gp essay

1. Discuss the challenges faced by the mass media in an era of globalisation.

Globalisation can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces. In this era of globalisation, the mass media have faced many challenges that have risen due to this change. As globalisation is a continuously changing process, the mass media, both traditional and new, has to constantly change in order to adapt and hence, there would be infinitely many challenges to overcome.

As the world continues to be unified, the media faces competition from all over the globe. The people are no longer limited to the few sources of information that can be obtained from the media as they are now able to gather information from overseas and have a greater perspective of issues. This is especially so in the form of citizen journalism which refers to the act of citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. This source of information which might or might not be reliable can be found easily on the internet. Hence, the media faces increasing competition in this sense and would be deemed as a challenge it faces.

A main source of media, the internet, have been blamed for the appearance of content deemed as unfit for the people such as pornography and violence. Due to globalisation, information can be freely obtained and accessed from anyone and anywhere around the world. This leads the the problem of the media unable to regulate the content which are offensive. This includes racist remarks made by anonymous people on the internet by letting their opinions known. This form of racial insensitivity could lead to massive disputes between groups of people which might lead to protests and riots. Terrorist might also use the internet as a method to influence and brainwash innocent people to follow their cause. This would lead to the increase in terrorist activities around the globe which could threaten global security. Therefore, this would be a main area of concern for the internet media.

Globalisation also brings about an increase in international trade between countries. Hence, there should be friendly bilateral ties between countries or otherwise, there could be problems in trading goods between them. For example, North Korea had not opened up it's doors to the world and there was no trade between it and other countries. The reason lies in the fact that there were disputes with the United States of America over nuclear issues. Sometimes, the media has to step in and use it's influence to mend the weak ties between certain countries as it has to safeguard the interest of the people which would benefit from better ties between countries. Examples include imported goods could be cheaper as taxes are levied. Therefore, the media has this role and responsibility to ensure healthy ties between countries which is no easy feat.

In conclusion, globalisation has brought about many changes to the world and the mass media would have to face many new challenges. However, these challenges can seen as hurdles which would ultimately benefit our world.