Multimedia from the European perspective

The European public sphere as facilitated by the mass media

Why is there no resilient collective identity of Europeans as Europeans? “The answer is: collective identities are created, stabilized, and reproduced by communities based on communication, experience, and memory. Europe, even the more restricted Western Europe, is not a communication community, barely a community of shared memories, and only in a limited sense a community of shared experiences.”

—Peter Graf Kielmansegg

“The Balkan cultures lying north of Greece customarily have been excluded both from the old Europe and from the new (western, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Germanic) Europe….

Their exclusion from the new Europe and the organization of the new Europe on the basis of money and power rather than culture may result, in fact, in the suicide of Europe itself.”

—Traian Stoianovich

This report, introduced by the previous two epigrams, addresses how scholars tackled Europe’s continuing struggle with its collective identity (Schlesinger, 1997).

This “Europeanization” of the mass media system is central to how researchers of the European school of thought approached the structural framework of a capitalist society and the dynamics that operate in a capitalist environment.

Among the notable scholars whose studies concerned with the social forces such as the globalization, commercialization, consolidation, diversification affecting the information and communications sector are:

Karl Marx “Most political economists take Marx’s critique of capitalism as their starting point. Marx showed how the logic of capital shapes the reproduction of human existence in particular ways. Political economy studies have extended this analysis to the communications system, examining the ways in which the logic of capital affects the structure and output of the information and culture industries.” (Mosco)

Among the notable scholars whose studies concerned with the social forces such as the globalization, commercialization, consolidation, diversification affecting the information and communications sector are:

John Stuart Mill “An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control.” (Wikipedia, 2011)

Among the notable scholars whose studies concerned with the social forces such as the globalization, commercialization, consolidation, diversification affecting the information and communications sector are:

Friedrich Engels “Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was a German social scientist who is notable for being an early commenter on the implications of the newly developing field of thermodynamics on economies viewed as physical systems theorized in the field of political economics.” (EoHT wiki, 2010)

Among the notable scholars whose studies concerned with the social forces such as the globalization, commercialization, consolidation, diversification affecting the information and communications sector are:

David Ricardo “Ricardo argued that there is mutual benefit from trade (or exchange) even if one party (e.g. resource-rich country, highly-skilled artisan) is more productive in every possible area than its trading counterpart (e.g. resource-poor country, unskilled laborer), as long as each concentrates on the activities where it has a relative productivity advantage…Ricardo's ideas had a tremendous influence on later developments in economics. With his highly logical arguments, he has become the theoretical father of the classical political economy.” (Wikipedia, 2010)

Among the notable scholars whose studies concerned with the social forces such as the globalization, commercialization, consolidation, diversification affecting the information and communications sector are:

Adam Smith “Adam Smith defined political economy as a ‘branch of the science of a statesman or legislator’ concerned with the twofold objective of ‘providing a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people.”’ (Burnham, 2011)

The case against Europeanization

“Prospects for Europeanization of the communication system are absolutely non-existent. A Europeanized communication system ought not to be confused with increased reporting on European topics in national media. These are directed at a national public and remain attached to national viewpoints and communication habits. They can accordingly not create any European public nor establish any European discourse. Europeanization in the communication sector would by contrast mean that there would be newspapers and periodicals, radio and television programs, offered and demanded on a European market and thus creating a nation-transcending communicative context. But such a market would presuppose a public with language skills enabling it to utilize European media. That would be the case either if every journalist could use his own language and still be sure of being generally understood, or else – more realistically – if some European lingua franca alongside the mother tongues . . . could become established. The European Union is still a very long way away from that. Here, then, is the biggest obstacle to Europeanization of the political substructure, on which the functioning of a democratic system and the performance of a parliament depends: language.

Communication is bound up with language and linguistically mediated experience and interpretation of the world. Information and participation as basic conditions of democratic existence are mediated through language.” (Grimm, 1995)

Towards a common European perspective

Historically, the European media are not only limited by borders of states but also bound up with formations of nations and nation-states. Efforts to transition into a mass democracy are hampered by government-funded public broadcasters themselves (Cowan), which broadcast in their respective languages, from German to French, although English has been adopted as its lingua franca.

