6.3 The Media


How does globalization shape identity?

Often, talk of media actually is talk about mass media: any form of communication used to reach large numbers of people. Television and the Internet are the main forms of the media today, but magazines, newspapers, banners, billboards, films, books, CDs, DVDs, radios, and computer games are other forms. The media is used to entertain, educate, inform, and spread ideas and concepts to large numbers of people. Even this course is a form of media.

Greek Drama
Louis s Glanzman/National Geographic Stock
Technology has always had an important role in the development of the media. The first use of the media as a form of mass communication may have been dramas that were performed in the ancient world to crowds who watched them in open-air amphitheatres.

The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg (about 1450) revolutionized the spread of ideas, because then the printed word could be used to reach a large audience. At first, books such as the Bible were printed. Later, newspapers and magazines were used to communicate with the masses. Then came the telephone, movie theatre, radio, television, cellphone, and the Internet.





Modern technology has changed the face of the media. Today, a televised event such as the Super Bowl is watched by an estimated 140 million people worldwide - all at the same time. Soccer's World Cup is watched by over one billion people. An ad on the Super Bowl costs $5 million U.S. for 30 seconds of airtime. In view of the size of its audience, advertisers consider that price as money well spent.

Beverly Joubert/National Geographic Stock

Although we join together as a world community to be entertained by sporting events, we are also united by the media when tragic events occur. For example, when the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001, or the Coronavirus outbreak happened in 2020, the media informed us immediately of developments and provided us with information about how to help.

The media gives us shared access to the global village, and in that process, it can shape our views and ideas. The media is a powerful force in today's world.

Remember what you learned about critical reading and critical viewing. The same is true for the media. All forms of the media, just as all pieces of writing, photos, or paintings, were created by people who invested time and money to create the television you watch or the video games you play. They used specialized skills and techniques to create their material and get their messages across. All media contains bias and we need to consider that before forming an opinion.

Some things to remember about the media:

  • Whether you are watching TV, listening to the radio, or viewing a video on YouTube, remember that what you are seeing, reading, and hearing did not just happen. A person or a group of people created it, and they created it for a reason. Nothing is there by chance!

  • A message is contained in the medium. It can be implicit or explicit. It might be a commercial message, or it often is a value message by which the creator of the medium wants you to think a certain way, buy a certain product, or accept an idea or way of life.

  • You create your own understanding based on what you already know and understand. You bring your own perspective to your understanding of the message. Not using your own understanding to interpret the message is opening yourself up to accepting everything you are told without question—a dangerous position to be in.

What impact does the media have on our individual and collective identities? We must be responsible for our own thoughts and actions, but we cannot be everywhere and see everything with our own eyes.

  • The media helps us to learn more about the world around us. It shows us how people in other parts of the world live. It gives us the news and helps us to understand big ideas. It can help us understand the perspectives of others.

  • It can also give us an identity that we share with others when we cheer for our favourite team in the Stanley Cup or cheer a Canadian athlete at the Olympics.

  • The media can help us understand our own culture and how we belong. It can also show us what is normal, at least from the point of view of the media producer. That might mean buying a new vehicle every year, eating convenience food, taking drugs for real or imagined ailments, or getting new clothes to stay in fashion.

  • The media does not always encourage us to think critically about the stories they portray or the messages they send.