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Should Western media be controlled? Your views.

The overall trend in the past few decades has been towards a world without clear social, national, cultural and economic boundaries. Increasing availability and affordability of cross-cultural, national information is what's driving this trend. Increased globalisation is arguably a positive development. But it's a pity that this homogeneous society that we are moving towards is overwhelmingly American, rather than a well-balanced mixture of myriad cultures. Something we should be worried about ?
Varun Shrestha, Kathmandu, Nepal

I don't think Western News Media should be controlled .But I have doubts about the Entertainment Channels . The Entertainment channels not just entertains it also propagates extremely and ferociously consumerist hedonist greedy selfish aggressive violent values. And on top of all this , they often do it in a subliminal way, sandwiched with political propaganda, which hides or masks their real intention or messages - a technique which bypasses the audiences critical faculty and also discourages/sedates their conscious vigilant critical understanding or appreciation of the material and the real motives and effects of it .Therefore the " right to Switch-on/Switch-off " argument is totally false
Arif Ahmed Dhaka

Is television a colonizing force? Absolutely. Should it be controlled? Absolutely not. The most we can hope for is that the flow of information will be two-way... that both cultures will learn something from one another.
Ash Black, USA

I recently caught your broadcast (on the web) about satellite TV and the Internet influencing people and possibly drowning out other cultures. I'd like to make a contribution. In the middle ages, the invention of printing and the subsequent spread of books was seen to be a subversive thing. Worries were expressed that if everybody could read, they might all start asking inconvenient questions. If evrerybody could read the bible, what need would they have of going to church? The Internet and Satellite TV are in the same position now. As sources of information, provided they stay out of the hands of the governent, they serve the same purpose as the spread of books did in the middle ages. The only people who need have fear of the globalisation of information are those who have a vested interest in maintaining people(s) in ignorance.
Martin Wragg

I really don't think it is correct to talk about colonialism with western media. It is entirely up to the viewer to make the difference and choose between the right and wrong thing to immitate. Thesse media shoud not be controlled because the convey too many aspects of the western culture which we need to learn from for a better life on earth.

Tihamiyou B. Moussa. Benin I wonder what have you got to say about a country like Singapore who does not allow its citizen to own a satellite dish? I suspect that the government of the day is not keen to have its population being influenced by western contents which may or may not be desirable.
Cheng Ann

Its up to a culture to change. All that the media is doing is data transfer. How do people react to the data is entirely up to them Hence, no sensorship. Plus if you sensor, people will want to get more of that thereby causing sensorship to fail.
Pranav, New-Delhi, India

As a Briton living here in Japan, I totally support the increase in the availability of Western channels, particularly because the local terrestrial output is of such an extremely low level, based as it is on slapstick, soaps and sex. However, as a writer and a journalist, I remain extremely sceptical about statements such as satellite TV being a tool against totalitarianism, which you attributed to Rupert Murdoch, particularly as he very rapidly withdrew BBC World from his broadcasting network to China, when that totalitarian government complained about the beeb's "unfair and biased" coverage of the Tianenmen Square massacre. Let's face it, more information is better, but don't let's be taken in by hypocritical hyperbole from media moguls.
Philip Sandoz Tokyo

Western infleunce should not be controlled. It is the only way to break the tradition of totalitarianism or facism in some countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East.

Full democracy all over the world will be the goal of western media.

People should have the chance to be free in making their own decisions about what government they should have.

With the internet people can speak their mind against terrible political governments.
Abdul Sesay, USA

Are there any pure cultures? Culture can be traced like a family tree to dozens of others.

There seems to be a lot of dislike shown towards the influence of American culture. However America is truly a mix of hundreds of different cultures from every corner of the world. Recently I have noticed a large increase in the influence of Latin American culture on our own. Spanish words are being used more and more often in conversation without being noticed. Is this bad?

