With regards to media and broadcasting, localism refers to the process of focusing on local news as media outlets try generating content that is beneficial to the local communities. In the United States, localism with the official policy of the federal government as demonstrated through policies of the Federal Communication Commission since the 1920s (Comer " Wikle, 2015). The regulation policies were such that local radio and television station could easily get licenses to operate compared with other media outlets generating a more globalized news and content.
In recent times, however, maintaining localism in the communication industry has been harder. With the onset of cable and satellite technologies, more media outlets can increase their audience and generate more cash by focusing on a larger geographical area. In spite of this, the benefits of considering local communities when creating broadcast content are still crucial. Communication commissions should hence devise means of creating a trade-off between localism and diversity with regards to broadcast in both television and radio.
In Australia, the issue of localism has become a crucial broadcasting policy in the last decade. The change was occasioned by the amendments made in the communication firms ownership laws in 2006. One of the requirements was that regional radio and television licensees would have to maintain a local presence by broadcasting a certain amount of content targeted to the local community.
There are many benefits of such broadcasting rules that seek to restore and maintain localism in the communication industry. First of all, such practices tend to enhance community cohesion and strengthen the identity of the local community. In such big countries like Australia, the importance of localism in the industry are manifold. By and large, people in a community tend to have similar interests. Similarly, they are usually influenced by the same things as well as follow the same trends within their geographical areas. When the radio and television broadcasts consider these trends, common interests, and issues, they will be capable of not only being informative to the local communities but also educative.
Second, localism ensures that democratic accountability at the local level is enhanced. National news outlets such as ABC, CNN, and BBC do not routinely report on issues at the state, local, or municipal levels. For this reason, people are not able to keep up with administrative issues to find out whether their elected representatives are accounting within the confines of the law (McChesney, 2015). Localism in the broadcast industry ensures that people can continuously monitor the accountability of the local leaders and act accordingly.
Next, localism in the broadcast and communication industry could enhance local talent and artists by offering them a platform to showcase their skills. Unlike national broadcasting radio and television stations, the local radio and television stations grant jobs to people drawn from the community because they understand the issues grappling the community better than other people. Additionally, these kinds of employees are likelier to give a platform to local musicians thus promoting the community’s art. On the other hand, national television and radio tend to employ persons drawn from a wider geographical area. In turn, they could overlook promoting local artists which stall the progression of the community.
Having mentioned the benefits associated with localism in the communication and broadcast industry, it is prudent to analyze the socioeconomic factors that influence that influence local content. Those socioeconomic factors vital roles in influencing the policies drafted and implemented by communication commissions. First, there is the issue of the revenue stream. In the current times, most media companies are businesses whose main objectives is to generate revenues to the equity holders. In most cases, localism does not generate as much income as national television and radio. For instance, the advertisement revenue with local radio and television is limited to advertisers only targeting the local market. On the other hand, advertisement revenue for national television tends to be more since the advertisers are drawn from a larger geographical area.
The other factor that influences the issue of localism is the standard of the product. In the context of media and communication, the product refers to news, sports and other forms of aired content. With local radios and television, the quality of the product tends to be low. The reason for the low quality of the content emanates from low investment since the local radios and television are majorly funded by regional entities (Ali, 2017). The personnel hired in these local media outlets are also drawn from the community. They may not necessarily have the same level of skills like those individuals working in national media outlets. The quality of their broadcasts could thus be below the industrial average which implies that standard-sensitive audiences will shun the local radios and television.
Next, there is the issue of diversity. When the communication policies were first drafted in the last century, the level of globalization was a tad lower compared to now. There was a need for the development of such protectionist policies in order to improve the local industry. The emergence of the internet, however, has opened up geographical borders improving propagation of media content beyond the confines of geographical borders (Comer " Wikle, 2015). Since local radio and television can no longer limit the type of content consumed at the local level, there has been called for diversifying the content so as to keep the audience informed on both local, national, and international affairs. Such a policy ensures that the radios and television stationers do not lose their audiences because they lack diversity.
Finally, the level of cosmopolitanism also impacts the decision of localism. Generally, urban and peri-urban areas tend to have a more cosmopolitan population compare to rural areas. For urban areas, there is more diversity in terms of ethnicity, interest, and other issues (Rodgers, 2018). Therefore, localism would not be appropriate in such areas because people have varied interests. Nationalism is the most appropriate approach to broadcast and communication. On the other hand, in rural areas, the population is rather homogenous in terms and the problems encountered. For this reason, localism would suffice in such areas because people have more or less similar interests.
In conclusion, the issue of localism has drawn divergent opinions in media and communication circles. While this was the best approach of promoting local media industries for a long time, the advancement of internet technology and increased globalization has required a trade-off established between localism and nationalism. The socioeconomic impacts influencing localism are employed in trying to determine between localism approach and national broadcast.
Reference List
Ali, C. (2017). Media localism: The policies of place. University of Illinois Press.
Comer, J. C., " Wikle, T. A. (2015). Access to locally-oriented television broadcasting in a digital era. Applied Geography, 60, 280–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.11.001
McChesney, R. W. (2015). Rich media, poor democracy: Communication politics in dubious times. New Press, The.
Rodgers, S. (2018). Digitizing localism: Anticipating, assembling and animating a ‘space’for UK hyperlocal media production. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(1), 73–89.
