Introduction of Critical Research Exercise

                In the era of globalization, it has become highly significant that the countries should trade with each other without any barriers if the countries are going to trade with each other freely than there are many opportunities for the countries like growth in economic activity, increase in GDP rate and increase in employment rate etc. In recent years countries like the US has emphasized on free trade in the media sector. However many Western countries have considered this as a major threat because they think that the policies of the organizations such as WTO (World Trade Organization) will have a serious impact on the culture of their own home country media. It can be said that the current developments will cause issues in Quota regulations, funding of public service broadcasting and audiovisual industry. In this paper, three articles have been critically analyzed who have discussed media regulations and the World Trade organization (WTO).

Discussion on Critical Research Exercise

        The US government has emphasized that there should be free trade regarding audiovisual services. However, other countries are not as much enthusiasm as the US is. Many countries believe that if the audiovisual services are going to liberalize than there will be no room left for local audiovisual services. Different countries want to give preference to their own local media content as well and the policies WTO will impose a threat to local content (Puppis, National Media Regulation in the Era of Free Trade, 2008).

        It can be said that restrictions in trade are not the solution in the current world scenario. The free trade is in the benefit of every country. However, the thing which is being neglected in the liberalization of global media governance is the societal regulations. The current liberalization is going to affect the quota of local content & public service broadcasting. Therefore there is a need to take serious initiative regarding the current liberalization of global media governance.  Because if any serious action is not taken than different countries might experience difficulties in the upcoming years.

        It is highly important to consider factors like national media regulations. If the national media regulations of any country are going to be affected, then the countries might be unable to take maximum benefit from the free trade. The WTO is being established to remove the trade barriers so that every country can take benefit. If the country is unable to gain benefit from the policies of such organizations than the whole purpose of creating such organizations will come to an end.  It would be better if WTO and it's GATS (General Agreement on Trade Services) will consider the national media regulations of other countries as well before taking any bold step. Through reading all three article, it can be said that all three articles have discussed the issue of media regulations similarly (Pauwels & Loisen, 2003).

        The GATS policies will have an impact on how the national media regulations of different nations regulate their media. Different countries have their own media which represent their culture, believes & ideologies. Different countries want that their media should get significant representation which might get affected with the liberalization of audiovisual services. Although this is a major problem, it can be resolved if WTO & GATS recognize the severity of the situation. The GATS can create such rules which allow significant Quota to local content as well along with liberalization of audiovisual services.

        UNESCO has come up with the new initiative to save the cultural diversity of the countries. The CCD (Convention on Cultural Diversity) has provided many new points and stated that the media should not be considered as a commodity.  It means that UNESCO has provided the non-economic perspective of the media and consider its cultural importance. The convention on cultural diversity has created new hopes for various European countries. It means that if UNESCO approach is being considered by the Tarde organizations than the media culture of different countries might not experience a decline.

        Although the implications of GATS have a significant impact on the local media at the same time, the US emphasis of free trade might help the European Media companies to expand their services into different parts of the world. It means that free trade in media sector might make European media competitive on a global scale. Some measures might not be beneficial for the local media organization, but from some measures of GATS, the media organization can take benefit as well and can use them for their own advantage. However, only the future can tell how things will proceed (Pauwels & Loisen, 2003).

        The Goal of UNESCO & WTO is entirely different from each other, which is also a major problem. As WTO’s goals are causing a threat to local media at the same time, the UNESCO has come to save the local media industries by their new policies. If this problem has to be resolved, then both the organizations should come up with the same goals so that a proper solution can be built. Otherwise, the main problem will remain unsolved. Currently, GATS has not caused any major threat to the European countries because many countries have not shown any commitment to the policies (Puppis, Media Governance: A New Concept for the Analysis of Media Policy and Regulation, 2010).

        The key solution of the above-discussed problem is to come with economic as well as societal regulations. The UNESCO approaches should also be considered will making new regulations regarding global media. If anything has not done regarding this issue than the local content, supporting programmers & quota all will be at potential risk, and the UNESCO approach will also remain unable to resolve the issue. By seeing the current situation, it can be said that stopping the development of liberalisation of global media seems impossible for now.

Conclusion on Critical Research Exercise

        It is concluded that different countries have their own media which represent their culture, believes & ideologies. Different countries want that their media should get significant representation which might get affected with the liberalization of audiovisual services. Although this is a major problem, it can be resolved if WTO & GATS recognize the severity of the situation. The GATS can create such rules which allow significant Quota to local content as well along with liberalization of audiovisual services. The key solution of the above-discussed problem is to come with economic as well as societal regulations. The UNESCO approaches should also be considered will making new regulations regarding the global media

References of Critical Research Exercise

Pauwels, C., & Loisen, J., (2003). The WTO and the Audiovisual Sector: Economic Free Trade vs Cultural Horse Trading? 18, 291-313.

Puppis, M., (2008). National Media Regulation in the Era of Free Trade. 23, 405–424.

Puppis, M., (2010). Media Governance: A New Concept for the Analysis of Media Policy and Regulation. 3, 134–149.