Likewise every culture takes from others what is can use to improve its own. In my opinion western influence is a good thing. I can teach human rights, creativity, and imagination. Face it we are now living in a global village. A homogenous world culture may be inevitable.
Fanta, Oregon USA

You fail do distinguish between western and modern. This annoys many 3rd worlders who are modern but clearly not western. What you pass off as western culture is not really a culture but the lack of one the consequence of the chaotic activity that is the nature of a free market society, Introduce free markets and the same things that appeal to "westerners" will appeal to evreyone else. You're not special your human like the res of us. the only difference is that in the west people are politically and economically free to express thier desires not due to culture ( read race ) but rather due to happenstance.
Amoroso, Kenya

I think it is a great boon to have freedom in reporting if it's like the BBC (which always presents both sides of the story) that's doing it. However in the case of some American channels which might be for example, pro - Israel, it is the hardest thing to comprehend why the Palestinian man throws a molotov cocktail at the Israeli army, due to the fact that the channel fails to mention that a day before some guards shot the molotov man's 12 year old son.
Fareed Jawad, USA

Colonialism by TV is already a fact. How else can you explain actors from 'Dallas' being recognised as their characters in far flung points of the globe?
But does that really matter? We watch 'Dallas' then look out of the window and the world out there is obviously not the world of 'Dallas'. We have not yet been rendered totally moronic by the evil eye at the heart of our living rooms.

Isn't this addiction to junk TV also one of the key problems? 'Just say no'? That might work for heroin, but will it for trash TV? I fight hard to be a non-TV person, though even my fall comes when there's an episode of 'The Simpsons' playing on the telly of my local bar!
Paul McCabe, Sweden

Access to American TV is a threat both to totalitarianism and to traditional values within other cultures. Access to enough information will always tend to set people free from totalitarian regimes. Also, it is an obvious truth that the traditions of a culture are at risk of being weakened or destroyed by access to other cultures. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. All traditional modes of thinking and doing are destined to be replaced by newer and better ideas and methods, eventually.

Access to the internet is even better than TV. The internet offers much greater access to information and ideas than any previous technology. I believe that the internet is a cure for many of the drawbacks of TV.
As the amount of information that is available over the internet increases, individuals and society gain an ever greater ability to improve their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

However, not all information, ideas and programming have significant value to individuals and mankind. Some are definitely destructive. However, I would recommend restraint in government control over the content of the media in any culture.

I bet that the main reason that the leaders of many other cultures fear the influx of outside media is not because they fear the degradation of their society, but the degradation of their power over the people of their culture.
Trying to keep people steeped in 'traditional' values is just a way for people in power to maintain their power without going to the effort of improving their concept of life and the world.

I support a fairly free exchange of ideas and information between all cultures.
Tim Gullette, USA

I agree that the homogenization of cultures that is currently happening is unfortunate as it may make the world a bland place. However, describing the abundance of western media around the world as colonialism, is a mistake for two main reasons:

- With a few exceptions (such as the BBC) the content of these programs is not being broadcast free of charge, with costs being paid by those producing it. Instead it is being actively and voluntarily imported by those who are consuming it. The West isn't forcing itself on the world, instead the world is paying to tune in and watch the freak show.

- Westerners and nonwesterners who say that this is wrong, a corruption of culture, etc, are ignoring the fact that western civilization did not develop in a vacuum, but is instead the composite result of many different influences.

Many westerners pride themselves on how cosmopolitan their communities are. For them to turn around and say that people elsewhere in the world are wrong to want to enjoy a similar variety of experiences is nothing short of insulting.
The choice rightly belongs to those who are importing it, as does any blame.
Edmund Redfield, Canada

I think that American television will have the same erosive effects on culture that it has had in our own country (the USA)
David Smith, USA

I'm a South African studying in the US, and decided against purchasing TV because all it does is shove American consumerism down my throat. However, I am against the control of the media by some 'know-alls' who do not think highly of the intelligence of other people. Let the individual decide.
Veli, USA

There should be regulation based solely on the content of the programs and not their country of origin. The consumers should have the freedom to choose and they will get the stuff they want sooner or later.

