“Do you believe Caribbean Media are victims or causal factors of the Americanization of Caribbean Culture?”

There has been an ongoing debate as to whether The Americanization phenomenon, has been perpetuated by the media across the Caribbean. It must be stated, that the Americanization phenomenon, can be synonymous with Globalisation. Hence it very pertinent to the discussion, to first defines the denotative meaning of the term Globalisation. (Dr.Maria Alfaro) defines Globalisation as: “A phenomenon generated simultaneously by the application of new technologies, which overcome barriers of time space, and the generalisation of the principles of free trade in a market of world dimensions. In itself this phenomenon does not …show more content…

She summarized by saying that “increased privatization of Jamaican media had done little in airing more local programmes. It was also noticed that these three stations air extremely similar programmes. The reason for this is that innovative ideas may not be as successful and so these stations imitate shows that are successful. She states that the type of programmes aired reflect the influence of the United States media industries on the global scene. She notes that “Hollywood production values have become the standard by which local producer’s measure quality programming. It is partly for this reason why Jamaica imports much of its content from the U.S.” In another Caribbean country, Trinidad and Tobago, Americanisation can be described as being in full force. As seen in a survey conducted by professor of journalism at Creighton University Lynette Lashley who conducted this survey within six Trinidadian secondary schools. In her survey, she sought to ascertain: One, whether these students were satisfied with the absence of local programmes being aired. 53% of the respondents agreed. Another question posed in the survey, was whether or not the Trinidadian youths really care about local programmes, 50% of the respondents agreed. A third question posed by Lashley. Was whether they desired for American programmes to continue without local programmes? 53% agreed to this. “The cultural