WORLD MEDIA ONLINE
The Internet has come the closest to fulfilling McLuhan's global village concept. The World Wide Web provides access to worldwide media on a scale never before possible. Radio stations in other countries, for example, are available on the net. A scan of web sites in early 1998 found stations in Japan, the Phillippines, Hong Kong, Russia, Brazil, Great Britain and many other countries broadcasting on the net. Live TV programs from other countries have yet to become common on the web, but the major international and domestic TV systems in many countries have web sites that contain general information and programming highlights. Individuals who want to read newspapers or magazines from other countries now have a wide selection at their disposal. In addition to the U.S. papers that have an international readership, such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, papers from France (he Monde), Germany (Die Welt), Great Britain (London Times), Japan (Asahi Shimbun), Australia (Sydney Morning Herald), and many others have online versions available. International magazines that have established a web site include Asia Week, Asia Online, New Woman (from Britain), Beat (from Australia), Der Spiegel (Germany), Playmen (Italian equivalent of Playboy), Tokyo Journal (Japan), and Art Bin (Sweden). Furthermore, e-mail has made it possible to send messages across the globe in seconds. Many newsgroups are devoted to news about international events and other cultures, and people all over the world have web pages that can be visited directly. The name World Wide Web is particularly appropriate for this emerging global channel. 2. Answer the questions based on the text: - What mass media are considered international? - Can you name global print media listed in the text? If you know some other global print media not mentioned in the article, please share with your group mates. - How can we divide popular newspapers? - What have you learned about international broadcasting? - What is called “the problem of cross-border spillover”? - Which country dominates in the film and TV industry? Why do you think so? - How does Internet change mass media space?
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