For example when MTV started in India it was totally American in content. Its viewing figures dropped drastically and now it is almost completely Indian (though with a western touch) and bears no resemblance to the MTV in the US.

Free flow of information is a must for the truth shall set us free.
Vikram Dave, Bombay, India

Absolutely YES! I visited my family last December in Nigeria. They had just bought a satellite dish and were watching cable channels. I was glad to watch CNN news which I thought I would be missing.

One evening my little brothers were crowded around a TV watching a completely nude couple having sex! I was very shocked. I have also noticed that they watch music videos most of the day. They are not interested in news or other current affairs.

It certainly makes sense to me that Western media is just another form of colonialism. Our children are being brainwashed with "ideas" that are regulated in the West. I have lived in the US for ten years and I have never seen nude couples on a TV station readily accessible to children. When such channels show nudity they do so at night and even then warn viewers.
Mamudu Yakubu, Nigeria

The best and only way to control Western media (as if it should be controlled) is for non-Western people to exercise their freedom to choose. For the BBC to even suggest that there is a comparison to be made between Western media (read American media) and colonialism is a joke. People of other cultures can simply choose not to watch those "awful" American shows, drink Coke, or eat Big Macs. My guess, however, is that they will continue to choose to consume them by the truckload...because they WANT to. A comparison such as this is a slap in the face to all nations who were colonalized in a true sense, most notably by Great Britain, where the only "choice" given was servitude or starvation.
Derek Fife, USA

There is a tremendous problem with the pace at which all this is happening. In the UK or the US, there is no real problem with bikini (or less) clad girls on prime time television, but in less socially liberal societies, to many this can be really damaging. Leaving aside the local social costs entirely, there is increasingly a culture in some parts of the world (India, Indonesia particularly, in my experience) where Western travellers suffer because of the distorted perspective of what the West (and Western women in particular) are really like.
Graeme Herrington, UK / Germany

Developing countries should be investing in their people by learning how to use these media and then providing programmes of similar quality but their own cultural content. The only reason Western stuff is more popular is simply cause there is more of it and it looks flashier as there are more designers in the West. It would be a tragedy for the developing countries to be swamped with American garbage without having alternatives which can compete.
Rick Earl, Auckland, New Zealand

While I am not fond of the content of modern television, I do believe that it is the responsibility of the individual to either watch the program or not to. There are plenty of good programs on television, all that needs to be done is to change the channel. The Internet is the largest collection of sewage ever, but is also has excellent sites like BBC News. The dominance of western media is simply because western media is better. I would be happy to watch foreign media if the quality was better. I feel that the BBC news is far better than some American news programs, therefore I watch the BBC news (via Internet) and not my local news. If western media is so bad as those governments believe, let them show it to their peoples as an example of what is bad. This is hardly a form of colonialism, they are not forced to watch.
Anson Groves, Vienna, Virginia, USA

Yes, most definitely western media should be regulated or even eliminated in the countries of the Developing World. The Western Media has in no way contributed to the promotion or survival of Godly values. It has led to the deterioration of society in general. The "soaps" are the main tool of incitement and adds shear garbage to anyone's intellect. The world news is also biased. Each country should analyse world events through their own eyes, not through the dominant Western eyes.
Harsini Wickramasuriya, Bridgetown, Barbados

It's both a threat to national culture and, for different reasons, a threat to totalitarianism. Better let people watch what they want. And I don't believe it's pornography that the Saudi regime is worried about -- that's just an excuse. What they're really worried about is unfiltered news.
Elwood, Brazil

You can hardly blame them for wanting to ban western television. I'm a New Yorker and even I can't stand it. Television is the sewage of western civilization coming up into the living room in my opinion. Genuinely vile.
John, USA

