionality advertising with the Americans stereotype like blue-eyed, and blonde-haired, they step into field of diversity. These campaignssuch as McDonalds new international Im lovin it campaignwork by drawing on the United States history as an ethnically integrated nation composed of essentially every culture in the world. An early example of this global marketing tactic was found in a Coca Cola commercial from 1971 featuring children from many different countries innocently singing, Id like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony/Id like to buy the world a Coke to keep it company.21 This commercial illustrates an attempt to portray a U.S. goods as a product capable of transcending political, ethnic, religious, social, and economic differences to unite the world (according to the Coca-Cola Company, we can achieve world peace through consumerism). More recently, Viacoms MTV has successfully adapted this strategy by integrating many different Americanized cultures into one unbelievably influential American network (with over 280 million subscribers worldwide). According to a 1996 New World Teen Study conducted by DMB &Bs Brain Waves division, of the 26,700 middle-class teens in forty-five countries surveyed, 85 percent watch MTV every day.22 These teens absorb what MTV intends to show as a diverse mix of cultural influences but is really nothing more than manufactured stars singing in English to appeal to American popular taste. If this diverse strength in American images is not sufficiently powerful to drive the products, the American firms also fitting their local cultures into their overseas advertisement23. Dissimilar to the Levitts fragile multinationals, these firms do not allow for the local tastes; they simply pop in the original celebrities or inclinations to show the customized advertising frontage. MTV has spawned over twenty networks specific to certain geographical areas such as Brazil and Japan. These specialized networks further spread the association between American and modernity under the pretense of catering to local taste. By using popular local
2 21 Westwood and Jack, 374

2 22 Golob, Podnar and Lah, 634

2 23 Prem Sikka, "The internet and possibilities for counter accounts: some reflections", Accounting, Auditing &

Accountability Journal 19 (2006): 762.

icons in their advertisements, U.S. corporations successfully associate what is fashionable in local cultures with what is fashionable in America.24 America essentially samples the worlds cultures, repackages them with the American trademark of materialism, and resells them to the world.

4. Conclusion
Referring to the neoliberalism term as the school of thought that generates from the liberalism. This has turned to be influential and widespread over the past few decades throughout global. Global media as a tool to spread neoliberalism. In my opinion, media play the major role in changing the world to the same direction. They usually have a power to change values, attitudes and behaviors, simply by expose people to the manipulated media content. In the conservative jargon, the recent era of the history is normally characterized as one of the technological revolution, democratization, and globalization. In these three total areas, communication and media hold the key, sometimes, even the addressed role. Arguably, cultural and economic globalization would not be possible without the media trading system worldwide to sponsor the global markets and to persuade the values of consumer. In the technological insurrection essence, it is the fundamental development in computing and digital message. The decentralized nature of the Internet makes it very different from more traditional global media, which distribute content created by the media industries. Global messages developed by the media industries are distributed through global media systems. It is considered that the global media systems is a pattern of cultural imperialism since, as defined by Schiller defines the term refers to the processes sum by which the civilization is contributed into the contemporary world system, and the way its control the section is concerned, pressured, driven, and perhaps bribed into social institutions forming to be in contact with, or even to endorse the structures and values the systems key dominant.

References
2 24 Westwood and Jack, 381

Dieter Plehwe, Bernhard Walpen, Gisela Neunhffer, Neoliberal Hegemony: A Global Critique (New York: Routledge, 2006), 29-93. Jan Aart Scholte, "Governing a more global world", Corporate Governance 10 (2010): 459 474. Kavous Ardalan, "Globalization and culture: four paradigmatic views", International Journal of Social Economics 36 (2009): 513 534. Madeline Engel, Norma K. Phillips, Frances A. Dellacava, "International adoption: a sociological account of the US experience", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 27 (2007): 257 270. Nicki Ward, "The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy", Equal Opportunities International 26 (2007): 507 514. Prem Sikka, "The internet and possibilities for counter accounts: some reflections", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 19 (2006): 759 769. Richard L. Harris, Critical Perspectives on Globalization and Neoliberalism in the Developing Countries, (USA: BRILL, 2000), 119-213. Robert Westwood, Gavin Jack, "The US commercial-military-political complex and the emergence of international business and management studies", critical perspectives on international business 4 (2008): 367 388. Robin Mansell and Marc Raboy, The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy (West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 54-129. Stuart James, "Global Perspectives on the United States: Issues and Ideas Shaping International Relations. Volume III", Reference Reviews 22 (2008): 53 54. Ura Golob, Klement Podnar, Marko Lah, "Social economy and social responsibility: alternatives to global anarchy of neoliberalism?", International Journal of Social Economics 36 (2009): 626 640.