Barriers to a common European perspective

“At stake is the minimal establishment of a European news agenda as a serious part of the news-consuming habits of significant European audiences who have begun to think of their citizenship as transcending the level of the nation-state. Without such conditions obtaining, we could not meaningfully talk of an enlargement of the public sphere at this level. The implication of the argument above is that, in the process of media reception, even a multilingual rendition of a single given European news agenda is more likely to be diversely ‘domesticated’ within each distinctive national or language context…than it is likely to reorientate an audience toward a common European perspective.” (Schlesinger, 1995)

Conclusion

The European school of thought, in general, is characterized by a focus on a change in the status quo, particularly with regard to power relations in society. Because most European states are welfare states, wherein the government plays an important role in the media by means of a very substantial funding system (such as reduced postal and telephone rates, subsidized newsprint supply), coupled with a history of a close relationship between newspapers and political parties over the last century, the role of multimedia is seen as the most important means to induce the necessary socio-economic changes.

Alvarez, Aurora, et al (2010). Diversity and the European Public Sphere: The Case of Spain. March 2010. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://eurospheres.org/files/2010/06/Spain.pdf

Boedo 2006, Former Communist Countries and their transition to Capitalism, Hernan J. Moscoso Boedo, University of Wisconsin - Madison, May 25th 2006, http://www.virginia.edu/economics/RePEc/vir/virpap/papers/virpap372.pdf

Burnham, P. (n.d.). Political economy. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/political-economy

Cowan, Geoffrey & Westphal, David (2010). Public Policy and Funding the News. Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://fundingthenews.usc.edu/docs/Funding%2520the%2520News_report-optimized.pdf

Graham, P. (n.d.). Political economy of communication: a critique. Retrieved from http://www.philgraham.net/MME%20Chapter_Final.pdf

EoHT wiki, Initials. (2010). Friedrich Engels. Encyclopedia of human thermodynamics. Retrieved January 5, 2011, from http://www.eoht.info/page/Friedrich+Engels

Grimm, Dieter (1995) ‘Does Europe Need a Constitution?’, European Law Journal 1(3): 282–302. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://club.fom.ru/books/steeg.pdf

Kielmansegg, Peter Graf (1996). ‘Integration und Demokratie’, in Jachtenfuchs and Kohler-Koch, Europäis-che Integration. Opladen: Leske & Budrich. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://club.fom.ru/books/steeg.pdf

Mosco, V. (2008). Current trends in the political economy. Global Media Journal - Canadian Edition, Volume1(Issue 1), Retrieved from http://www.google.com.ph/#hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=605&q=Political+Economy+of+Communication%3A+A+Critique&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=d97cf8c6a0f8a97b

Political economy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bookrags.com/research/political-economy-eci-02/

Stoianovich , Traian 1994. The First and Last Europe. Sources and Studies in World History. http://books.google.com/books?id=kxKBMhz3e7AC&lpg=PP1&dq=editions%3AISBN1563240335&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Schlesinger, Philip (1995) Europeanisation and the Media: National Identity and the

Public Sphere. Arena 7 working paper, 1995. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://club.fom.ru/books/steeg.pdf

Schlesinger, Philip (1997). From cultural defence to political culture: media, politics and collective identity in the European Union. Media, Culture & Society July 1997 19:369-391 http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/19/3/369.abstract

Siim , Birte, Agustín , Lise Rolandsen, Nielsen , Helene Pristed (2010). Diversity and the European Public Sphere: The Case of Denmark. Eurosphere Country Reports No. 5, March 2010. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://eurospheres.org/files/2010/06/Denmark.pdf

Wasko, J. (2005). Studying the political economuy of media and information. Comunicacao e Sociedade, vol. 7. Retrieved from http://citationmachine.net/index2.php?reqstyleid=2&mode=form&reqsrcid=APAInternetJournalArticle&more=yes&nameCnt=1

Wikipedia. (2010). David Ricardo. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 5, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ricardo

Wikipedia. (2011). John Stuart Mill. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 5, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill

Image sources: • Marx: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karl_Marx_001.jpg• Mill:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/John_Stuart_Mill_by_John_Watkins%2C_1865.jpg/200px-John_Stuart_Mill_by_John_Watkins%2C_1865.jpg

• Engels: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Engels.jpg/200px-Engels.jpg

• Ricardo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David_Ricardo(1).jpg • Smith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AdamSmith.jpg• Multimedia video world sphere [digttal illustration]. Retrieved January 5, 2011

from http://www.dreamstime.com/free-photos• Skeleton hand holding a globe [digital illustration]: Retrieved January 5, 2011

from http://www.dreamstime.com/free-photos• Connected people in network [digital illustration]: Retrieved January 5, 2011

from http://www.dreamstime.com/free-photos

 

References

MMS 197 course requirementUnit II Activity, Group 1Submitted byEduardo A. DavadJulius Voltaire V. Advincula