Globalisation of mass media

     After the collapse of communism in the former Sovet Union (nowadays simply Russia) there has been a growing demand for domestic and entertainment and news programming.

I can remember this period very clearly, even though I was only a child ( I was born in 1989, and the Sovet Union collapses exactly in this period). It was a very sad period, because during the Sovet Union time media production industry was developing very fast; however, after 1990 everything collapsed, and my country stop to produce its media products. It was a shock, because we lost a part of our culture, and we were forced to follow Western culture.

From my childhood I remember all the Disney cartoons; moreover, they are very popular nowadays. It is known as globalisation of Mass Media. When media companies attempt to acquire a larger share of a profits available in the international market. In this case USA is a leader, it has spread its roots all over the world. The Disney cartoons are translated in all different languages; moreover, nowadays American Idol is extremely popular, so to follow the success of this show many countries have bought the licence to host the same show, but with different title like French Idol, in Russia it is A star factory. We can see that it is a global phenomenon.

However, not only the Disney cartoons are popular all over the world, but also the former Sovet Union cartoon Cheburashka had interested the Asian countries like Japan, China; moreover, this cartoon became very popular in recent years. Japan started to produce the Cheburashka toys. There is a fragment of the cartoon, which was translated in Japanese.

But what stops other Russian products from coming into international level? Although Russia is a fast changing region over the last decades; however, it is not considered a major market for global television programme export industry. And there is reasons for it.

Firstly, the difference of the cultural background. As we know culture is unique, it is learned and passed down from generation to generation. That is why if you are not familiar with a culture it will be difficult for you to understand the media product. The same problem with the globalisation of media products in Asia. The Asian culture is very unique, and western people are not familiar with it. There is a lack of knowledge of other cultures except of the Western.

Second barrier of media globalisation is a language. Nowadays English is an international language and everybody is comfortable with it. And people are very lazy to study other languages; moreover, Russian language is very difficult. During the translation of the language some main points can be lost or interpreted wrongly.

Next, is the government restrictions. There can be a lot of international media products flowing into one country, that is why the government of that country had to be very careful in choosing the media products. They had to admit the media hegemony, when media represent the views of the powerful elite. As a result, the government had to restrict  the amount of international media products.