1.0. Introduction
This chapter introduces the study by giving a brief background to the role of local media in promoting Public Diplomacy of China in Zanzibar. The chapter also gives research Questions and significance of the study and research methodology.
1.1.1 Background and Problem Statement
In every society in this world, media plays a very important role as sources of information on what is occurring not only within the local community but also in international in the formation of public opinion and have been recognized as constitutive of social reality in modern society . Media thus act as a mirror that reflects the happenings in society and are regarded as a barometer of society . The use of Mass Media in Public Diplomacy has
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As many parts of the world do not welcome or otherwise lack access to global or regional media directly such as CCTV, it was clearly noticed that most of the regional or global media houses establishements have limited media effects due to unavailable or broadcasting via satellite systems which are most of the time very expensive and commercial oriented hence only few people can afford to subscribe for the services.
There is no one-size-fits-all policy when it comes to identifying an effective communication strategy in diplomacy, whether it is in its narrow sense of official negotiation or understood as public diplomacy.
In order to improve its global image and cultivate an international environment that would facilitate China’s continuous rise in the world, the Chinese government has developed, in recent years, an aggressive Public Diplomacy program. The extension of the global outreach of its media has become an essential component in the effort to propagate the country’s international image
In cooperation with “Multi Choice”, the largest pay-television plat-form in Africa, CCTV has launched Great Wall Africa, a bouquet of 11
The media’s job is to entertain, inform, and educate society on what is going on around the world. The media entertains society by reporting stories that amuse people. The educational function of the media is about allowing society to know their legal rights. The informational aspect of the media does not need to be explained; it is self-explanatory. Within the last three decades, the media’s role has changed dramatically. The media went from using telegraphs, post offices, newspapers, magazines, radio, and television to using cell phones and tablets. In the modern era, which is also sometimes referred to as the information age, global networking and global communication have shaped modern societies. The majority of
This ultimately impacts the operations of the media in that country since the media function as a conduit of information and cultural trends.
It is important to note the following when evaluating China’s media industry: Public service television is an essential service to the community and cohesion of democratic societies aimed at the production, publication and distribution of a set of radio and television channels airing the diverse and balanced for all audiences, covering all genres and designed to meet information needs, culture, education and entertainment of Chinese society, spread their identify and cultural diversity, promote the information society, promoting pluralism, participation and other constitutional values, ensuring access for significant social and political groups.
Communication technology is constantly evolving, therefore offering new opportunities and challenges to public diplomacy practitioners. As television became the dominant news source following World War II, people working in communications shifted their focus to video news
It has been argued that the end of the Cold War and globalisation has made Western-style liberal press system as a universal model and no nation can free itself from the powerful influence of its universal value. Discuss this argument in the Asian context by applying relevant theoretical approaches discussed in this course. You may choose one Asian nation as a case study to address your ideas about the argument.
Media and politics are different entities with distinct aim; however, both depend on each other. Politics use media to be known by the public and to advertise their campaigns while media needs politics to inform the public by giving visibility to politics. Media and politics work together and even though they are different, both impact each other . Since politics need media to provide good image and information about them. Media also can use its authority to exploit information on politics; in contrast, politics uses their power to settle barriers on information provided by media. Thus, the role of media can result in bad and good influence in politics.
With all the communication tools we have today, our methods to connect with each other facilitate business, dialogue, negotiation and many more factors that help us grow as a society. The implementation of such negative and destructive polices like media censorship that leads to the affected society’s seclusion from the world is limiting us from expanding economically. It is imperative to emphasize the harm these policies have on the global economy.
The media industry is a very important aspect in the happening of an economy. It forms the major part of mass communication that reaches audiences through technological bits. It is the informant that keeps the citizens up-to-date with the daily happenings of the world in various sectors; politics, business, education, entertainment and sports. The media covers an extensive area, from the internet, press, film, radio and to the televisions. Similarly, the workforce behind the media power is extensive, from editors and columnists in press, news anchors and video editors in televisions, internet bloggers among others. The media has with time, depending on their respective nations been criticized by the society, governments and individuals on their own. Streaming information is always under the verge of positive and negative criticism; therefore, I find it vital to comprehend the experiences in the industry directly from a representative of the press sector.
Though the terms like ‘cultural imperialism’ and ‘cultural diplomacy’ are relatively young, and are mostly word combinations to define political phenomena, they are often considered as violent ways to conduct propaganda works. The aim of cultural imperialism or cultural mediation is not limited to formation of political organization or taking certain decisions relating to financial problems; it has a larger purpose of spreading ideologies among the third world countries. New age, age of globalisation, age of powerful mass communications has opened new doors for publicity. A man grasps certain things from TV each day; the material picked by columnists and journalists has turned out to be a flood of informations. It is [TV] the pivotal wellspring of data about the outside world. Naturally, if even journalists have no enough time for understanding of the information, what trusts might be in normal onlooker to translate these informations effectively? Television is a vigorously selected interpretation of events. In the flood of the information an onlooker managed by his own prejudiced notions and morals try to build from those stream of information a picture of his very own world. Individuals get the opportunity to know numerous things without actually learning anything.
British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] has played its role as a Public Service Broadcasting [PSB] in England since 1926. It was set up on Baron Reith’s hands as an educative media building public’s character by establishing and socializing cultural value to the society via its programs. Hitherto, BBC’s work focuses on the cultural connection among the society and plays a role as its guardian rather than pays attention to the diversity among them (Curran & Seaton, 2003). However, some critiques about its existence started raising in the end of 1980s as the appearance of the Sky Media commercial-satellite television company which gave larger opportunity for public to choose what they want to see. Recently, one of the most
Of the most significant advantages of ONTV channel is that it put an end to the era where the government monopolies media, especially with the availability of alternative channels, since the last nineties, shrinking economic role for governments in most Arab countries, in the light of market trends in the economy of the future, moreover, The remarkable flow of media across the channel in the growing strength of the impact of public opinion. Also, there was a magnificent change in the professional performance of the Arab media level because of the competitions between channels.
The mass media plays a fundamental role in amplifying globalization. A platform has been created through ever-growing and rapid access to the internet. We can all access the web with an internet connection making it ever easier for individuals to exchange cultures and multiple flows of information worldwide.
Limitations:The only limitation the source has is that it fails to also give us a vison of the specific countries outside of South Africa that used media and in what way and what media was most used.
When it is not the site of disaster, war or terrorism, much of the Third World is largely ignored by Western media. An exception is made when Western interests are perceived, correctly or not, to be involved. In all of the above scenarios an unhealthy proportion of Western Media coverage has been superficial, inaccurate and in certain cases, obfuscatory. This leaves the citizenry in Western democracies powerless to gauge the nature