Globalisation of the Media Industry and Possible Threats to Cultural Diversity

The objective of this report is to assess if the new circumstances produced by globalisation in the media industry represent a threat for cultural diversity and, if this is the case, to determine the areas affected and evaluate the consequences for the content distributed by the media. This work also advises on the measures which should be adopted by the European institutions in order to reduce the risks and benefit effectively from the advantages of a globalised society.

As is to be expected from a contribution made from the university arena, the research has gathered updated information which has allowed us to present a thorough analysis of the issue and an evaluation of the risks and opportunities of the situation reflected on by experts. It concludes with a description of the tendencies which appear to dominate the international market of the media in general and the audiovisual in particular and advice on the measures considered necessary to promote or implement.

Cultural diversity in the global context

• Globalisation is a phenomenon generated simultaneously by the application of new technologies, which overcome barriers of time and space, and the generalisation ofthe principles of free trade in a market of world dimensions. In itself, this phenomenon does not necessarily imply the homogenisation of contents which threatens cultural diversity.
• However, it has a negative effect on the media industry through two main conditioning factors:
  
  • the promotion of the concentration of companies as a means to reach the necessary competitiveness in the international market;
  • the elaboration of contents which satisfy general interests to the detriment of more particular tastes, placing commercial success before a quality product.
• These risks are revealed by the predominance of North American companies and capital in the market and the global spread of their products. In the intra-European area that imbalance is translated into the competitive advantage held by the countries with a greater production and investment capacity over those whose resources are limited, whose geographical area is small or who speak a minority language.

Opportunity to adopt measures in defence of cultural diversity

• The political-social context itself, which plainly requires recognition on the part of cultural minorities, recommends the adoption of measures favouring and facilitating the expression of the different social groups through the media.
• The rapid expansion of the new technologies, especially the digitalization of the audiovisual media and Internet, offers opportunities for production, distribution,access and participation of the media products which must be urgently exploited.
• The present situation of the process of European integration, with the prospects ofthe expansion of the number of its members and the widening of the competencies of the Union, seems an especially opportune moment to bring together the measures which promote diversity, a real characteristic of the European culture, with the necessary strengthening of identity.

Concentration and fragmentation of the media industry in the European Union

• From the point of view of concentration and competitiveness, the communication market in Europe poses three types of basic problems:
  
  the situation of domination of the leading companies in pay television, the music industry and film distribution: in these areas, the main companies obtain high market quotas in the greater part of the Community countries. In contrast, in other sectors, such as the daily press, radio or open television, audience leadership is always in the hands of the companies of their own country, with the exception of the French-speaking area of Belgium. The economic press, magazines and the publishing industry are found to be in an intermediate position as far as theexistence of large companies with a dominant position on a European scale are concerned;
  • the dominant presence of North American capital in some sectors: such is the case in advertising (through the European subsidiaries of the large multinationals),film distribution (concentrated in companies which are the property of the great 'majors' of Hollywood), pay television (if we consider that a large part of Vivendi's capital is in the hands of pension funds in the United States, and that Rupert Murdoch, the principal owner of the second largest operator - BSkyB -, has North American citizenship) and the music industry;
  • the excessive fragmentation in several markets which hinders competitiveness of European companies at a worldwide level. The small average size of the European companies produces a decisive disadvantage, for example, in the production of audiovisual works;
  • the audiovisual sector is subject to particular ground rules, which limit the full development of a market of free competition. In the first place, the tendency to vertical concentration, which is leading many television networks to create their own production companies or buy others, increases the risk of a lack of pluralism in content. This tendency also means that the broadcasting companies consolidate an excessively dominant position with regard to the production companies, limiting the international exploitation of the broadcasting rights of the programmes.

