The role of mass media in conflict prevention

The pros and cons of globalisation. Dwell on the term “the global village”.

Pros: 1) global journalism/ local journalists can get news very fast from any point of the world through the Internet and transmit it. 2) it can improve the quality of life, raise living standards, and bring people together 3)rise understanding among nations around the world 4)transfer of values, resources, goods, aid, technology, ideas and the media across the world.5) g. can contribute to the eradication of poverty and backwardness 6) give people sense of community

Cons: 1) the world becomes less diverse 2)g. undermines cultural and national identities 3) value of the Internet grows: less subscriptions 4) possible extension of capitalism, corporate power and American or western influence. 5) universalizing of values 6)cultural pillage

Global village:

Global Village is a term closely associated with Marshall McLuhan, popularized in his books The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962) and Understanding Media (1964). McLuhan described how the globe has been contracted into a village by electric technology. Today, the term "Global Village" is mostly used as a metaphor to describe the Internet and World Wide Web. On the Internet, physical distance is even less of a hindrance to the real-time communicative activities of people, and therefore social spheres are greatly expanded by the openness of the web and the ease at which people can search for online communities and interact with others that share the same interests and concerns. Therefore, this technology fosters the idea of a conglomerate yet unified global community. Due to the enhanced speed of communication online and the ability of people to read about, spread, and react to global news very rapidly, McLuhan says this forces us to become more involved with one another from countries around the world and be more aware of our global responsibilities. Similarly, web-connected computers enable people to link their web sites together. This new reality has implications for forming new sociological structures within the context of culture. The universalizing of values, such as democracy, and a greater access to ideas, values and even material goods are the foundations of life in the global village.

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is a prolific writer and theoretician on the media and its subversive tactics. He claims, that the process of globalisation means huge increases in advertising, narrower concentration of reliable sources. He also thinks that the process of globalisation is natural, as contemporary society is developing in a great speed. Besides he speaks about the primary function of the media: selling audiences to advertisers. But I can’t agree with this statement. Of course all kinds of mass media make money when an advertiser pays them, but that is not their primary function.

In times of globalisation the role of the Mass Media rises greatly. A lot of things depend primarily on their position, impartiality, and faithful representation of passing events. It is a well-known fact that people would rather trust newspapers, TV or radio than the government, as they used to cover events properly, accurately and promptly. So, from long ago, the meaning of the Fourth Estate for the society has been valuable and important.

But now, when it comes to globalisation, all the sources of information for people are going to be united, the ones with or without censorship, and this fact can make people really anxious. Now the reader or the viewer can get great diversity of newspapers/magazines to read or channels/programmes to watch, and I suppose that this diversity will decline. Besides, we have another source of information, the most popular now, the Internet. Vast spectrum of opinions and statements is presented there, but how can we decide, whether we should trust in them or not? Although the state of the internet journalism is not defined yet, crowds of people, especially young ones, are already addicted to this source of information and entertainment. And contemporary society is setting a stamp (наложить отпечаток) upon all this kinds of information distribution.

There even is such term as “global reporting”, that means that journalists from any point of the world can transmit news to the other end of the planet, explain some political, economical and social problems of any country to other nations immediately. But again, such “global” news can be produced by anyone and from anywhere.

To sum up, what tendency can we see now? Few people subscribe to newspapers or any editions in general, they turn on the radio while standing in traffic jams as a forced deed (вынужденная мера), they only look through some Internet pages and believe nearly everything they find. Globalisation has changed the ways in which foreign correspondents work and the nature of international news. There is an opinion, that globalisation has crushed journalism, but is that all? Should we struggle or just let it go?

Globalisation versus localization

The Internet is a major component of globalisation that has created a global audience. However, the trust of journalists decreases because of standardized and marginalized news copy, so in this case localization has risen. Citizen journalism has been at the forefront of this phenomenon, as it personalizes news reports and abolishes news editors. Moreover, the convergence of media outlets (they have merged) can be seen nearly everywhere, and as a result - information is standardized and marginalized. Therefore, journalists are being criticized for the lack of quality news, as many journalists must now write infotainment and soft news to ensure their stories are read and newspapers are sold. Nowadays journalism gives priority to advertising and commercial ventures. Although their stories can be newsworthy and well-written, it is professional journalists, who know how to gather, source (черпать) and find information, conduct interviews and cross-check (verify) facts to provide accurate accounts of events. I also believe that journalists should resist commercial pressure and pursue their investigative role as being the public’s “watchdog” and to keep their journalistic integrity. 

The role of mass media in conflict prevention

The relations between mass media and international conflicts is a topical question nowadays. Every journalist should realize the degree of responsibility while working in this sphere. And to my mind, there is a real need to increase the level of legal literacy of the journalists covering the subject of the international and interfaith relations as the facts of hostility can arise in the racial and international background.

Another problem that can occur in this field is the problem of distribution of the materials focused on stirring of national, racial, religious hatred or hostility on the Internet. It is an independent world, which is difficult to control and in this case, some rules should exist, some sort of censorship in the internet, I suppose.

Moreover, every journalist needs to consider the consequence which can be caused by a negligent word, bright, but incorrect headline if he or she deals with the cases of such conflicts. He or she should strive to tackle the conflict. That is why the weighed approaches (взвешенный подход) in covering the international and interfaith conflicts are of great importance.

So, the main obligations of the Media during any kinds of conflicts should be the following: they should prevent  violence, build piece, keep the public calm but well-informed, without hushing up any important but frightening facts. They should be neutral and shouldn’t side with any part of the conflict, they should promote reconciliation, in order not to play a destructive role in peace building.  

As journalists have the ability to shape the public opinion, especially during conflicts, they should comment on events, and explain e.g. the behavior of this or that politician or armed forces. Moreover, they should try to find the roots of the conflict and speak about them, to prevent the following ones.

But still, the main qualities that should be inherent in a good journalist are: accuracy, impartiality, objectivity, credibility, truthfulness and consideration towards audience. A good journalist should know these words as the Lord’s Prayer, repeat them every time, he or she deals with the materials about conflicts and try to make young journalists follow this rules too and know them by heart.