What impact does the increase of global media have on media audiences?

Over time global media has rapidly increased allowing everyone to access the same things, for example; Television, films, news and social networking websites are now available for all. Some people believe this is a good thing because everyone deserves the chance to experience the same things, but on the other hand, some people think that by western countries feeding out their culture they are diluting other cultures.

An example of a television programme that highlights this is Americas Next Top Model. It first began in 2003 and the most recent season ended in 2011. Since beginning the show has been aired in many different countries all over the world (Chile, Finland, UK, Singapore, Canada, Estonia, Austria, Poland and more). The influence of this could have an effect on the way people view themselves and what they believe beauty to be. The American view of beauty could be very different to what is considered beautiful in Singapore, which could lead to people trying to change themselves to fit something that would not be the norm in their culture. 

 Since these seasons have been aired abroad, other countries have made their own Top Model shows; there are now 44 top model shows around the world. I think that this is a good thing because now people from all around the world will be able to experience these types of competitions and also it is allowing more people to fulfil their dreams of being a top model. A downside to this is that high fashion is very western, so by less economically developed countries becoming more westernised they could be decultalizing their own countries.

Another example is global news. Now news can be accessed online and also through other medias such as; newspapers and television. The local news gives people a sense of relevance and makes them feel more like a community as they are sharing in the news together. For example, the Cumbrian shootings in 2010, not only brought Cumbria together to grieve but also the whole of the UK felt a sense of grief and ownership. Social Networking websites such as Facebook and twitter would have helped people to deal with their local news experiences, by making status updates and groups etc more relevant to them. The Benedict Anderson Theory of 'Imagined Communities' suggests that people feel like they are part of a community although they have not met everyone in the community. These websites can also help local news to be spread globally. Global news is easily spread through the Internet, newspapers and othe medias. The recent Tsunami that hit Japan has been shown globally, people have had access to the same footage. Although a lot of people are not local to that they still feel the misery and sadness about the situation. This has caused a increase in interactivity. People from around the globe feel that since they have seen images and videos of the disaster that struck they have some responsibility to help with it. So global news can help people as people may send money or goods to the people in Japan. Some people feel that global news can be a good and bad thing for diversity and history because on one hand, it is teaching people about other cultures but it also waters down cultures and can decultralise countries because we are being so exposed to other cultures.