Selected Corporation
The international corporation chosen for the analysis in this paper is the British Broadcasting Corporation, also known as the BBC. The reasons for such a choice can be observed in the very task description and on the official web page of the BBC. In more detail, the BBC was chosen as a corporation to be considered in this paper because, first of all, it is a truly international company dealing in the number of markets, countries, and audiences: “The BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. BBC World Service broadcasts to the world on radio, on TV and online, providing news and information in 32 languages” (BBC, 2009).
Thus, the BBC also satisfies the second task requirement, i. e. this corporation deals in at least six, and fact much more, areas of news transmission and works to meet the needs of numerous audiences around the world. As, the BBC develops its business projects abroad having partnerships with internationally known ventures: “Around the world, there are separate commercial ventures whose profits help fund BBC public services, including BBC America, BBC Prime, BBC World News and BBC Worldwide on YouTube” (BBC, 2009). All this justifies the choice of the BBC for consideration in this paper.
The Company Chosen: BBC
Name
The name of the overall holding entity of the chosen company is the British Broadcasting Corporation, which was also known as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd. in the period between 1922 and 1927 (BBC, 2009).
Six Major Publications
The major six new publications produced by the various BBC branches around the world include (BBC, 2009):
- BBC World News – Children of Beslan; 5 Years On (5 September 2009);
- BBC Americas – Kraft in $16.7bn bid for Cadbury (7 September 2009);
- BBC Europe – Germany Seeks Afghan Raid Answers (7 September 2009);
- BBC South Asia – Taliban Demand Air Strike inquiry (7 September 2009);
- BBC News – Japan Vows Big Climate Change Cut (7 September 2009);
- BBC Health – Alzheimer’s Genes Link Uncovered (7 September 2009).
Demographics of the Target Audience
The news publications listed above illustrate vividly the international and cross-interest character of the work of the BBC in the new production area. Thus, in more detail, the publication titled Children of Beslan; 5 Years On has the whole international community as its target audience because the tragedy of the Russian school evokes sympathy and sorrow of all people irrespective of the sphere of their activity, political views, income levels, race, or sex.
As contrasted, Kraft in $16.7bn bid for Cadbury publication is specifically economic, and therefore its target audience includes people with interests in economy and business, business managers, etc. Publications 3 and 4 are strictly political, and their target audience includes the people interested in politics, politicians themselves, and political analysts. Japan Vows Big Climate Change Cut is an environmental publication targeted at environmentalists and ordinary people concerned with ecology and environmental protection. Finally, Alzheimer’s Genes Link Uncovered is a healthcare publication having medical workers, Alzheimer’s disease patients, and their relatives as its target audience.
Publications’ Similarities and Differences
Similarities
Needless to say, the publications listed and considered above have certain similarities and differences. Beginning with the similarities, the publications mentioned are all similar in their being the latest new items from around the world reported by the worldwide BBC reporters on Monday, September 7 (BBC, 2009). Further on, the news publications under analysis all present the latest reports about the events that have taken place in the world over the day (BBC, 2009). As well, the news publications are similar to some extent in the manner of their delivery at both the television channels by the BBC and the official web page of the corporation (BBC, 2009). Finally, the publications considered are similar in the completeness of the information provided by the reporters and in the visualized, rather eye-catching manner of news delivery (BBC, 2009). All these points constitute the similarities of the news publications by various worldwide BBC divisions.
Differences
However, the differences between those publications are more numerous and evident. First of all, the major difference observed between all the new publications is the target audience for which those publications were intended. As considered above, among the six publications chosen for the analysis in this paper there are general publications that might catch the attention of all social groups as well as the publications that would interest predominantly the people with specific, narrow interests like economics, politics, health care, etc (BBC, 2009).
Further on, the point that differentiates all the publications considered is the manner of delivery in sense of presence or absence of the specific vocabulary, terms, and notions of narrow scientific use in the new items (BBC, 2009). Thus, if the political publications like Germany Seek Afghan Raid Answers or Taliban Demand Air Strike inquiry can be easily comprehended by averagely every reader or spectator, the medical or economic items like Kraft in $16.7bn bid for Cadbury and Alzheimer’s Genes Link Uncovered operate with large amounts of specific vocabulary that includes terms like inflammation, cholesterol, CLU and PICALM genes, etc (BBC, 2009).
