Discuss the Media have made the modern world smaller

MEDIA HAVE MADE THE MODERN WORLD SMALLER

At one time, man depended upon the tom-tom and the “runner” for the exchange of vital news. Armed with a walkie-talkie, World War-II spy could cross into alien territory and report back to headquarters. Today, under similar circumstances, a spy could take pictures with a walkie-talkie, in effect a portable TV camera with a self-contained transmitter; and the army has mounted such miniature cameras on missiles to survey
distant targets and, no doubt, on man-made moons to scan large expanses of “enemy” territory.

Historically, the press and international communications have been “inalienably linked”. Man has overcome the challenge of distance and has linked continents with a world-wide systems of telecommunications, commercial systems using ocean cables, radio-telegraph, and radio-telephone carry an endless stream of messages around the globe, mainly under the auspices of the international Telecommunication Union which
derives its authority from a Plenipotentiary Conference sponsored by the United Nations in 1947. The USA, Britain and France are the titious in the international communication field. Their systems and others spread a network of news and information channels among countries in distant parts of the earth India, Pakistan, Canada, Australia, Europe, South Africa, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia; to name a few. There are few areas in the world not serviced by one or other of international telecommunication media. Formerly of pumpkin dimensions, the world today, because of the effectiveness of international. communications, is more like a modest-sized apple.

International Organizations :
Nations have always joined forces for war, peace and economic development, and in all parts of the world there are international organizations working for the mutual progress and protection of their members. The United Nations, the ECO, Pan-American Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, SAARC, ASEAN, blocs in the Latin American countries and in Africa are well-known examples.

The principal communications need of these groups is an effective medium for the exchange of news and information. Each organization has its headquarters the United Nations, for example, in New York-where intelligence and information are assembled. coded and relayed. Bulletins and newsletters are printed in the languages of member nations and circulated, but most of the exchange of data is handled by news agencies with their intricate wire and radio facilities. A recent United Nations survey revealed that five major news agencies-AP, UPI, Renter, AFP and ITAR-TASS-serve 144 countries and territories which comprise more than 2.3 billion inhabitants.

The Media and the “One World Idea” :
Four major concepts of mass communication have flourished in the world. Authoritarian espousing government policy in 16th-17th Century England, Libertarian, aimed at controlling government excesses in 18th-l9th Century England and the United States, Soviet Communist, owned and state-controlled in the Soviet Union which collapsed in the mid of 1991. Socially responsible in the 20th Century United States,
Britain, and other countries. Each of these concepts has served its role in man’s march to enlightenment. In spite of man’s long history of warfare, modern science and developments in communications have steadily brought people closer together. Different ideologies still exist, but this fact is becoming less significant. Today a Indian can breakfast in Delhi and lunch at noon in London. Distances to all parts of the globe have shrunk proportionately, and man’s contact with man around the world has spotlighted the universality of his problems.

Accordingly, while one talks of “local”, “national” and “international” news, such a distinction is relative at best to illustrate; when Rajiv Gandhi was murdered in India, the whole world media covered this news. Basically this news was local but also was national and international. In this sense, all “international” and most “national” news are “local”.

With the overcoming of the barriers of language and race, by means of mass communications the scattered millions living on our globe truly will become citizens of “One World”.