Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Global Media: France & Europe Introduction


Media friendly France, above Sarkozy with Italian born wife Carla Bruni

The first key question is always "what we will study?" Media are simply tools of communication and include everything from the printed word to contemporary technology formats.


"The Media" refers to the organized industry of mass media channels and formats. The media below are easily recognizable to American audiences and share a tool of the English language.


National frames determine news content, by both language and national values. The map below indicates that The New York Times privileges information in countries in orange to red, mainly itself and those countries with which it trades.

Because media are in national frames, they can generate true and false perceptions about other countries. The photos below suggest stereotypes presented in media about French and European culture.

Some suggest media is reaching a place of meta-language. This is a phase when though English dominates, technology formats create global networks with a largely visual system. We know what the news looks like, or online media, because there is a visual language of forms. The video below is by BBC.


Instant new media is reaching a place of collective consciousness. The new media also function through icon recognition that allow use in any language.

A primary question is if social media connects us toward genuine collective consciousness or to distraction.


Semester Preview

Historically, the key thinkers in media theory are not American.
Below Marx, McLuhan, Derrida, Barthes and Baudrillard.


By considering France in the EU context, the field of media formats expands and grows globally.


We will seek "European media fluency" by learning to recognize media by name and country.



Above French politics and media with May 1968 by Life Magazine, Sarkozy & Bruni and Sarkozy's son Jean below who has also controversly entered politics. Below the economic viability of print media is a question for the major economic forces in France.


The question of culture and media is one of equal representation and the influence of Americanized culture industry.


Above the Tour de France and Formula One command huge television audiences, exceeded however by the music television show Eurovision.


Finally we will consider French media's future amidst global new competition.

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