Cultural diversity in the audiovisual area

• The figures on the trade balance of the audiovisual sector show that in the programme planning of European general television stations as a whole - which until now capture the highest audiences -, there is a significant presence of North American programmes, which implies a risk that these cultural values become dominant. However, both the figures on the percentage of fiction programmes and the study on the type of cultural values that are present in the highest audience spaces, reveal that nationally produced programmes manage to draw a greater number of viewers. This fact implies that, although the North American presence is important, and has even significantly increased in latter years, the national production of each country is mostly found at prime time and its cultural values,therefore, reach more people.
• Of the study of the cultural values present in the highest audience programmes between 1995 and 2000 it can be seen that the impact of globalisation on the cultural diversity of the television programmes with the highest audience is not very significant, since the programmes produced in their own country and broadcast in their own language predominate. The highest audience programmes fundamentally uphold national cultural values from each country (as opposed to the North American values or those of third parties). The genres with programmes with the highest audiences analysed are sports (32.5%), fiction series (16%), feature films(8.92%), news (7.5%) and music (5.11%). In the main, sports, fiction series and news promote national cultural values.
• The study of a selection of cultural programmes has allowed us to describe some successful formulas: Imprint, (RTE 1, Ireland); Walking with Dinosaurs, (BBC 1,Great Britain), Un livre, un jour, (FR3, France), Horizontes da Memória, (RTP 2,Portugal), Superquark, (RAI 1, Italy), La España salvaje, (TVE 1, Spain) and Soirées thématiques, (ARTE, France-Germany). The analysis of these cultural programmes helps with the identification of various criteria for quality: the adoptionof innovatory approaches in the treatment of cultural subjects, the communicative ability of the presenters and the high production values. These characteristics favour the programmes' lasting popularity, as well as critical success.
• The cultural programmes which represent successful formulas highlight the key role played by public television in the distribution of specifically cultural high quality contents. Public television maintains an uneasy balance between the functions ofp roviding entertainment and providing culture in the whole of its programme planning. The characteristics of quality of the cultural programmes pointed out previously could be used as a reference for the promotion of programming of this type in European television.

Evaluation of the measures adopted by the European Union

• In this area, the European Union is faced with the phenomenon of globalisation withthe aim of achieving two apparently contradictory objectives:
  
  • to strengthen European production in order to increase its presence in the international market and thus be able to compete with North American products which also penetrate the domestic market;
  • to guarantee cultural diversity, which is one of the characteristics which best defines the European identity, backing the production of those nations with a low capacity and helping them to become profitable.

  
  

• Both aims are found in the legislative texts although not in the same way. Even though the considerations place the same importance on the two aims, the practical measures show that the objective of reaching international competitiveness is given priority over the defence of cultural diversity. The evaluation of the impact of the Media Programmes on the European Union shows that most of the aid has been awarded to the countries with the largest audiovisual industry in Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) in detriment to those which have a smaller production capacity.
• This fact also demonstrates that Community legislation attaches greater importance to the views of the Commission rather than to those of Parliament. The documents which contain the considerations prior to the approval of the Media-Training Programme and the Media-Plus indicate that the Commission gives priority to the strengthening of the industrial fabric of the countries with the aim of promoting the development of competitive companies. The European Parliament, without disregarding that first objective, makes greater insistence on the importance of the protection, aid and encouragement of the industry in the markets of countries with less production capacity as a means of guaranteeing cultural diversity.
• The risks of fragmentation and concentration of the market are identified and the measures suggested by the Community institutions seem, in general terms, to be opportune and sufficient. For example, the quotas on independent audiovisual production are a reasonable measure for the prevention of an excessive vertical integration of the industry and to encourage the development of independent production in Europe.
• However, it would be useful to put forward the following aspects:
  
