Ashley Leavy
Professor Faradj
COMM 304
October 16, 2013
Analysis #1

Media globalization cannot be stopped. It is a result of new communications technology. It is also the prerequisite and facilitator for all other forms of globalization. Multi-national media is critical to global industries. While new global media can cross cultural boundaries, this does not always bring people closer together. In truth it can deteriorate foreign relations as cultural barriers are broken down by American media. Media is a unique “product” in that it shapes how people think and behave. It is a product of culture which also shapes culture. Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist and Noam Chomsky, an American linguist, both have communication models regarding the discourse of mass media. Discussed by Steven Luke, author of the book, Power: A Radical View, there are three dimensions of power applicable for a given group or individual, where each level is distinguished by certain criteria and its effectiveness. The One Dimensional View solely focuses on behavior in decision-making, specifically on key issues, and is often called the pluralist view of power. It is, “the capacity of one actor (A) to do something affecting another actor (B), which changes the probable pattern of specified future events” (Dahl, pp. 3-4). More importantly, the power of the influencer (A) only becomes measurable when he is using his capacity. This concept is where Hall and Chomsky take similar stances, due to the irrelevance of this dimension. Although the media provides a “free flow” of information, Chomsky recognizes five elements that impact what news becomes. These elements are “the ownership, size and profit orientation of mainstream media; advertising as the principle source of revenue for mainstream media and the corresponding influence of advertising values on news production processes; mainstream media’s routine reliance on agents of power as the primary definers of social reality; organized flak that represents a mechanism of social control; and various ideological forces, which may be deployed and adapted to correspond to elite interests when required” (Chomsky, Herman, 1-35). Hall uses the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication, and believes that a message must be perceived as meaningful discourse and be meaningfully decoded before it has an effect, a use, or satisfies a need. Both models require at least one actor to be cognitively aware.
The Two Dimensional View of Power qualifies the First Dimensions critique of behavior and involves observable overt or covert conflicts of subjective interests. For example, this is prevalent when one actor (A) uses his capacity to create or reinforce a framework (social and political values and institutional practices) that in effect, limits another actor’s (B) capacity or ability that they (B) would otherwise do. This is achieved by keeping key issues off the political agenda, which is also referred to as non-decision making. For example, Chomsky points out how a majority of all media is owned by a very small percentage of wealthy corporations. Local media is being swallowed alive by conglomerations. Media moguls have the most to gain from globalization of media. Their power is concentrated; they have merged, often with companies that are unrelated to the field, as when GE bought NBC. Naturally, the political ideas and bias of GE can be seen in NBC: GE expels criminal amounts of pollution. Therefore, pollution is not a topic covered by NBC. On the contrary, Hall argues that meaning is not simply fixed nor determined by the sender. He believes that there must be a dominant cultural order, in which society sets the precedence for what we will relate to, thus we continue to fuel the “loop” of information.
The Three Dimensional View of Power, offered by Luke’s in his work, concentrates on the decision-making in political agenda and the control over that agenda. This ideology takes into account that (A) is aware of the biases in the environment and is using those biases against (B). This said, Chomsky conveys how media firms have a heavy reliance on advertising and dependence on business and governmental sources for information, as well as an overall ideology within which they operate. The elements previously mentioned interact with and reinforce one another, setting the premises of discourse and interpretation, and the definition for what is worthy. If Chomsky is correct and advertising in media increases, we can expect our media to be overwhelmingly dominated by advertiser interests and bias. In addtion, he also believes, “Their first interest is profits, but broader than that. It’s to construct an audience of a particular type…One that is addicted to a certain life-style with artificial wants” (Chomsky, 1996). The wealthiest countries have the resources to produce the most media; therefore, the media delivered to the global audience will promote the culture of the wealthiest countries. And it is the wealthiest minority within these countries who defines the content of the media, thereby influencing culture around the world. Hall does not see this matter in such a way, stating “it may be said that the professional codes serve to reproduce hegemonic definitions specfically by not overtly biasing their operations in a dominant direction: ideological reproduction therefore takes place here inadvertently, unconsciously, “behind men’s backs”. (Hall, 60).

(1980). "Encoding / Decoding." In: Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, and P. Willis (eds). Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79. London: Hutchinson, pp. 128-138.

Lukes, Steven. "Power." Chapter 1. Power: A Radical View. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.