No way. Aside from what others have already said in regards to the necessity of a free media, and its affect on totalitarianism, there comes a point at which a specific culture can become stifling to intellectual growth. Everything else aside, it probably would do a lot of Islamic countries some good to see that women aren't treated like animals in other places of the world. And there are plenty of places in the world where a little pornography might help people reclaim their sexual freedom and lose a few ridiculous inhibitions. The nice thing about western culture is that it has begun to at least tentatively embrace eastern cultures and incorporate them into itself. Cultures tend to merge so any attempt at retaining a culture as is, when it clashes with another culture is inherently doomed. Besides, if western culture weren't more interesting, they wouldn't have to worry about it, would they?
David Bright

TV - not a threat to totalitarianism but a propagator of one. A few rich people and countries control the airwaves and in turn what gets broadcast on them.
Internet - The most democratic form of expression that the world has ever known. Ted Turner and I have the same excess to the net and to other people on it. I hope this revolution becomes even more powerful and people around the world can communicate one to one instead of depending upon the bloodthirsty media hounds.
"Tazmanian Devil," India

Yes, they should be regulated. A simple example is in the stupid talk shows and soap operas in the US. Almost every sane individual knows that what's shown on TV never happens in real life (or happens in the lives of a very small minority). However, for children this judgement is difficult regardless of their country. In the west, the children have the opportunity to see serials and Beavis and Butthead and realize that it is fiction. In countries where the children can't see the real world of the west, they see it on TV and try to imitate it. Hence, disgusting and harmful programs MUST be controlled!
San Jose, USA

Controlling western media will not quench the thirst that people living under totalitarian governments have for information from the "outside world." The western media did not create the idea of free-flowing information, but is rather the creation of the idea. If people in a totalitarian country embrace this idea, then the regime is sure to eventually fall, once the people's resistance reaches a critical mass to shed such reigns.
John De Masi, Huntington Beach, USA

I wish to agree that in some ways, the information revolution do pose some degree of threats to the cultural ideologies of developing nations. I believe that what makes a group of people different from others is their religious and cultural beliefs. Considering the issue of pornography, it is normal for a western family to watch pornographic movies at any time of the day. This is a taboo in the tradition and religion of most African families for example. Obviously, broadcasts of such programmes by satellite TVs create a western impression on the minds of future generations of Africans who tomorrow will think more western with respect to sex which in their customs is respected and talked less about. In the Islamic religion, women are forbidden from exposing themselves which is the opposite in the WEST where women virtually walk nude in disguise of a dress as viewed on TV screens. So I think Western media should be controlled.
Njongmeta Leo, Liverpool, U.K

No. I came to the USA from Czechoslovakia in 1981. My decision to escape was formed over the years more by the banned media programming than anything else. We, the sixties kids were more interested in Beatles than Red Pioneers meetings. Those Czech language transmissions of RFE and BBC did more damage to the Communist regime than the Sixth Fleet and Pershing II missiles combined. Thanks God those western pacifists of the era did not manage to stop it. Same applies today to the Internet. Let's just leave it alone.
Jerry Zak, Butler, NJ

No, a free press is necessary for a democracy to work. When governments start controlling the media the people of that country have no way of knowing what is the truth and what isn't. Freedom does not mean that no one will be offended or hurt, it means that people will be able to control their own lives and (as long as they don't hurt other people) do what they want to do.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

Yes, western media in developing countries should be controlled. People are beginning to lose their identities and are subscribing to western values and ideas. Eventually, anything that does not conform to western values and standards will be considered inferior, which is truly a big blow to nations like India that have a rich culture and valuable traditions.
Elizabeth Augustine, Seattle, U.S.A.

