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Example Of Media Imperialism

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Media imperialism is a defined by Boyd-Barret as a theory whereby the mass media of one country is heavily influenced and pressured by the media of other countries, without the proportionate reciprocation of mass media by the country affected (Boyd-Barrett, 2014). This could lead to media homogenising across the globe (ibid). It could be argued that media imperialism remains in the modern day because Western influences in developing countries assist in developing economies and cultures to become more modern and advanced, however ultimately the bargains struck between First World countries and developing countries only aim to benefit First World countries. The constant flow of First World countries media products into the domestic market not …show more content…

For example, there are numerous advertisements commercialised for whitening skin care products such as ‘Fair and Lovely’ across media channels. Consequently, this acts to not only further perpetuate racism but also posits ‘white’ skin as the ideal sign of beauty, which creates a division in ethnic minorities between fair-skinned and dark-skinned people of colour. It seems that ideologies brought about by cultural imperialism has resulted in developing countries to correspond and promote the values and beliefs of the West (Schiller, 1976). Therefore, media imperialism perpetuates Western values displayed in media products, and these Western beliefs become the ideal belief to developing countries because of the desire to become more Western in the hopes of its economy to flourish financially. However, developing countries did not take into account that the relative wealth of the West compared to developing countries is due to imperialism. The Modernisation Theory dehistoricises modernisation, removing the era of colonialism which involved the exploitation of resources and labour of developing countries which had enabled the First World countries to develop and inherit wealth in the first

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