Media Capital: A Critique
The media capital is a new cultural analysis concept proposed by Curtin (2003). In lieu of conventional analysis of media and, for that matter, cultural patterns based on national boundaries, media capital is used. Given how an increasing number of capitals are adopting multi-channel satellite networks for broadcasting glocal TV content, media capital can be employed to better analyze TV content becoming increasingly uncategorizable as of one national character or another. The provided examples of Hollywood, Chicago and Hong Kong (Curtin) represent only an initial step into using media capital as an analytical method for media / cultural analysis. Given how characteristically different all analyzed media capitals (Hollywood, Chicago and Hong Kong) are, identifying a broad commonality is required for more accurate – and, for that matter, meaningful – analysis. More specifically, since Hollywood, Chicago and Hong Kong share little, if anything, in national TV history but are, paradoxically, united by being a nexus for global crosscurrents of media and cultural influences, an analysis of a media capital should be based on combining into one (global) platform multiple, global media / cultural influences. For current purposes, Singapore is selected as a media capital under analysis. This paper aims, hence, to apply media capital concept to Singapore as a global nexus of media / cultural crosscurrents.
Singapore is a global political, economic, social and, more recently, media hub. Strategically located in Asia, Singapore has a substantial capital at all political, economic, social and media levels. This strategic positioning is not, however, defined by geography. Indeed, informed by Curtin's concept of media capital, Singapore is properly positioned as a global hub for media influences. Further, informed by economic ascendancy and affluent social lifestyle, Singapore has become (based on Curtin's analysis of historical and cultural influences on national TV development in select cities into a cross-border phenomenon) a global nexus for media activity. More specifically, Singapore has risen to be an Asian, if not a global, hub for mobile TV broadcasting (Trisha, 2010). The adoption of mobile TV as an emerging platform of media content viewing has, notably, been most manifest in 2008 Olympic Games in China (Trisha). SingTel, Starhub and MI, Singapore's major telecommunication companies, partnered to create DVB-H, a mobile TV joint venture (Trisha). The mobile TV represents, in light of Curtin's media capital, a significant development of broadcasting media content in and across borders.
According to Curtin, a media capital is not a container per se for broadcasting national media content. Instead, media capitals are meeting points of different media production activities performed increasingly beyond specific geographical locations. For mobile TV in Singapore, media production does not only become a mobile commodity but also, more significantly, increasingly defined by users. More specifically, if Curtin argues that media producers, let alone national governments, are having less control over media content (and hence extensive marketing and promotion campaigns in order to cater for preferences of an increasingly global audience), mobile TV is, if anything, an even less controlled platform of media content. Indeed, User Generated Content (UGC) has come to define not only content users share across different platforms but also, more interestingly, applications placed or specifically developed by advertisers and/or manufacturers in order to capture more viewers / users. For Singapore, a city-state characterized by an independent political heritage and social lifestyle compared to Mainland China, mobile TV further problematizes how media content is consumed. That is, if syndicators in media capitals according to Curtin's argument are increasingly catering for media viewing habits not limited to ones in specific local and/or regional locations but also for global audiences (segmentized based on similarities, not differences), Singapore is, based on such argument, a dynamic hub for TV content provided by users and less controlled by media regulatory authorities (Trisha). This development in Singapore's media landscape further problematizes Curtin's basic argument. If anything, media content (and not only Singapore as a media capital) becomes a nexus of global influences.
Since mobile TV remains an emerging media phenomenon, propelled by a race after mobile users, asking who (e.g. regulators and/or telecommunication companies) has control or not in shaping media content policies, let alone architecture, remains an open question. Indeed, Singapore's 3G TV still poses fundamental regulatory questions for all involved stakeholders (Trisha). For one, Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA) is country's supreme authority for media infrastructure and content polices (Trisha). However, as Curtin argues, more conventional media regulations in Singapore (and, for that matter, elsewhere) are short of properly addressing a decidedly emerging pattern of decentralized media content and infrastructure.
More broadly, Singapore's mobile TV nascent experience could have implications in Asia and beyond. Given economic rise of China and India (and hence emerging affluent upper middle classes), a decentralized mobile TV service can bypass, at least partially, (outdated) regulations in jurisdictions still holding much power over media regulation, apparently in order to maintain a "national" character of media outlets. Thus, in Asian countries, historically producing media for masses, a mobile TV content can make media consumption a more personalized, if not fragmented, not only across but also within national borders.
Overall, Curtin's media capital concept offers a valuable analytical approach to current, unfolding media landscape. However, given Singapore's mobile TV experience, Curtin's model needs to be further refined in order to accommodate recent developments in TV watching platforms, particularly on mobile phones. The ubiquity of mobile phone sets and applications raises questions about major shifts in viewing habits. This shift into mobility should, if anything, be incorporated into Curtin's basic argument in order to address questions of UGC, mobile content regulation and licensing and, not least, cultural diffusion across borders mediated by mobile devices.
REFERENCES
Curtin, M. (2003). Media capital: Toward the study of spatial flows. International Journal of Cultural Studies [Online] 6(2), 202-228. Sage Journals. doi: 10.1177/13678779030062004 [Accessed: 24th March, 2016]
Trisha, T. C. L. (2010). The Gordian Knot of Mobile TV Policy in Singapore. Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology [Online] 5(1), 11-21. HeinOnline. Available from: http://heinonline.org/ [Accessed: 24th March, 2016]
