UNIT 1
TOPIC 1: Global Communication: North-South Divide
The North-South Divide is a socio-economic and political categorization of countries. The Cold-War-era generalization places countries in two distinct groups; The North and the South.
The North is comprised of all First World countries and most Second World countries while the South is comprised of Third World countries. This categorization ignores the geographic position of countries with some countries in the southern hemisphere such as Australia and New Zealand being labeled as part of the North.
Generally, definitions of the Global North include the G8 countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, all member states of the European Union, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, as well as Australia and New Zealand and four of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, excluding China.
The Global South is made up of Africa, Latin America, and developing Asia, including the Middle East, and is home to the BRIC countries (excluding Russia): Brazil, India, and China, which, along with Indonesia, are the largest Southern states.
HISTORY
The origin of dividing countries into the North-South Divide arose during the Cold War of the mid 20th century. During this time, countries were primarily categorized according to their alignment between the Russian East and the American West.
Countries in the East like the Soviet Union and China which became classified as Second World countries. In the west, the United States and its allies were labeled as First World countries.
This division left out many countries that were poorer than the First World and Second World countries. The poor countries were eventually labeled as Third World countries. This categorization was later abandoned after the Second World countries joined the First World countries. New criteria were established to categorize countries that were named the North-South Divide where First World countries were known as the North while Third World countries comprised the South.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH
The two groups are often defined in terms of their differing levels of wealth, economic development, income inequality, democracy, and political and economic freedom, as defined by freedom indices. Nations in the North tend to be wealthier, less unequal, and considered more democratic and to be developed countries who export technologically advanced manufactured products;
Southern states are generally poorer developing countries with younger, more fragile democracies heavily dependent on primary sector exports and frequently share a history of past colonialism by Northern states
BRANDT LINE
The Brandt Line is a visual depiction of the north-south divide, proposed by West German former Chancellor Willy Brandt in the 1980s. It encircles the world at a latitude of approximately 30° North, passing between North and Central America, north of Africa and the Middle East, climbing north over China and Mongolia, but dipping south so as to include Australia and New Zealand in the "Rich North".
REASONS FOR DIVIDE
There are 3 main reasons why our world is so unequal today:
Colonialism: Today’s North-South gap traces its roots to the colonization of the Southern world regions by Europe over the past several centuries. This colonization occurred at different times in different parts of the world. Control by one power over a dependant area or people.
Trade: What you are spending to bring goods into your country is a greater sum than what you are making by selling products in the global economy. You are losing money. Southern countries suffered from this.
Debt: Their products were losing money in the global economy, so they needed to increase production. The only way they could do this was to borrow money from the rich northern countries. This puts them in debt.
Digital divide: The global Digital Divide is often characterized as corresponding to the North-South divide, however, it is interesting to note that Internet use, and especially broadband access, is now soaring in Asia compared with other continents. This phenomenon is partially explained by the ability of many countries in Asia to bypass older Internet technology and infrastructure, coupled with booming economies that allow vastly more people to get online.
UNESCO established the MacBride Commission to study the state of global communication IN. The Commission’s report denounced the unidirectional and inequitable flow of information between countries of the global North and global South. It showed that there was virtually no journalism produced by people of the developing nations for the developed nations, much less for themselves.7 Western global news services, which dominated international communications with their disproportionate amount of power, wealth, and equipment, were perceived as the culprits. And although the report has been criticized for its overt partisan tendencies that sympathized with the South, the core premise behind the MacBride report remains intact. Namely, Western powers hegemonize the global information space.8 Today six of the largest media conglomerates are based in the global North and among those most are concentrated in the United States.9 Scholarship has also implicitly sided with the findings published by the Commission. Media representation has become increasingly perceived as dominated by the disproportionately richer, English-speaking countries of the global North—a belief reminiscent of the MacBride Report.
TOPIC 2: Domination of Transnational News Agencies: BBC, AP, AFP, Reuters, ITTAR-TASS & UPI
The transnational news agencies function on world wide scale. They have a strong communication network and they maintain correspondents in all the major cities of the world. Example of transnational agencies are AP, AFP and Reuters.
