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Volume 3, Issue 4 | Spring 2004 | Table of Contents
Article No. 14Television, International Understanding and Globalization
Emma Miller
Introduction
A key aim of the research which informs this article is to investigate how television can improve public understanding of international relations in a globalising world. The research investigated a range of program subjects and formats on the South, assessing both content and emphasis. As television remains a key source of information for British audiences, a central concern was to assess the quantity and quality of information available through this medium. This article is based on two case studies undertaken as part of a much wider analysis of British television coverage of developing countries. The case studies are representative of wider patterns which emerged in this analysis. Recent research (DfID 2000, VSO 2002) has identified some of the limitations of the programming which does exist. The increasing consumer orientation of television includes a rise in holiday and reality TV shows from the South. Where there is news coverage of the South, the kind of information currently available largely gives an impression of unmanageable chaos. This research explored means of making programs on the South more informative and engaging. The argument here is that more background and context can make a significant difference to portrayals of events in developing countries. In particular, this necessitates acknowledging the context of globalization. However, the research indicated that it is not just context that matters, but also which themes are emphasized. Among the themes emerging in this analysis, was the concept of democracy, which was emphasized particularly in political coverage of the South. This article will consider two examples of political programs to illustrate how context and emphasis, in this case on democracy, both influence representations. Further to this, there are significant differences in the ways governance is discussed according to geographical location. The evidence presented here indicates that these factors together result in representation of the South which reflect the economic and political interests of the North, while largely failing to represent the range of views which exist on the subject of globalization. There is a paradox at the heart of this research, in that, in the current period of globalization, television as a window on the world offers a rapidly diminishing view. This research was conducted with the understanding that because television is an industry, it is subject to the same pressures as other globalizing industries. The increasing influence of transnational corporations (TNCs) in shaping the rules of the global economy to suit their interests is critical here. McChesney (2000) highlights the contradiction between massive, profit-oriented media corporations and the communication requirements of a democratic society. However, while recognizing the constraints placed upon the medium by conglomeration within the industry, the research reported here points towards manageable solutions for improving program content. Democracy is therefore a key theme in this article, which emphasizes the importance of the democratic role of television, and also in considering how democracy in the South is represented in television content. Before discussing the case studies, I will first briefly consider further the global context within which the events portrayed take place.
The context of globalization There are three key concerns in the growing body of literature about the impact of globalization (Miller 2004). While these impacts have global relevance, they all disproportionately affect the South. The first concern is increasing class inequality and the second environmental degradation (Sklair, 2002). These two relate directly to the third, which concerns the incompatibility of neo-liberalism with democracy. While transnational capitalism, assisted by the international financial institutions (IFIs) and the G7, increasingly promotes neo-liberalism, there is no effective global body to monitor social and environmental concerns. As the two television case studies considered here involve political coverage of specific countries in the South, the discussion will necessitate consideration of the role of the state. Much of the debate over globalization centers on distinctions between the powers of the state in principle and what the state does in practice (Giddens 2000, Sklair 2002). The question of whether governments cannot or will not exert control is critical. As Sklair (2002) argues, there is nothing inevitable about the dismantling of the welfare state under pressure from capitalist globalization. However, the degree of choice available also depends partly on economic power. Bourdieu (1999) summarizes globalization as the extension of the hold of a small number of dominant nations over the whole set of national financial markets. Consistent with this view, there is clear evidence of impoverishment of many countries as a result of the financial deregulation associated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (Ellwood, 2001), while advantages for key rich nations consolidate. The body responsible for overseeing international trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) should be democratic given that its rules are (theoretically) agreed by consensus. However, as Drewry, Macmullan and Bentall (2002) argue, poor countries are subject to huge amounts of pressure behind the scenes. Rich countries can threaten to reduce aid, withdraw trade contracts and change regional political and defense policies. Having sketched out key concerns about the role of state and the IFIs in globalization, I will now consider further how the concept of democracy relates to this. Western states have historically defended what they perceive as their interests, in deciding what constitutes a democracy in the global South. In many cases, the degree of popular support enjoyed by a government has been less significant for Western states than the degree to which a government embraces neo-liberalism. Thus, neo-liberals had few qualms about the military overthrow of Chile's democratically elected government in 1973, because president Allende was interfering with business control of Chilean society (McChesney 2000). A government chosen by its own population was undermined because it did not support US economic interests. "I don't see why", said Henry Kissinger of Chile, "we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people" (cited in Pilger, 1998). More recently, the role of the US was questioned in the coup that temporarily ousted Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, in April 2000. Chavez received advance warning of the coup from the secretary general of OPEC, who advised that the US would prod a long simmering coup into action to break any embargo planned by Libya and Iraq (Palast, 2002). Two days after the coup, Chavez was returned to power by popular pressure. Echoing Kissinger, a spokesman for President Bush conceded that although Chavez "was democratically elected" it had to be remembered that "legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority of the voters, however" (Jones, 2002). Having briefly sketched some aspects of the relationship between globalization, the IFIs, the state and the concept of democracy, I will now turn to the role of television. The key concern here is the potential of television to fulfill its role as a democratic, informative medium, and this necessitates consideration of how events in the South are reported.