Finally, the major difference is the plot of every publication which is completely different because of the various topics the items touch upon and the various target audience the publications were intended for.
BBC’s Impact on New Transmission across Markets and Audiences
Drawing from the above-presented considerations and based on the scholarly data from such reputable scholars as Compaine (2002), Duffield & Cokley (2006), Fornäs, Becker, Bjurström, Ganetz (2007), Jenkins (2007), and Kurpius (2003), it can be stated that the work of the BBC has a substantial effect upon the processes of transmission news markets and audiences as it facilitates the process of globalization and international integration of countries and peoples.
For example, Compaine (2002) attributes much importance to the role of organizations like BBC in the process of globalization and increase of market competition in the area of television broadcasting: “As the market becomes more competitive, with content providers such as Canal+ and the BBC marketing their products globally, it is even more important that media enterprises offer programming that people want to watch” (p. 21). Accordingly, the proper work of the BBC and its ability to give the worldwide audience what the latter wants to watch adds greatly to the persuasive power and authority of the British Broadcasting Corporation across markets and audiences. As well, Duffield & Cokley (2006) argue that by providing different audiences with television products satisfying all tastes, the BBC adds to the competition development and facilitates the improvement of new production quality overall across markets (p. 137).
Another notable contribution made by the work of the BBC to the transmission of news across markets and audiences is the fact that BBC helps fight market-driven journalism (Kurpius, 2003, p. 76). The latter, as defined by Kurpius (2003) and developed by Jenkins (2008), is the work of journalists conditioned by the market demand only and having no connection o the real events and their objective highlighting (Kurpius, 2003, p. 77; Jenkins, 2008, p. 187). Accordingly, the BBC helps to fight market-driven journalism by rejecting all the biases and trying to be objective in reporting any item of news from any location worldwide.
Therefore, having objectivity and the absence of any biases as its major values, the BBC always tries to provide the audiences it works for with the highest quality and the most updated news (Fornäs, Becker, Bjurström, Ganetz, 2007, p. 13). Drawing from this, the role of the BBC in the development of news transmission across markets and audiences is rather positive. The BBC facilitates the positive impacts of globalization by allowing people from various countries to be informed about the events around the world and making the countries and their populations closer to each other.
News Transmission across Markets and Audiences in Journalism
Drawing from the latter considerations, it is evident that the processes of transmission of news across markets and audiences are integral parts of journalism as such. To start considering the reasons for this fact, it is necessary to refer to Duffield & Cokley (2006) and Jenkins (2008) who see journalism as the means of information and international communication, whose main aim is to provide people with an objective view of the reality around us (Duffield & Cokley, 2006, p. 130; Jenkins, 2008, p. 179). In this respect, the role of the transmission of news across markets and borders, as Compaine (2002) argues, is great as this process allows journalism to achieve its goals of integrating people and providing them with objective and updated information irrespective of the country they live in and media restraints observed in that country (p. 20).
Further on, the issue of fighting market-driven journalism should be considered in this respect as well. According to Kurpius (2003), the process of transmission of news across markets and audiences is an important facet of journalism, as the comprehensive approach used in this transmission allows the news corporations and the journalists working for them to ignore the needs of a specific market in a specific country, and focus on the essence of news reported (pp. 78 – 79).
Accordingly, being a more general and a higher level of journalism, the transmission of news across markets and audiences allows new products to get to the higher level of quality standards and protection from subjectivity or biases in the news items. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is one of the global organizations that facilitate the development of such new standards of the quality of journalism. Operating in more than 30 countries around the world, the BBC manages to develop its services in the various spheres of human interest being one of the leading new corporations reporting the latest political, economic, health care, sports, and entertainment news globally. The BBC has numerous target audiences and manages to satisfy their requirements using the process of transmission of news across markets and audiences.
References
BBC. (2009). BBC Homepage. Web.
Compaine, B. (2002). Global Media, from Foreign Policy, pp. 20 – 29. Web.
Duffield, L. & Cokley, J. [eds] (2006). I, Journalist. Sydney: Pearson Education.
Fornäs, J; Becker, K; Bjurström, E; Ganetz; H. (2007) Consuming Media, Communication, Shopping and Everyday Life. Oxford; Berg Publishers.
Jenkins, H. (2008). Convergence Culture. New York: New York University Press.
Kurpius, D. (2003). Bucking a trend in local television news: Combating market-driven journalism. Journalism, 4(1), 76 – 94.