1. Read the whole article given, using the strategies in the chart on page 97, make a good paraphrase of the article. (5 marks) 150 words

The Medias Global Reach

Has the rise of the electronic media created a global village?

Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan predicted it would

nearly 60 years ago. Today, physical distance is no longer a

barrier, and instant messaging is possible across the world.

The mass media have indeed created a global village. Not all

countries are equally connected, as Figure 6-4 shows, but the progress has been staggering, considering that voice transmission

was just beginning 120 years ago (McLuhan 1964, 1967).

Sociologist Todd Gitlin considers global torrent a more apt

metaphor for the medias reach than global village. The media

permeate all aspects of everyday life. Take advertising, for

example. Consumer goods are marketed vigorously worldwide,

from advertisements on airport baggage carriers to imprints

on sandy beaches. Little wonder that people around the world

develop loyalty to a brand and are as likely to sport a Nike,

Coca-Cola, or Harley-Davidson logo as they are their favorite

soccer or baseball insignia (Gitlin 2002; Klein 1999).

The Internet has facilitated all forms of communication. Reference

materials and data banks can now be made accessible

across national boundaries. Information related to international

finance, marketing, trade, and manufacturing is literally just a

keystroke away. We have seen the emergence of true world news

outlets and the promotion of a world music that is not clearly

identifiable with any single culture. Even the most future-oriented

thinker would find the growth in the reach of the mass

media in postindustrial and postmodern societies remarkable

(Castells 2001, 2010b; Croteau and Hoynes 2006, 2014).

Although in the United States we may take television for

granted, even thinking of it as an old-fashioned medium,

worldwide that is not necessarily the case. In India, half of

all households do not have television; in Nigeria and Bangladesh,

more than 70 percent of households go without. Two technological advances are likely to change this pattern, however.

First, advances in battery power now allow viewers to

watch television even in areas where there is no electricity. Second,

digital signal transmission permits television reception via

cable or satellite. In some developing countries, people manage to watch television even though they dont own one. Consider the town of

Gurupa, in the remote Amazon area of Brazil. In 1982, the

wealthiest three households in this community bought televisions.

To please the rest of the town, they agreed to place their

TVs near the window so that their neighbors could watch them

as well. As the TV owners proudly displayed their new status

symbol, TV watching became a community social activity. The

introduction of a new technology had created a new social norm

(Kenny 2009; Pace 1993, 1998).