Reporting the South The case studies considered in this sample formed part of wider research into television coverage of the South. The author was one of the researchers employed on a project which analyzed a three month sample of all terrestrial coverage of developing countries on British television (DfID 2000). As the DfID study indicated, coverage of the South tends to focus on crises, with repetitive imagery of famine, war, disease and death. It is not surprising then that 80 per cent of British people associate the developing world with famine, disaster and war (VSO 2002). Because of this emphasis, most of the images we see are those of the victims of crises, restricted essentially to passive roles. Such representations are further simplified because the stories are about the victims, not by them. This is particularly true of representations of crises in the South, where the appearance of Western aid workers sends out the message that something serious is happening. Research by VSO (2002) indicates that 74% of Britons believe that developing countries depend on the money and knowledge of the West to progress. Such representations, which can have considerable impact on audience beliefs and expectations, often fail to take account of the global context which shapes events in developing countries. In contrast to such representations, and as indicated in the discussion here of the global economy, the IFIs are responsible for increased inequality in many countries, while consolidating advantages for the West. While the wider television sample for the DfID research included a range of program formats and subjects, this article considers two formats - mainstream news coverage and the documentary - in the category of political coverage. This enables consideration of democracy in relation to the state and the global economy - a concept raising critical issues about how the South is represented. It should be noted that the examples chosen are representative of much of the wider coverage of developing countries. Method and sample The approach to content analysis adopted in this research includes a degree of quantification. However, the general approach to content analysis goes beyond mechanistic word counting to thematic analysis, as conducted by the Glasgow University Media Group (see Philo, 1990). That is, the analysis examines the explanatory frameworks available in news and how these may limit alternative explanations and contextual information. Quantification is used to assess the relative weight of explanatory themes rather than counting decontextualized language. It should be noted that quantification is inappropriate in the analysis of non-news programs (such as documentaries) where single programs may be subject to detailed analysis. The overall television sample included a news analysis of developing countries. From this news analysis, some probes were selected because of their more routine nature, to identify how gaps in explanation and context could lead to less engaging and sometimes confusing results.
l These case studies involve two different television formats, television news and the documentary. The news analysis concerns the Nigerian presidential elections of 1999. Thematic analysis of the bulletins identified the key themes and emphasis of reporting. Part of the aim is to assess the contextual information provided to assist understanding of the situation in the country. As elections are central to Western conceptions of democracy, particular attention will be paid to the framing of the coverage against concepts of their democratic validity. The news analysis also provided an opportunity to identify more in-depth and innovative news features, one of which forms the second case study discussed here; a documentary on life in South African townships. The focus will be on the extent to which issues of governance in the context of the global economy are referenced. These case studies date from 1999, but the discussion and conclusion consider conditions in the relevant countries since, and how the background information identified here can help to make sense of such developments.
Case Study One: The Nigerian Elections The Nigerian presidential elections held on 27.2.99 were viewed as having particular significance, after 15 years of military rule in the country. These elections were covered across the five terrestrial British TV channels, to varying extents. Channel 5 and ITN provided least coverage, while minority programs - BBC2's Newsnight and Channel 4 News - included more in depth information on specific issues surrounding the elections. As with much coverage of elections in developing countries, the reporting of focused on the legitimacy of the election process in the country.
Background
Before discussing the news coverage of the Nigerian election, I will
summarize the recent history of the country, to contextualize the
news events. Nigeria obtained independence from Britain on 1
October 1960 and a federal government was formed.
