An area within media production that has personally intrigued me is the idea of distribution, and how different factors impact upon this. A factor from one of my other modules is relevant and in some ways even crucial to distribution in the media. This factor is nation, the idea that people of similar cultural backgrounds share “ideas about identity and culture, borders and boundaries, common descent and shared history”. (Aronczyk, 2017) This has a huge impact on how multi-national businesses distribute products as certain products may need to be altered or removed in order to avoid alienating those from certain national identities. Recently, a video on YouTube caught my attention. This was based around how Google Maps is altered for distribution based on national beliefs and history. (RealLifeLore, 2019) A key point raised in this video is about how the area Jammu and Kashmir is displayed on different versions of Google Maps based on national distribution. This area borders India, China, and Pakistan, with each of these countries disputing ownership to at least part of the territory each. (South China Morning Post, 2019). Google as a multi-national company need to be incredibly careful in their distribution as these countries combined have a population of over 2 billion people. Offending any of these countries’ beliefs could potentially lead to a boycotting or banning of Google Maps, thus leading to Google losing out on a customer base equivalent to over a quarter of the entire world population. Furthermore, an ethical issue is that by accidentally alienating a country, Google may find themselves creating a huge uproar from groups that find this offensive. As a result, Google‘s distribution changes depending on each of these countries’ beliefs of where the area’s borders lie, with each being available on each nation’s version of Google Maps. This is taking Aronczyk’s idea of “borders and boundaries” (Aronczyk, 2017) quite literally. The idea of nation impacting upon media production and distribution is not unheard of in the modern media world. An example of this is the recent banning of over 130 American companies from Chinese technology company Huawei. (Independent, 2019) tying into the idea of media policy due to what governments allow people to view. This is a huge topic of concern for media producers from both the United States and China as of late, as this could potentially change the way that media is produced and distributed on a global scale for good. The fact that arguably the biggest Western media producer in the United States, and the country with the largest population in the world in China are disputing over distributing each other’s productions could also have implications beyond media production itself, with narratives and visual styles being created as either pro or anti a certain national identity due to hostilities. In conclusion, the idea of nation is critical to producers in the media world, not only in terms of how products are created, but also how they are distributed on a global scale.

References:

Aronczyk, M. (2017) ‘Nation’ in Keywords for Media Studies. eds. Ouellette, L. and Gray, J. New York: New York University Press. 236-237.

Independent (2019) Huawei Ban: More than 130 US companies blocked from selling to Chinese tech giant. [online] available from <https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/huawei-ban-us-china-trade-war-trump-phone-latest-a9082166.html> [7 December 2019]

RealLifeLore (2019) Here’s How Google Maps Is Different In Other Countries [online] available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_UVPTdjxC0> [7 December 2019]

South China Morning Post (2019) China, India, Pakistan: who’s really pulling the strings in Jammu and Kashmir? [online] available from <https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3030799/china-india-pakistan-whos-really-pulling-strings-jammu-and> [7 December 2019]