The transnational news environment has been one of the most contentious arenas of global media activity. Long dominated by Western news agencies and global media channels, which remain key players, the transnational news environment is being transformed with the emergence of powerful non-Western news producers, including Al-Jazeera and ZeeTV and by the growing global access to the Internet.
The main reason for domination is the first world countries are economically strong and they can afford their own correspondence across the world they work 24X7 with latest technology.
Transnational news agencies that provide news all over the world. Since the beginning of the present century, four or five agencies have dominated the world.
People in the developing countries are forced to see each other and even themselves through the medium of these agencies because they are major suppliers of News to the developing world.
Western information dominance confines judgments and decision on what should be known and how it should be known, into the hands of a few, resulting in an inadequate, negative, stereotyped portrayal of developing countries.
The flow of news is heavily imbalanced, with information moving predominantly from advanced western countries to developing countries.
The area of concern is that the west exercises a kind of ―soft power‖ by virtue of the sting appeal of its cultural fame - films, television, music, books, and magazines in the developing world to the detriment of local cultural traditions.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
The British Broadcasting Company was set up by a group of executives from radio manufacturers in December 1922. John Reith became general manager of the organization.
In 1927 the government decided to establish the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as a broadcasting monopoly operated by a board of governors and director general. The BBC was funded by a licence fee at a rate set by parliament. The fee was paid by all owners of radio sets. The BBC therefore became the world's first public-service broadcasting organization. Unlike in the United States, advertising on radio was banned.
John Reith was appointed director-general of the BBC. Reith had a mission to educate and improve the audience and under his leadership the BBC developed a reputation for serious programmes. Reith also insisted that all radio announcers.
In the 1930s the BBC began to introduce more sport and light entertainment on the radio.
The BBC began the world's first regular television service in 1936. This service was halted during the Second World War and all BBC's efforts were concentrated on radio broadcasting.
The BBC television service was resumed in 1946 and by the early 1950s it became the dominant part of its activities. Its broadcasting monopoly came to an end with the introduction of commercial television in 1954. This was followed by the introduction of commercial radio stations in 1972.
It has been claimed that BBC is the most universally recognizable set of initials in the world. For example, by the end of the 20th century an estimated 150 million people were listening to BBC World Service radio.
The Associated Press (“AP”)
The Associated Press (“AP”) is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from the AP.
Founded in 1846, the AP today is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. The AP considers itself to be the backbone of the world’s information system, serving thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television, and online customers with coverage in text, photos, graphics, audio and video.
Headquartered in New York, the AP has About 3,700 employees – two-thirds of them news gatherers – work in more than 300 locations worldwide. The Associated Press operates 243 news bureaus, and it serves at least 120 countries.
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists.
As of 2005, the news collected by the AP is published and republished by more than 1,700 newspapers, in addition to more than 5,000 television and radio broadcasters. The photograph library of the AP consists of over 10 million images.
Associated Press also operates The Associated Press Radio Network, which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations.
The AP has received 49 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other news organization in the categories for which it can compete. It also has 30 photo Pulitzers, the most of any news organization.
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog.
AFP is based in Paris, with regional centres in Washington, Hong Kong, Nicosia, São Paulo, Montevideo and bureaux in 110 countries. It transmits news in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.
After the liberation of Paris in 1944, underground journalists emerged to set up AFP as a wire-service voice for liberated France. The postwar French government gave AFP the assets of Agence Havas, including the Paris building that became its headquarters. AFP quickly joined Reuters (United Kingdom), TASS (U.S.S.R.; later, ITAR-TASS of Russia), and the U.S. agencies Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) as one of the world’s leading news agencies.
In addition to having bureaus in major French cities, it has bureaus and correspondents in important world capitals. Besides having contracts with AP, Reuters, and ITAR-TASS for exchange of news reports, it sells a domestic French news report to most of the world’s news agencies and provides its worldwide report to many of them. AFP also has a photo service and a number of specialized news reports, several concerned with African matters.