Like most ex-colonies in the continent,
its boundaries were defined arbitrarily to demarcate where competing
claims of the imperial powers collided. Three regions were
officially defined by the principal ethnic groups in the country -
the Hausa and Fulani in the semi-autonomous Muslim feudal states in
the North, Yoruba in the South-West, and Ibo in the South-East,
where the country's source of income - oil - was exploited. As the
military took over in the mid-1960s, tensions flared. In May
1967, a declaration of independence by the head of the Eastern
Region marked the start of a three-year civil war. The war ended in
1971 with the surrender of Biafra. Britain, among many countries
opposed to the Biafran war of independence,
was a key arms supplier to the federal government. Between one and
two million civilians died in fighting and from famine. Ultimately
Biafra was reabsorbed into Nigeria.
During the 1970s and 80s Nigeria saw a succession of military
coups. At the same time the oil industry boomed, with only a tiny
minority of Nigerians benefiting. In 1985 General Babangida became
the first military president, promising to restore democracy.
Eventually, in 1993, Nigerians went to the polls, when Chief Abiola
was voted president. However, Babangida annulled the elections. In
the ensuing political crisis, General Sani Abacha seized power.
Abacha showed contempt for human rights and democracy - suppressing
opposition to his government. Also in 1993, 300,000 Ogoni people
marched in protest at the money being made from their oil-rich
lands, which were being exploited by the Anglo-Dutch consortium
Shell. The march marked the start of a period of military
oppression of the Ogonis. The plight of the Ogonis was brought to
the world’s attention in November 1995, when writer and
environmentalist Ken Saro Wiwa, along with eight Ogoni leaders, was
executed. Abacha died in June 1998, followed rapidly by the death
of Abiola in custody. General Abubakar became the interim
president, until the 1999 elections.
Sample and Method Thematic analysis of the bulletins identified the key themes and emphasis of reporting. This allowed conclusions to be drawn about the effectiveness of the news in informing the viewer, identifying gaps which need to be filled for understanding. The table below indicates the six key categories of references to the Nigerian elections. The discussion which follows will briefly summarize the content of, the six categories.
Table: Coverage of the Nigerian elections
The Presidential Elections This first section of the election coverage is by far the largest, with 121 of a total of 277 references. This section includes descriptive information on the recent history of military rule in Nigeria, the organization of the presidential elections, the background of the two candidates and their policies, or lack of them. The first of the two most frequent references here stated that democratic elections were being held in Nigeria. This statement formed the headline of most bulletins, usually including a reference to previous years of military rule. The second most frequent reference was to allegations of vote rigging. Significantly, the briefest of the bulletins in the sample, contained no information other than the two most frequent references: Nigeria’s ousted General Obasanjo looks set to win the country’s crucial elections to restore democracy. But the vote’s been marred by rigging allegations and the leading opponent Olu Falae said he would not accept the results. (ITN: 28.2.99, 1815)
These bulletins convey a very negative impression. While indicating that this African country had an opportunity to restore democracy in an election, the ITN statement already indicates that corruption and conflict were the outcome. Both ITN and Channel five (both prime time bulletins) included little else in their reporting. By contrast, while the other channels (especially those on minority audience channels) made these statements, the inclusion of background and contextualizing information gave a broader picture. The remainder of this analysis concerns only BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4 News.
Nigeria This second section includes references to Nigeria as a whole, with 42 references. The following refer to the population, size and oil wealth of the country: Newsreader:... Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, rich in oil and gas. (BBC1: 19.2.99, 2100) Reporter:... The country that General Obasanjo has been elected to govern is vast: 110 million people, 280 different ethnic groups. (BBC1: 1.3.99, 2100) The third most frequent reference in the election coverage, involved comments about Nigeria’s oil wealth being plundered, contributing to the existing economic shambles. References to the contrast between the poverty of most Nigerian people and the country's oil wealth mainly focused on corrupt leaders as the problem. There was only one brief reference to Western interests in relation to the elections. Most of the remainder of this analysis concerns Channel 4 News or Newsnight, with a small number of references from BBC1 in each of the remaining sections.
The Delta Region Channel 4 News broadcast a special report on the oil producing Delta region of Nigeria on 25.2.99. BBC1 had also referred to Nigeria’s oil industry in a briefer report on 19th February. These reports included criticisms of the oil company Shell, and mentioned protests by local people. Both the Channel 4 and BBC1 reports included local voices, illustrating the extent to which inhabitants of the Delta felt powerless, excluded and damaged by the oil industry. On BBC1, the narrator introduced a young man whose livelihood in fishing was adversely affected by the polluting aspects of the oil industry. Channel 4’s report concluded with a comment on diminishing oil profits:
Reporter:... Nigeria’s greatest irony - fuel shortages, because oil
is exported and the refineries for local consumption have broken
down. The oil now selling at only $10 a barrel - even if the new
government does ensure that more wealth stays where it’s produced -
there’ll be far less to go round.
