Global media systems and influence

Global Media Impact of the 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament

The 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament drew hundreds of thousands of fans to South Africa, which opened the door to greater cultural understanding and cooperation between the nations that sent soccer teams to this African nation. But many more millions of people watched the games on television and on the Internet around the world. What was the impact of the games and the television broadcasts on cultures around the globe? This paper will focus on that issue, and present reports from news sources in various markets.

The 2010 World Cup Audience

"…Global media cultures represent a cultural otherness, at times a threat to cultural tradition and autonomy. On the other hand, global media cultures often contribute to a development of local cultures, bringing them into contact and on a par with the social reality of a globalized modernity. The media have increasingly become an independent institution for socialization and the development of cultural identity…" (Hjarvard, 2008, U. Of Copenhagen).

According to the governing body of international soccer, the FIFA, approximately 700 million people watched the World Cup Final on live television (or on streaming feeds through the Internet) (Roxborough, et al., 2010). If those numbers are accurate, then that final match beats the international audience for the opening ceremonies in 2008 for the Beijing Olympic Games -- an estimated 600 million people watched that event. The final between Spain and Holland of course drew huge television audiences in those respective countries; some 17 million Spaniards watched their team defeat the Dutch in that final. That 17 million figure represented 91% of the total television audience in Spain at that time. In Holland, about 8.5 million fans watched the final; that represented 91% of Dutch viewers, Roxborough explains.

Meantime, what impact did the 2010 World Cup's global media outreach have on diverse communities and cultures around the world? An article in The New York Times (Marcus, 2010) points to an international gathering of artists from around the world that were commissioned to come to South Africa to paint their original versions of what they saw. Five artists from each of the 32 nations competing in the World Cup created an "eclectic exhibition" for the world to see through television, Internet and print journalism coverage of the games and the artists, Marcus explains. For example, the five artists from North Korea created art that showed "strapping North Korean soccer players with earnest, determined expressions," much like the players themselves, Marcus explained. Someone from France or from Albania would not have known what North Korean athletes look like -- or even know the North Koreans were at the World Cup -- without the fact that media brought those images into their homes on television.

In Myanmar, a country that is noted for political repression, football (soccer) fans in the city of Yangon that were eager to see the World Cup were thrilled that "electricity became more regular," according to "Tan" writing in Global Voices Web site. The problem in communities in Myanmar has been a lack of electricity and other public services. The games were broadcast on two state-owned TV stations (MRTV and Myawaddy) and for those who were lucky to have their electricity turned on -- some faced shortages -- they were "staying up late at night to watch the midnight matches," Tan explained.

Around the world Cup was beamed into bars, homes, and in some cities massive wide-screen video monitors set up in public places brought people from far and near into downtown areas. One hundred thousand people packed into the Museumplein near the city's famous museums in Amsterdam, according to Jolly, et al., writing in The New York Times. In China, fans who decided to become vendors were profiting by the sale of vuvuzelas (those annoying horns that are blown throughout all the World Cup games) for $3 U.S. money. "They're all made in Zhejiang," the vendor said, working the rainy streets at Sanlitun, "the rowdiest place in the city." In Bogota Columbia, vendors profited from the sale of "pink cotton candy" to the crowds watching the games at the Palace of Justice in Bolivar Square (Jolly, p. 3).

In Nigeria the results of the World Cup -- with the help of social media on the Internet -- helped change a politician's policy. In this African country, politicians are not known to be responsive to citizens. After the Nigerian soccer team's "dismal performance" at the World Cup President Goodluck Jonathan ruled that the team would be "suspended for two years." Prior to the games, Jonathan launched a Facebook account, and after he announced the suspension of the team, "hundreds of fans posted disappointed reactions on his [Facebook] wall" (Amabebe, 2010). "I read your comments and too them into account," Jonathan wrote on his wall.