Reader Response to "The Effects of Media Globalization"

In Hickman’s article, The Effects of Media Globalization, the concepts presented by the author are about the drawbacks of media globalization. It includes the reliability of the information on internet, negative impacts to the cultural barriers, limitation for the freedom of speech, decrease of the quality of media content and distinctive regulation of the media.

Most of the consequences written by Hickman are based on multinational corporations. Many local media has merged with the multinational corporations from irrelevant field, resulting in the restriction of speech. Moreover, it also affects the economic structure such as American middle class is losing with jobs. This shows that the production line has shifted to the countries like Vietnam and India due to the low wages and rich resources.

Apart from the negative effects by multinational corporations that are mentioned in the article, they also influence the mentality and thinking of the kids. For example, one of the largest animation production companies, Walt Disney, launches various animations around the world. The animations, “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty”, express the values of social status and differentiation between rich and poor. The princes with wealth, reputation and power allow them to get rid of the realistic issues. The moral values are then implanted to the kids and would cause discrimination in the future that everything can be solved with higher financial ability and power while the poor cannot. This proves that “many of the movies and characters created by Disney are far more of an unacceptably bad influence on children than we realize.” (Castillo, 2006)

In overall, the message about the impacts of media globalization by Hickman is clear and well-explained with examples given. Everything comes with pros and cons. Although media globalization brings many benefits, its drawbacks also occur at the same time.

Summary of "The Effects of Media Globalization" (Final Draft)

Media globalization is a part of globalization which fetches benefits in various ways, but it also has its drawbacks. Although the internet allows an immeasurable amount of information to be shared, the reliability of information can never be assured. Moreover, in reality, media globalization can deteriorate diplomatic relations instead of uniting people from different cultures. Local media is being annexed by the corporations from irrelevant field due to mitigation of governmental regulation, restricting the freedom of speech. With media globalization, the American middle class is replaced by the lower wage production line outsourced internationally. With regards to multinational media corporations, despite enhancing the quality of the media content, profit ability holds precedence through increasing advertising contracts. Apart from the wealthiest minority in the most developed countries, advertising agencies also exercise significant influence over the media content because the media is largely funded by them. This illustrates the fact that media plays a vital role in the aspect of influencing social perspectives, so distinctive regulation will be the most welcomed unlike standard consumer goods.

Summary of "The Effects of Media Globalization"

Media globalization is the fundamental of globalization which brings benefits in various ways, but it also has its drawbacks. Although the internet allows immeasurable amount of information to be shared, it does not assure that the information is reliable. Moreover, in reality, media globalization can worsen diplomatic relations instead of bringing people with different cultures together. As local media is annexed by the companies with irrelevant field due to decrease of governmental regulation, the freedom of speech is intimidated. With media globalization, American middle class is replaced by the lower production line internationally. Despite enhancing the quality of the media content, maximizing the profits through increasing advertisements is the main objective for multi-national media corporations. Apart from the wealthiest minority in the most developed countries, advertising agencies also have significant influence to the media content because media is funded largely by them. This shows that media plays a vital role of social influence, so it should be regulated in a distinct way unlike other consumer goods.

My English Language Learning Journey

As the official language in Taiwan is Mandarin, only Mandarin is taught and thus, my English learning journey began when I was in primary three. Realizing the importance of English, my parents decided to send me to an English tuition class.

However, there was always a limitation of learning English in a Mandarin speaking society. After finishing my secondary education, my sisters and I were sent to Singapore for further education as Singapore is a country with English as an official language. Nevertheless, this was a challenge for me, especially when I was not only unfamiliar with the languages in Singapore, but also the cultures and religions.

For the first two years in Singapore, I could not communicate in English confidently and Mandarin was still my main medium with my classmates. The drastic change only happened after I entered Temasek Polytechnic. Most of my classmates were non-Chinese. In order to survive in this environment, I was forced to speak in English. Although it was not pleasant at the start due to wrong usage of English words, after multiple corrections by friends, I was able to communicate in English confidently.

My English learning journey was not so smooth as I have faced different kinds of mistakes. Through English, I managed to make fore friends from different backgrounds and learned the cultures and religions from them. Even though my English is not perfect, it fulfills me to be more 'human'. Learning English is a long journey, and I hope I can capture more in depth knowledge of learning English language in the future.