(Channel 4: 25.2.99, 1900) Both news channels highlighted the contrast between Nigeria’s oil wealth and the impoverished conditions of the people. In the Delta, the viewer could see that local people lived on land, and fished in water, polluted by the oil industry. There was further discussion in the press about oil companies in Nigeria. Duval Smith indicated the motivation of Western companies in supporting the elections there: The developed world is eager to do business with Nigeria. Its oil companies have been unable to do so properly since November 1995, when General Abacha ordered the execution of the author Ken Saro-Wiwa.... Last week, in a show of support for General Abubakar’s transition program, Royal Dutch/Shell announced that it would invest $8.5 billion (£5.3 billion). European and US companies are dying to return, now the word 'democracy' can be said to be part of Nigerian politics (Duval Smith, 1999). TV news reports did not raise the critical question about the concept of 'democracy'.
The Biafran War and the Ibos
Newsnight
covered the Nigerian elections in a single special news report on
1.3.99. The reporter visited the East of Nigeria, where the Biafran
war of independence was fought. The report focused on the
marginalized status of the Ibo people there, presenting documentary
evidence of deprivation, and including interviews with local people,
including Biafran veterans. The reporter summarized the feelings of
the Ibo people, as a group who feel disenfranchised: Reporter:... It’s almost as if the Ibos, Nigeria’s third largest tribe, have been left on the scrapheap. The level of neglect in Enugu does violence to the senses..... They know they’re referred to in other parts of Nigeria as ‘the vanquished’... As far as most Ibos are concerned, they’re still being punished for fighting the Biafran war.
North and South This category was based on Channel 4 News reports, broadcast on 27.2.99 and 1.3.99 and a brief reference by BBC1. While these reports compared the North and South of Nigeria, they mainly consist of comments on the culture of the North, described as being conservative, Muslim and occupied by military personnel. The candidates’ appeal to the electorate was also explained against this background. Local doctor Beko Ransome Kuti, explained that people living in the South had reservations about the different culture of the North. The extent of suspicion and resentment of people living in Southern Nigeria was also highlighted by the reporter, who emphasized the difficulty faced by the new president in gaining the trust of the South. Tensions between North and South Nigeris were to flare after the elections.
Predictions/Prescriptions
There was a limited range of predictions for the longer-term outcome
of the Nigerian elections, and suggestions of what should be done to
avoid deepening conflict in the country. Channel 5 and ITN,
did not make predictions about the consequences for Nigeria. The
report by Newsnight cautiously concluded with an open
verdict:
Reporter:... The election has lit a path but no one knows where it
will lead.
(Newsnight: 1.3.99, 2230) BBC1 and Channel 4 attempted to assess how effective the changeover from military to civilian government would be. Nigerian people made a minority of these predictions, mostly indicating that the elections were irrelevant or that the military would not stay out of power for long. Of four statements to the effect that democracy was in itself an improvement in Nigeria’s circumstances, three were made by BBC1, while a Nigerian businessman made the fourth. Most prescriptive references, made by reporters, concerned the need to unite the population of the country, for democracy to succeed. The potential success of democracy then, depended on the resolution of conflicts within the country. In this limited section of the coverage, references to the need for unity barely questioned external influences or the impositions of the global economy.
