7. TELEVISION: THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEDIUM

1. AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES 7. TELEVISION: THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEDIUM Lecture by Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ibahrine based on DeFleur and Dennis’s Understanding Mass Communication

2. Developing a Concise Definition • Developing a Concise Definition • “Mass communication is a process in which professional communicators design and use media to disseminate messages widely, rapidly, and continuously in order to arouse intended meanings in large, diverse, and selectively attending audiences in attempts to influence them in a variety of ways”

3. Structure of the Lecture • 1. The BIRTH OF TELEVISION • 1.1 DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC SYSTEM • 1.2 EARLY BROADCASTS • 2. THE PERIOD OF RADIO ADOPTION • 2.1 THE BIG FREEZE • 2.2 BECOMING A NATION TELEVISION VIEWERS • 2.3 THE COMING OF COLOR • 2.4 TELEVISION’S GOLDEN AGE

4. Introduction • Television is a medium of enormous importance • Although radio still has larger audiences and greater reach worldwide, • No one doubts the preeminent role of television as a mass medium

5. Introduction • It is a major force in the media economy as a connection between audiences and advertisers as well as a system of content • Technology has always played a critical role in television’s development and its ability to challenge • In any consideration of television, technology is vitally important • “Television industries”

6. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • The history of television goes back a lot further than many people might suppose • In 1884, a German experimenter, Paul Nipkow, developed a rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern that had unusual properties • The Nipkow disk became the central technology for further experimentation on the transmission of images, both by wire and later by radio waves

7. This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes that may also be square for greater precision (WIKIPEDIA, 2007)

8. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • PEASE USE WIKIPEDIA CLEVERLLY • We talk about this issue in the very next future

9. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • Early experiments on sending pictures by radio began in several countries just after World War I • The earliest attempts made use of a revolving "Nipkow disk;' a mechanical system that created a scanning effect when used with a beam of light • It was not until electronic scanning was developed that television became practical

10. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • The most remarkable of the inventors is Philo T. Farnsworth • As a child he had started reading about electricity • The first patent for an electronic television system was awarded to Philo T. Farnsworth, an obscure inventor who had worked out the basic design while still a high school student • With minimal funding he built a working model in a small apartment in Los Angeles • Vladimir Zworykin, of Westinghouse laboratories, also invented an electronic system • Court battles resulted but Farnsworth won his case and received a cash settlement

11. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • By 1932, a transmitter was installed in the Empire State Building in New York City • Regular transmissions began on a limited basis in 1936,with two broadcasts per week • A few hundred amateur enthusiasts who had built or purchased sets could receive the signals in the New York area • By early 1941, the medium was set to take off

12. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • By 1940, television was capable of becoming a mass medium for home use • However, when World War II began in 1941, the need for war production temporarily halted the development of the new medium • The period of rapid adoption of home receivers began just after the war

13. 1. THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION • Between 1950 and 1960, nearly 90 percent of American households acquired TV set • This rapid adoption happened in spite of a freeze on the licensing and construction of new TV stations imposed by the FCC between 1948 and 1952

14. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • By 1946, the FCC had issued twenty-four new licenses for television transmitters • G.C • The manufacture and sale of home receivers began that same year • In 1947, a set with a picture about six by seven inches cost around $400 • That was more than a month's wages for many blue-collar families • and the set did include the special antenna that had to be installed on the roof

15. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • One establishment that could afford a set was the local tavern • By 1948, a television set was a central feature in almost every tavern in the country • Sports programs were the favorite, and big crowds would gather to watch the games • The local tavern was a significant element in demonstrating and popularizing the new medium • Even today, people watch sports programming in bars and taverns, where they enjoy a communal medium as they watch a game and discuss it with fellow patrons

16. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.1 THE BIG FREEZE • By the beginning of 1948, the FCC had issued approximately one hundred licenses • Some cities had two or even three stations, although most still had none • Soon problems developed like those that had troubled radio in the early years • The signals of one station sometimes interfered with those of another

17. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.1 THE BIG FREEZE • By the beginning of 1948, the FCC had issued approximately one hundred licenses • Beginning 1948 and extending through 1952, the commission ordered a freeze on the issuance of new licenses and construction permits • As a result, TV transmitters could not be built in many American communities until after the freeze was lifted

18. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.1 THE BIG FREEZE • When the freeze was lifted in 1952, television spread throughout the United States • Within a remarkably short time, it became so ubiquitous that most American families had a set • Social commentators began to speak of the "television generation" of Americans born after World War II who never knew a world without TV • The medium is presumed to have shaped their lives in significant ways

19. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.2 BECOMING A NATION OF TELEVISION VI EWERS • Figure 7.1 shows how rapidly the American public adopted television • In 1950, less 10 percent of American homes had a set • In 1960, only ten years later, nearly 90 percent had a receiver • By 1980, ownership of sets had virtually reached saturation level in American households • Today, it is very unusual to find a family without a television set, and most have more than one