  • Establish a way which prevents the search for international competitiveness negatively affecting cultural diversity. As was advised in the European Conference of the Audiovisual Sector in Birmingham, the system could involve sharing out competencies between the European institutions, which would promote the industrial and structural objectives, and the national authorities would concentrate on the cultural objectives.
  • Increase aid to audiovisual production in new technologies, where it seems that,according to the results of Media II, the countries with a reduced production and investment capacity have fewer possibilities for development.
  • Continue the effort to contribute to the training of professionals in the sector,both in creative and business aspects. Training plans must consider as a priority the elements of production and commercialisation of the European contents in international markets.
  • Assume a wider concept of cultural diversity. To consider cultural diversity in terms of language or to relate it to the production or capacity of the national industries seems to be restricted. Although it is a practical criterion for resource distribution, it diminishes the richness and variety of the cultural manifestations.
  • Broaden the actions in defence of diversity in regional and local geographical areas. Although it is not the Union's competence to intervene at these levels, it would be useful to establish incentives for the member countries' governments to take action in this direction. In these areas, diversity is expressed with greater richness and it does not seem consistent to limit the defence of diversity to some national borders overcome by the effects of globalisation.
  • Promote the creation of national organisms, or their consolidation in those countries where they already exist, in order to promote the broadcasting of quality programmes. These organisms should carry out a follow up of contents of television programmes in their respective areas of competence, in order to determine up to what point programme scheduling follows the criteria for quality and distribution of cultural values previously established. At the same time, the functioning of TV viewers' organisations should be encouraged, since they can fulfil an important function in the formation of public opinion and in the denunciation of irregularities committed by programmers.

Special mission of public television

Public television represents the perfect instrument for promoting cultural diversity and identity and for serving as a reference point for private production.

• In this sense, the national legislation of each Member State should promote the broadcasting of quality programmes with solid cultural values, although they are not profitable in the short term. Legislative measures could include conditions for the funding of programmes with public money, limitations on time and income from advertising and the direct promotion of a certain type of contents. It is important to consider the effect of attraction that public television can exercise on private television.
• In this way, it can influence audience tastes and demands so that companies obtain profitability in the mid and long term, with programmes of a greater cultural value;in this way, the current tendency towards the increasingly marked predominance of programmes with little cultural value or with non-European values will be counteracted.
• A new legislative framework must be formed which, taking into account the new situation of the markets, guarantees sufficient and lasting funding. In several European countries, the public television companies continue acting as distorting factors for competition in the markets. They must hold a relevant position in their national markets to favour cultural diversity if they act with the coherence and logic of a public service which distinguishes itself from the programme planning of commercial networks.
• Lastly, the possibility of indirect action on the production of private television should not be forgotten. In this sense, national legislation should influence programme planning, for example, by foreseeing the possibility of criteria forquality in the contents in the awarding of licences. Some organisms such as those established in the United Kingdom ( Independent Television Commission) and France (Conseil Superieur de L' Audiovisuel) seem to work, as they do not only keep watch over the fulfilment of the conditions in which the licences were granted but also enjoy the power to sanction.

Impact of the new technologies

• Despite the fact that, in the mid term, traditional media will probably continue to have the greatest incidence in the spreading of cultural values, the digitalization of the media opens up perspectives for the distribution of contents which will mean an increase in the cultural diversity of the media. However, there is a tendency towards the implantation of pay media which could mean that access to the contents is restricted for a great part of the society, who do not have sufficient resources. This tendency must be counteracted especially by the public ownership media.
• The digitalization and convergence of the media offer new possibilities for increasing cultural diversity, such as the number of channels, the user's direct access to the contents, the greater possibility for subtitling or dubbing and the new routes for the distribution of contents.

The Internet is an especially appropriate medium for the transmission of cultural contents, including that for even the smallest minority, given that it notably increases the possibilities for choice for the public and offers immediate access. The Internet can facilitate the presence in society of universities, cultural associations and other organisations of diverse nature, which develop interesting cultural activities.

• In the area of multimedia contents (Internet, DVD and videogames), as well as the digital television channels, the present situation of dependency of European markets with respect to North American and Japanese production, is a serious risk for the restriction of cultural diversity in Europe. In order to confront this situation, the European audiovisual sector must be involved as a priority in the development of contents for this medium, especially of those which include interactive applications based on connection to the Internet.
• European leadership in the area of digital television offers favourable ground for the development of home-grown cultural contents which enjoy public preference. This situation can also encourage the development of multimedia contents related to the most successful television programmes...