Discussion The quality and quantity of the coverage of the Nigerian elections varied across channels. ITN and Channel 5 provided scant coverage, which included only the most frequent references from the coverage, to voting irregularities. While all channels included references to vote rigging, a statement referring only to this aspect of the elections emphasized a hopeless image of corruption. Among the remaining three channels, specific case studies and examples were used to illustrate the competing demands and conflicts confronting Nigeria’s new president, providing more background information, and including local voices. However two key concerns remain about the coverage. The first is that parliamentary democracy is an increasingly contested concept. Yet while there were mixed views on the elections among Nigerian voices, the news presented the event as significant, in its potential for delivering 'democracy' to Nigeria. Clearly, as indicated by the news coverage, in a country that had been subjected to years of military rule, the possibility of a civilian government did appear preferable. However, as Williams argued (1985) the existence of a parliament does not in itself indicate the existence of democracy. As discussed in the introduction, neoliberal Western governments continue to preach to developing countries about how democracy should be installed, often installing trade conditions favorable to the Western economy. Further to this, there are critical differences in how elections are covered by British media, depending on their geographical location. The assumption that foreign observers are necessary and neutral underpins much coverage of elections in the South. But the role of Western observers has been questioned: Over the last decade, election observing has become little more than a tool of powerful states to interfere in the internal affairs of weak ones. Monitors delegitimize elections that elect a candidate the West does not like, while turning a blind eye to the deficiencies of polls that produce the desired outcome. The hypocrisy is breathtaking (Laughland, 2002). Meanwhile, the US election, which followed the year after this Nigerian election, involved numerous voting 'irregularities.' Despite evidence of serious flaws in the voting process in the US elections, this was not reported in the same manner as the Nigeria elections. The need for observers at US elections was not raised. The second related point concerns the role of international economics. Coverage of the Nigerian elections barely examined their relation to the global economy or broader Western interests. While Nigeria's debt did not feature in the news, debt campaign group Jubilee 2000 (2000) commented specifically on Nigeria in its final report: Corrupt Nigerians borrowed recklessly from equally irresponsible Western lenders (including the British government) and then promptly banked that money in British, Jersey and Swiss banks. While Nigerian dictators continued to oppress their people, often with Western weapons, British and European banks kept quiet about the loot they were hiding and profiting from.' Further, the conditionality accompanying any further 'assistance' from the IMF was and is critical in determining the conditions of life for most Nigerians. Anti-poverty campaign group the World Development Movement has reported on resistance to IMF policies, indicating continued unrest in Nigeria since the elections (WDM, 2001, 2002, 2003). Civil society groups protested that their elected president was continuing with unpopular IMF-advised policies, including utility privatisation and pressure to reduce the wage bill. General strikes have also taken place in response to government imposition of IMF advised fuel price hikes. According to the Jubilee debt campaign (2004), it was only in January 2004, that Nigeria's creditors for the first time acknowledged the country's pressing need for debt relief. Any relief will however, be accompanied by conditions, including further economic liberalisation. Despite widespread discontent among the Nigerian population with government-imposed IMF policies, Obasanjo was again 'successful' in the presidential elections of April 2003.
Case Study Two: South Africa This case study consists of a BBC documentary filmed in South Africa, which focused on the lives of black people in townships. Fergal Keane was the presenter on ‘The Search for Cynthia Mthebe’, the Panorama program screened on BBC1 on 18.1.99. Keane was formerly BBC Johannesburg correspondent. With Panorama he returned to South Africa to look for a mother-of-seven he had first filmed in 1994, when she was living rough with her children in a squatter camp. At that time she had been looking forward to the changes which the ANC, under Nelson Mandela, would bring. Through tracing Cynthia Mthebe and discussing with her how the lives of her family and friends had changed post-apartheid, Keane attempted to assess what had been done to improve the lot of black South Africans. As the program opened, Keane explained the purpose of his search, while aerial footage shot from a helicopter portrayed a bleak image of an endlessly sprawling scrubland scattered with shacks:
The squatter camp of Tambesi, on the edge of Johannesburg - it’s the
second biggest township in the country. When I last came here much
of this was empty grassland. Today it’s home to thousands of South
Africa’s poor, who flocked from impoverished rural areas in search
of housing. Somewhere in this wilderness I hoped to find Cynthia
Mthebe. Would the new government have provided her with one of
these houses, built since the last election, or would she be living
beyond them where the squatter camps straggle towards the horizon. Early in this documentary, a distinction was drawn between the lives of the majority of black South Africans and the minority white population. Keane found Cynthia Mthebe still living as a squatter in a shack without electricity. The first section of the documentary focused particularly on the Mthebe family. While initial shots of the family’s shack automatically conveyed an image of poverty, it was also freshly painted and well kept. Against this, Cynthia explained the difficulties of trying to cook with paraffin and using candles for light. Through the experiences of one family, the program aimed to reveal "the reality of life in black South Africa today." Five years after the end of apartheid, Keane entered a world where the fight for survival was more acute. Cynthia was working at a rubbish dump, which Keane visited. There, Cynthia had a "community of friends" who "each collect different things but help each other."