SERVICES
AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong, and Washington, D.C., and news bureaux in 151 countries in 201 locations.
AFP says it employs 2,400 people of 100 different nationalities, including 1,700 journalists.
It provides information in six languages (French, English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Arabic), 24 hours a day.
Reuters
Reuters was set up in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter, a Germany born immigrant. He opened an office in the City of London which transmitted stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable.
Reuters, as the agency soon became known, eventually extended its service to the whole British press as well as to other European countries. It also expanded to include general and economic news from across the world. Its reputation rapidly gained ground thanks to a series of major scoops.
The agency has always been fiercely independent and has clear principles for all its reporters across text and television on objective reporting. However, during both world wars, it came under pressure from the British government to serve national interests. In 1941 Reuters deflected the pressure by restructuring itself as a private company.
The new owners, the British national and regional press, formed the Reuters Trust, with independent trustees who must safeguard the group's independence and neutrality. The group listed in 1984 and has not always had an easy time on the public markets. Its share price shot up during the dotcom boom but fell back sharply along with the fortunes of investment banks after 2001.
SERVICES
Real-time multimedia coverage with 200 bureaus and 2900 full-time journalists on the ground worldwide.
It offers text newswires in 20 languages.
Has won more than 100 awards since 2005, including the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
Reuter’s financial information services provide a powerful source of real-time and historical news and data. Used by more than 500,000 finance professionals worldwide.
Reuters provide visual analysis of top world events in the form of news and information graphics, economic and financial charts, along with sports, science, technology and environmental graphics.
ITAR-TASS
since 1904, The Russian News Agency ITAR-TASS is one of the world's largest international information agencies. The successor to the Soviet TASS news agency, it was re-named in 1992, when Russia proclaimed its sovereignty following the collapse of the USSR. It has retained its status of being the state central information agency.
Previously available to only a select few, the agency's resources are now available to anyone who is interested, both within and outside Russia; the mass media, academic institutions, organizations and private individuals.
As the very nature of news production continues to evolve, the agency will continually make use of the very latest available technologies in order to make real-time news distribution faster and more efficient.
ITAR-TASS relies on a widespread net of correspondents. Currently, It has more than 130 bureaus and offices in Russia and abroad. ITAR-TASS also cooperates with more than 80 foreign news agencies. ITAR-TASS' editorial and other desks process information from correspondents, check and analyze facts, and translate into five foreign languages.
ITAR-TASS has accumulated a rich body of experience throughout the course of its 100-year history. ITAR-TASS offers today 45 round-the-clock news cycles in six languages and more than 40 information bulletins.
The agency also operates a photo service, the largest of its kind in Russia. This unique service offers pictures of the latest breaking developments, available for prompt transmission in digital form. Clients also have access to an extremely rich photo archive dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.
United Press International (UPI)
United Press International (UPI), American-based news agency, one of the largest proprietary news wire services in the world. It was created in 1958 upon the merger of the United Press (UP; 1907) with the International News Service (INS). UPI and its precursor agencies pioneered in some key areas of news coverage, including the wired transmission of news photographs in 1925.
United Press International was born June 21, 1907, as the United Press Associations because its founder believed there should be no restrictions on who could buy news from a news service. Today, with more than 7,000 subscribers throughout the world, its ownership and management still subscribe to that belief.
During these years, in addition to pioneering new territories, the United Press broke new ground in news agency style and method. It was the first service to emphasize the by-line of the correspondent writing the dispatch. It introduced the big-name interview and developed the feature story as an important part of the daily news report. It encouraged its writers to tell their stories in terms of people. It gathered its own news. It strove for penetrating reporting and excellent writing. In 1935, United Press became the first major American news service to supply news to radio stations.
SERVICES
UPI is the only major news service in the world under private ownership. In 2000, UPI was bought by News World Communications, a media company.
Now UPI serves 7,079 subscribers worldwide. It's 2,246 clients outside of the US include more than 30 national and other news agencies.
In the U.S., UPI's clients include 1,134 newspapers and other publications and 3,699 broadcasters
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