Absolutely It should be controlled because some content of western media involved lurid sexual relationship which is very different and even embarrassing attitude compared with Eastern style.
Kang Taejin, Pusan, South Korea

It seems to me that the definitive function of government is still to serve the people by governing according to the collective will of the people. Fanciful perhaps, but if a significant number of people in a given country decide that surfing the 'net, or watching Oprah, BBC World Service, or MTV is what they want to do with some of their time, it behoves their government to accept this. If the cultural and/or religious foundation of that country is so infirm that it cannot tolerate a cultural curiosity, or intellectual adventurism, in a significant number of its citizens, then those citizens should be applauded for taking the first tentative steps on the road to change that must eventually lead, for all of us, to a truly global society.
James Fanning, New Delhi, India

The media is controlled by those who use and those who produce. It is only a form of self-control that will eventually work - any other form will be full of loopholes and thus lead to a mockery of 'control' anyway. The media is about variety and diversity and thus the unfortunate thing is that the present 'control' system is too heavily biased in favour of western view points and little is heard from other points of view. If the media truly wants to be more democratic, it needs to recognise that people with less 'money' to put into the media also need to be heard - but that is rarely the case.
Charlene Rajendran, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I feel very strongly that western media should be controlled, with some exceptions in relation to news and current affairs. It is too easy, and it appears cheaper, for broadcasters to buy programs rather than developing them for themselves. Thus different cultures don't develop their own ideas and identities, and I feel become clones of the culture they watch on the box. Scary . . . and particularly noticeable with the kids. I value the diversity of the world, and I can see it getting eroded very quickly due to the effect of western media. Is there a workable solution?
Stephen Hurton, Australia

Oh, dear heavens! Citizens of downtrodden cultures are learning that Englishmen and Americans can speak freely! Mock their leaders! Treat women with equality! This imperialism must not be allowed to stand!
Omri Schwarz, Boston, MA, USA

If a country is a true democracy and those elected officials feel that there society would be better off without certain aspect then yes the outside media should be controlled. Media is a powerful medium.
J Vinsel, Vancouver, WA (US)

Western media has gone beyond the bounds of what anyone could imagine in such a short time. Much of what it spreads is not harmful, but it tends to focus on its own culture without trying to look to other sources for content. Supply and demand should determine some of what should be provided, but there needs to be a agenda setter that looks to preserve cultural autonomy.
Jon Hjelm, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Should western media be controlled." Wrong question. The arguments on both sides may seem thoughtful and educated, but the real or perceived threat to the dissolution of cultures abroad points to a greater and more fundamental concern: Why are they accepting it? It seems to me that this terribly delicate culture is eating up dish time because they are hungry for Western influence. Neither one person, nor 1000 could never say what is good for 50 million people. If a country (i.e. Saudi Arabia) wishes to regulate western media, then that is their decision to make. But the simple fact is, the bottom line, if western media is changing cultures around the world, it is because those cultures feel the need and/or desire to change.
Kurt Shriner, Eauu Claire, Wisconsin, USA

After spending 15 months in Asia, I was fully disgusted with all the American influence that seems to be polluting traditional cultures. However, it would be a huge mistake to try to control the worlds information flow, even if most of it is American talkshow trash.
Sam, Minneapolis, USA

I feel there is, in fact, a modern colonialism taking place in the form of media, ie television, music, internet. I disagree with the north-south, or developed vs. developing conclusion you arrived at, however. That conclusion is much too vague. In truth, I believe that it is America colonizing the rest of the world. I recently visited London, where I ate at McDonald's and KFC, drank Coke and Pepsi and watched television shows, including, MTV, the Simpsons, and American Football. On the streets of London I passed a cinema, of nine titles, all but one were American movies.
USA

Certainly, western media is a form of cultural imperialism; all societies are actively engaged in this sort of conflict, by means of religion, art and literature, and material goods. Is it a threat to oriental values? Of course! But should the western media be controlled? Perhaps that's the wrong question. Perhaps the question should be what makes the Western culture so pervasive, and why does if have a stronger pull than that of Oriental cultures? The precepts of free speech and information are primary tenets of liberal, occidental sociopolitical thinking; perhaps this basic freedom of western culture is precisely why it is so successful with people in the East, and why these other cultures find themselves feeling endangered. I ask what it is that the East can offer to compete, culturally, against the West?
Scott Rhymer, Harker Hts., TX, USA

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