The second part of the documentary focused on the erosion of the
social fabric of the townships. This included evidence of rapidly
and dramatically increasing rates of crime, domestic violence, youth
suicide and the rape of children. Keane found further evidence of
desperate conditions when he visited a residential home for
abandoned children. He interviewed the Director of Tembesi Child
Welfare, who commented on increasing child abandonment, which she
attributed to unemployment and poverty. In the third part of this
documentary, Keane interviewed political figures in South Africa.
He began by speaking to a senior ANC advisor in the government
offices in Pretoria. Keane asked Chikane about the source of
"the rage and anger in this crime": If you’ve gone through the history we’ve gone through I think you would understand it - that if you move from a totally corrupt system - totally immoral - where you had the state itself being immoral in terms of its design etcetera - the outcome for the society becomes completely what you’re experiencing at the present moment.…. The real challenge is to make sure that we deal with those conditions and make sure that a better life is experienced by the majority of people in this country.
In the final section of the program the presenter accompanied
Cynthia to the housing department to see where she was placed on the
waiting list, and to the school from which her son Amos had recently
dropped out, to find out whether he could be readmitted. The odds
against this woman’s fight to improve the lot of her family were
highlighted by these visits. At the housing office, it became clear
that Cynthia’s name was not on any waiting list, even though she had
proof of registration. At Ivory Park School, the director commented
that Amos would become involved in crime if he stayed out of
school. However, the obstacles to Amos returning to school were
considerable, including Cynthia's inability to afford the bus fares. In this edition of Panorama there was the beginning of a political discussion of why the end of apartheid has been accompanied by deteriorating conditions in the townships. One governmental spokesperson maintained that the worst had passed and that improved living conditions in the townships would solve these problems. However, the evidence of the program undermined this view.
Discussion The documentary offers a different perspective from routine news reporting. While general news is to an extent bounded by time limits, routines and news values, the documentary format allows space to explore the context within which events take place. With documentaries, the perspective of the reporter is a strong influence on the program content. In this edition of Panorama, there was some attempt to look outside township life to seek an explanation for the frustrations faced by the Mthebe family in accessing basic amenities and services.
The role of the ANC in government requires scrutiny, and in
Panorama, the presenter posed some relevant questions to ANC
representatives. However, the program failed to look beyond the
level of local or national politics to explain the continuing
difficulties of South Africa. In order to place the continuing
social deprivation and escalating violence in context, it is
necessary to consider the role of the IFIs, both currently and
historically.
Within a few years of the official launch of apartheid in 1948,
World Bank staff visited Pretoria and began lending to the white
regime. As South Africa's GDP improved in 1967, the Bank stopped
funding apartheid. According to Bond (2001), half the Bank's $200
million loans went to expand white consumers' access to electricity,
which was denied to virtually all black South Africans until the
1980s. The apartheid debt inherited by the ANC in 1994 was around
$25 billion. Because of prevailing power relations, and fear of
offending foreign lenders, Mandela and his advisors agreed to
service the loans. As Bond comments, apartheid had therefore to be
paid for twice. This documentary provided information about life in the townships, looking beyond more superficial representations of third world chaos and violence typically associated with mainstream news (DfID 2000). What the program omitted, was the fact that South Africa moved from apartheid to neo-liberalism, with its associated anti-democratic and socially divisive components. The interests of the West are clear in this. Curtis (2003, p.250) argues that from the mid-1980s the issue for the US "was not so much whether apartheid would be dismantled but how South African capitalism and the interests of the transnational elite in the region could be preserved following a transition period." Meanwhile the ANC has subsumed the interests of providing basic services for its communities in the interests of attracting foreign investment and meeting the conditions of the IFIs. Acknowledging this context would have considerably enhanced the quality of information available to the viewer. .
Conclusion
Globalization is impacting on people's lives in myriad ways. While
there are benefits to be gained from exchanging culture and ideas,
the negative impacts of capitalist globalization are leading to
movements of resistance around the world.