20. 2.2 BECOMING A NATION OF TELEVISION VI EWERS

21. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.2 BECOMING A NATION OF TELEVISION VI EWERS • Another index of the popularity of television can be seen in terms of viewing time • The TV set has been in use during an ever-growing number of hours per day for almost decades • Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine patterns of television viewing because TV sets can be used in so many Ways • One can watch regular broadcasting, signals from satellites, cable channels, and video cassettes; play video games; or be connected to the Internet

22. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.3 THE COMING OF THE COLOR • In 1953, the FCC approved a different system, which had been developed by RCA in 1946 • Although it produced less-refined colors, it did allow existing black-and -white sets to receive color-transmitted programs

23. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES • Two different periods can both be called the golden age of television: • 1. The first is the time when the medium was experiencing its most rapid period of growth roughly from 1952 to around 1960 • 2. The second is a longer period, from about 1960 to around 1980, when network television had few competitors

24. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES • The two decades between 1960 and 1980 also can be regarded a kind of economic golden age of television • It may not have been in a period of audience satisfaction in terms of classic programming • At the time the public showed many signs of frustration and dissatisfaction with the medium • The period was one of turmoil in American society, beset by such issues as civil rights, the Vietnam War and increasing crime and violence

25. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES • Many blamed , TV for social ills, believing it to be a powerful medium that was eroding the moral standards and the stability of the nation • Such charges generated a great deal of interest in the effects of television • -> Research

26. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES • During these decades, the medium was dominated by three major networks ABC, CBS, and NBC) with virtually no competition • Their profit margins were high from advertising revenue • They commanded the attention of virtually the entire viewing audience during prime time

27. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES • A small proportion of American did view programs on educational stations and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) • Network television was widely criticized for broadcasting too much violence and for keeping the intellectual level of its programs low • Programs presented during the period were often designed with the tastes of the lower middle class in mind • Violence and fantasy were persistent themes

28. 2. THE PERIOD OF RAPID ADOPTION • 2.4 TELEVISION'S GOLDEN AGES • The majority of Americans loved that kind of TV content • Newton Minow (then Chairman of the FCC), said • “Network television was a • "vast wasteland” • of mindless comedy, unrealistic soap operas, staged wrestling, cartoons, sports, quiz shows, and shallow portrayals of family situations

29. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • During the last decade, Arab media has undergone enormous changes • The trends and patterns that characterize its modus operandi have been in constant flux, under pressure from both external and internal forces • In lurid headlines it has been hyped, vilified, and glamorized -- but rarely studied as an academic subject • This is unfortunate, because the lack of serious literature has obscured its rapid development, making it difficult for observers to investigate

30. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish begins his theoretical chapter by dividing the analytical approaches to media into three paradigms, • the modernization paradigm • the dependency paradigm • the globalization paradigm • After reviewing the existing scholarly literature on the globalization paradigm, he argues that much of this literature is empirically flawed because it focuses • "more on globalized cultural actors … as well as globalized audiences" • and • "overlooks the rise of a new level of television flow and impact within numerous world regions"

31. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Moreover, Ayish designs his understanding of globalization to be applied in the subsequent empirical analyses, structured after the four globalization components: • Political • Economical • Cultural • Technological • In light of Roland Roberston's understanding of globalization, Ayish argues that the powerful homogenizing forces of globalization have not negated the existence of "an active interplay between the global, national, and local"

32. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Television development in the Arab world in the 1990s was "a function of the interplay between local and global forces in political, cultural, economic, and technological sectors“ • The book falls short of a detailed discussion of Robertson's term "glocalization.“ • Globalization may be the concept of the 1990s • Type the term into Google • Specify the term in field and subfields • Type the term in the Amazon.com

33. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Economic globalization: • Denotes a qualitative shift from a largely national to a globalized economy, in which although national economies continue to predominate within nations, they are often subordinate to transnational processes and transactions

34. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Political globalization: • Samuel Huntington • the recent worldwide spread of democracy is the best manifestation of political globalization • Global civil society • Global public sphere • Cosmopolitan democracy

35. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Anthony Giddens perceived globalization as the consequence of modernity and in its four manifestations: • Nation-state • World capitalism • Military order • Modern culture

36. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Cultural Globalization: • Roland Robertson adopted the concept of “glocalisation” a term whose origins are in the discipline of marketing to express • the global production of the local: McDonaldization • the localization of the global: French McDonalds • Some sociologists prefer to use the term “Americanization” to globalization because the latter implies more of a • “multidimensional relationship among many nations”

37. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish's second chapter is a historical account of Arab world television history • He divides the development of Arab world television into three main periods • The first period is the formative phase (1954-1975) • It was characterized by the "commercial start" and by "private players" that were engaged in these activities "for purely commercial purposes"

38. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish's second chapter is a historical account of Arab world television history • He divides the development of Arab world television into three main periods • The second phase is that of national expansion (1976-1990) • During this phase, Arab regimes "sought to build up their national broadcasting capabilities through • training local staff • increasing local production • pooling inter-Arab production resources • and by extending transmissions to cover national territories“ • Imported programs from the United States, Europe, and Egypt dominated the programming

39. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish's second chapter is a historical account of Arab world television history • He divides the development of Arab world television into three main periods • The third phase is the regional and global expansion since 1990 • due to a number of developments including: • Mass education • Rapid urbanization • Political transformation • Technology diffusion

40. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish examines critically questions of financing broadcast operations and of financial survival, granted limited Arab advertising markets • According to Ayish, there are five patterns of television financing in the Arab world: • 1. Government budgetary subsidies • 2. Advertising • 3. Pay-TV • 4. Media free zones • 5. Corporate pooling • Of enduring significance for the democratizing role of these satellite outlets are media free zones in some Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates • These free zones are spaces provided to media organizations to start their operations in a tax-free environment

41. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish typologies • He distinguishes between three patterns of communication: • 1. Traditional government-controlled television = The localist pattern • 2. Reformist government-controlled television = The glocalist pattern • 3. Liberal commercial television = The globalist pattern

42. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Ayish typologies • 1. The traditional government-controlled television pattern is dominant in countries such as Libya, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia, and Morocco • 2. The reformist government-controlled television pattern is to be found in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Algeria. • 3. The commercial liberal television pattern is dominant in Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon

43. Arab World Television in the Age of Globalization: an Analysis of Emerging Political, Economic, Cultural and Technological Patterns Checklist for Class today: • Criticism on Ayish typologies • There are, nevertheless, some problems with this • For instance, the commercial liberal television pattern is not in fact dominant in Saudi Arabia but rather is funded by Saudi capital, hence the author's reference to MBC, ART and Orbit when including Saudi Arabia in this third type

44. Satellite Broadcasting: The Moroccan Case Checklist for Class today: • Many communication experts argue that the development of television satellites in other Arab countries had forced Morocco to open up in a number of ways. As a response to the unexpected explosion of satellite television in the Arab world, the regime launched its satellite channel in 1996 and its signals can be received in the Arab world and in Europe • The program is a compilation of programs in Arabic and is sent above all to Moroccan communities, especially in Europe and in the Arab world. The programs were so poor that it was reported that only a tiny minority of Moroccans showed interest in its programs

45. Satellite Broadcasting: The Moroccan Case Checklist for Class today: • Since the legalisation of the ownership of satellite in 1992 and the abolition of the tax on its possession, satellite dishes have mushroomed on the rooftops of buildings and houses in urban centres and villages of the country • The developments that began to emerge in the early 1990s and intensified in the late 1990s will become even more widespread and pronounced during the coming years • Approximately 70 percent of the Moroccan households owned a satellite dish • The “parabool” as the Moroccans call the satellite, has turned into a social phenomenon

46. Satellite Broadcasting: The Moroccan Case Checklist for Class today: • Moroccan Radio Television (MRT) operates state-run Television Marocaine (MTV) • 2M partly state-owned • Al Maghribiya - satellite channel operated by MRT and 2M, • Medi 1 Sat - Tangier-based satellite channel, privately-owned by Moroccan and French concerns

47. MOROCCO TV satellite dishes, Chaouen. Checklist for Class today:

48. MOROCCO TV satellite dishes, Tangier Checklist for Class today:

49. Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere: Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows Checklist for Class today: • A decade after its emergence, Arab satellite broadcasting has quickly acquired a large audience • Al-Jazeera’s different “cross-fire” types of political talk shows, its most revolutionary programmes, are watched by large audiences, because they debate on some of the most sensitive issues in Arab society • Thus, they are being assumed the role, among other things, to spreading democratic attitudes, as well as building the foundations of a radically new pluralist culture of political debate, necessary for the development and functioning of a herrschaftsfreie public sphere, where different discourses compete discursively and argumentatively over the hearts and minds of Arab people

50. Media Ethics and Fragmentation of Arab Public Sphere: Al-Jazeera’s Political Talk Shows Checklist for Class today: • Other accounts argue that Al-Jazeera’s political talk shows have “degenerated into unproductive shouting matches in which abuse replaced dialogue” • Instead of functioning as a platform for rational debate, Al-Jazeera’s political talk shows have turned out to be a platform of political emotionalism and “a vehicle for the collective venting of emotion” • One common explanation among journalists, communication scholars and policy makers for this degeneration of the political talk shows is that the status of media ethics in the Arab satellite broadcasting is not professional enough • They claim that while the level of professionalism has greatly increased, there is a lack of professional ethics in the journalistic work, because a large proportion of Arab journalists is politicised and divided along political cleavages and do not believe that it is its job to provide critical coverage of politics