Global Values in Media 39930.3 To Act: Towards Global Humanizing Values
This is a changing reality, a dynamic, whose movements should be
monitored closely with all its nuances. It is worth recover cultural stud-
ies researcher Douglas Kellner’s challenge, which deals with traditional
media, but refers to relevant elements to the reality of converging media:
“Media and culture can be transformed into instruments of social
change. This requires more focus on alternative media than has previ-
ously been evident in cultural studies and reflections on how media
technology can be reconfigured and used to empower individuals. It
requires developing activist strategies to intervene in public access tele-
vision, Conclusion 337 community radio, computer bulletin-boards, and
other domains currently emerging. To genuinely empower individuals
requires giving them knowledge of media production and allowing them
to produce artifacts that are then disseminated to the public. Increasing
media activism could significantly enhance democracy, making possible
the proliferation of voices and allowing those voices that have been si-
lenced or marginalized to speak.”^302
This reflection leads to the question of human relationships and the
communication challenge. People able to inform, to transmit and express
themselves, turned into active receiver, interactive users of the media do
not represent enough elements to carry out the communication that pro-
motes inter-action and comm-union. As noted above, communication is
meeting, communion, may it verbal and non-verbal, interpersonal or
social; to be fully achieved it cannot be limited to the transmission of
ideas but implies the Other and an authentic relationship with him/her.
“The meeting can take place in silence; while conversely, the young
man walking in the street who is multi-connected may prove unable to
say "good morning" or "thank you" to those who cross him. Similarly,
302
KELLNER, Douglas, Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics
between the Modern and the Postmodern. London/New York: Routledge, 1995,
337.