The fight for democracy is most intense
where the worst excesses of globalization are experienced most
directly. Southern movements of resistance, and the reasons for
them, are largely ignored by the Western media, however (Miller,
2003). The lack of coverage of the impacts of and resistance to
neoliberalism, is symptomatic of wider trends in mainstream media
representations of the South. With regard to the case studies
discussed here, this article has demonstrated the necessity of
reporting events in the context of the global economy, in order to
improve understanding. . In the first case, the news coverage of elections in Nigeria, fleeting references to the oil industry demonstrate how international trade can influence the ecology and political climate of countries in the South. Television news coverage of the elections demonstrated doubt about the potential inclusiveness of Nigerian governance. But the purposes and priorities of Western investors, waiting since 1995 to be able to increase dealings with the country, received less attention. The impositions of the IMF were not referenced in the news coverage, but have continued to have critical impact on Nigeria's economic, political and social climate. Meanwhile, although the concept of democracy in South Africa was barely considered in the documentary discussed here, it is a critical issue in the townships. Many former ANC supporters have become disillusioned because they had viewed the transition to democracy as being more than the establishment of rules and procedures for elections (Bond 2000). To fully understand the implications of neo-liberalism in South Africa, it is necessary also to examine the political and economic stance of the national government in the context of the grip of international financial capital. When the ANC was elected in 1994, it was a liberation movement aiming to provide one million houses, universal electricity, a national health scheme and social security. But by 1996, under pressure from the IMF, the ANC adapted itself to the 'realities' of the global economy with its new Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy (GEAR) - a neo-liberal program. Income disparity has increased since apartheid. But little of this is mentioned in mainstream media reports. The overall image presented of Nigeria and South Africa was of countries that can't govern themselves, and which are dependent on external governance to restore and/or maintain order. In the case of Nigeria, the emphasis of the coverage was on the supposed opportunity for democracy presented by the elections. Immediately, indications of ballot-rigging in the elections were presented as a basis for questioning the potential for self-governance in the country. However, just two years later, when there was widespread evidence of ballot-rigging in the US presidential elections, similar questions of governance were absent, and there was no suggestion that international observers should be involved. Further to this, there are limits to the kind of democracy which can be delivered by national elections when international capital has such capacity to control and shape the circumstances of populations in the South.
In the case of South Africa, much emphasis is placed on the
dismantling of apartheid, and the opportunities presented to black
people, under the leadership of the ANC to govern themselves. The
focus on the failure of the ANC to deliver, without reference to
globalisation, reinforces the view that African countries cannot
govern themselves. What is not discussed is the extent to which
these situations result from impositions of the global economy -
particularly the structural adjustment requirements of the IMF. The
skills exist within both populations to govern their countries in
more progressive and democratic ways. They are not allowed to do
so. What is missing from the television news is an explanation of
how the global economy actually works.
This article is premised on the basis that popular knowledge in the
West is a potentially important element in adding to or undermining
pressure on government policy on development. Hargreaves and Thomas
(2002) categorize the various approaches to the media debate as to
whether they are optimistic or pessimistic. Optimists include those
within the field of cultural studies who regard consumerism as
empowering in enabling the creation of identity. Pessimists are
those who view the commercialization of television as contributing
to the democratic deficit and increasing public antipathy towards
parliamentary politics. From such a perspective this article would
be positioned in the latter category, as the argument here is that
mainstream media primarily reflecting dominant interests therefore
undermine democracy. However, far from being pessimistic, the
trajectory here is that it is easily manageable to identify
information which can improve coverage of the South, including
apparently complicated economic matters, given appropriate,
well-researched and holistic programming.
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Bond, P. (2001) Against Global Apartheid: South Africa Meets the
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Dissertation obtained from the university:
Miller, E. (2004) British television coverage of the global South:
Case studies in content and audience reception (Doctoral
dissertation, Glasgow University, 2003)
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Emma Miller
obtained her PhD in December 2003 from Glasgow University. Her
dissertation was on "Television coverage of the global South: case
studies in content and audience responses". And it is under
consideration for publication as a book.
Prior to 1998 she worked as a social worker near Glasgow. Since 1998 she has worked on a variety of research projects at Glasgow University Media Group. Projects undertaken have included research on the media coverage of the Rwandan conflict for the Disasters Emergency Committee, and television coverage of the developing world for the Department for International Development. She has co-authored a number of reports resulting from research at the Media Group. Most recently, she contributed a chapter to 'Representing Resistance' (eds Andy Opel and Donnalyn Pompper) published by Greenwood, CT, 2003. E.M. is interested in campaigning against poverty and for human rights and democracy. She is on the Scottish Steering Committee of the World Development Movement, a British anti-poverty NGO. She is a member of the Scottish Socialist Party, which was formed six years ago and has six members in the Scottish parliament. She will begin work as a Research Associate at the Division of Community Based Sciences at the University in April 2004. This appointment effectively combines her research and previous work experience. |
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