Introduction
Media, from newspapers and radio to television as well as the Internet, from tradition to modernity, have been influencing every aspect of people’s lives. As an important role of social information transmission, the media is also influenced by publishers (producers), audiences and governments. This article focuses on the government and how their policies affect the media. I will give examples from five new media to explain. Even if there are regional and personal limitations of knowledge, I hope it shows that our media does not develop at will.
TV
It is surprising that even though the Internet develops so fast and we all enjoy the speed and convenience of it, there are still many people who choose to watch TV as their entertainment.
But we all know that television is more restricted than the Internet, and I guess that’s because there’s not as much choice as the Internet, so people can choose fewer channels on TV, which content is more important.
For this reason, TV stations often launch similar programs after a show becomes popular. On the one hand, the homogenization of these programs is serious. On the other hand, the core content is boring, which really drags down the quality of TV programs. That is where the policy needs to guide them.
For example, the Chinese government issued the “Entertainment restriction regulation” in 2006, which controlled the total amount and time of seven types of programs in prime time, including marriage and dating, talent shows, love stories, game competitions, TV shows, talk shows and reality shows. As a result, in order to maximize profits, TV stations will retain their best programs and replace the programs that just follow the trend with unique and competitive ones. In this way, TV resources are better allocated, producers’ innovation ability is improved, and brand awareness of TV station is consolidated.
Movie
According to the data that the total consumption of movies is increasing year by year, more and more people will choose to go to the cinema as their relaxing way. But it is worth noting that many of these commercial films are what we usually call “Hollywood productions”, which are with the purpose of profit. Correspondingly, there are non-commercial films.
Obviously, under the guidance of the market economy, the production and release of non-commercial films do not look easy, which absolutely requires government regulation. In South Korea, “South Korean blockbusters” made with Hollywood-style production and localized democratic emotional marketing have box office appeal. However, these films have also squeezed the release opportunities of other types of films, which seriously affecting the diversification of South Korean films.
Therefore, in 2006, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of South Korea issued the Film Industry Medium and long-term Development Plan (2001-2011), making “Ensuring the diversity of films” as the key content of future film policies. For example, South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, plans to invest 21.5 billion won over five years. It has established a circulation and distribution network for art films with 70 non-permanent theaters, 20 cooperative art theaters and 30 local art galleries. So, filmmakers have the opportunity to make more artistic films, and people in South Koreans can enjoy different styles of films.
Game
As a gamer in my country for many years, I know the effects of policy on games.
In China, on the one hand, games that people can buy or download through official channels must be healthy and should not have negative effects such as individualism. On the other hand, Chinese game producers, especially who produce online or mobile games, will not only show tips on playing games healthily and reasonably before players log in, but also require them to verify their identity cards.
What is more, if you are a minor (under 18 years old in China), you will enter the “online game addiction prevention system”. The system uses an artificial “diminishing marginal return”, in which a player accumulates more than three hours of play in a game as “fatigue time” and the player’s revenue (experience gain and virtual items gain) in the game is reduced to 50%. If the accumulated time exceeds 5 hours, it will be regarded as “unhealthy playing time”, and the revenue will be reduced to zero. In order to prevent player evasion, the system sets that the accumulated time of the previous time will be cleared after the player has logged off for 5 hours.
The purpose of this measure is to allow players to control the game time scientifically, and to urge them to arrange their study, work, rest and entertainment time reasonably. As an adult, I tend to agree with this policy, because I believe that some teenagers will affect their normal life because they are addicted to games.
Advertising
Advertising, as a form of profit, influences consumers’ choices along with TV, movies and the Internet. However, those false advertisements tend to exaggerate and distort product information, which has a great negative impact on People’s Daily consumption.
I think the policy enacted in France is very helpful in preventing false advertising. According to the Provisions of the French Consumption Law: “It is prohibited to publish advertisements containing false assertions, introductions, labels or misleading consumers, no matter what the form. These errors assertions, introduction and annotations contain the following: various content components, performance, quality, main ingredients of category, content, place of origin, the sales of the products mentioned date of production, advertising services, use effect and use condition, the role of advertisers range, sales and service goals or methods, the cognizance character and qualification of the producers, sellers, agents and publishers.”
Such a detailed policy reduces the desire of advertisers to distort product information and also curb the generation of false advertisements.
Online streaming
The year 2016 is the year when China’s online streaming began to develop rapidly. However, while providing people with more convenient means of communication and more diversified audio-visual experience, these webcasts also lead to vulgar content, pornography and violence, fake fans and even promote illegal crimes and other industrial chaos. For example, some people spread rumors in order to get the attention of the audience.
According to these unhealthy phenomenon, China’s national network letter do release “live Internet service management stipulation”, requires webcasts’ platform and publishers to release news, must have the Internet news information service qualification. In addition, they must set up an editor, who control the content of editorial and publishing news broadcast platform, and make sure that the reference news information truthful and accurate.
Although this policy can get rid of some negative people, small people and platforms without much financial support are also affected. This policy is partly responsible for the “Matthew effect”.
Conclusion
These are just some simple examples, but I won’t include pictures for the sake of reading fluency.
Reference
“限娱令“”的政策效应与电视业的生态转型_任媛媛
韩国的多样性电影及其扶持政策研究_孙晴
网络游戏政策的作用机制_沈明伟
中外虚假广告监管政策比较_陈熙
网络直播政策规约下电视媒体的机遇与应对_朱思东
