World Television Day 2024: Understanding the Power of Television
What is World Television Day?
World Television Day, observed annually on November 21st, celebrates the role of television in shaping our global society. It is more than just an appreciation of modern technology. This day highlights how television has acted as a tool for fostering peace and cultural diversity, as well as transformed communication and understanding between people worldwide for decades. Initiated by the United Nations in 1996, we continue to celebrate this day in an effort to recognize television’s impact on educating, entertaining, and uniting individuals across the globe.
Why November 21st?
November 21st marks the conclusion of the first World Television Forum in 1996, where global leaders recognized television’s unique role in society.
History of World Television Day
World Television Day originated during the World Television Forum in 1996, where industry leaders discussed the technology’s profound influence on decision-making and global awareness. Television has played a crucial role in world events, from broadcasting the first man on the moon to raising awareness of ongoing wars and important social issues.
Over the years, World Television Day has helped inspire campaigns promoting media literacy, discussions on digital advancements, and collaborations among broadcasters worldwide.
The Impact of Television on a Global Scale
Television has forever revolutionized communication, serving as a catalyst for global awareness and social change. From live coverage of historical events to groundbreaking tell-alls and inspiring storytelling, television has been instrumental in shaping public opinion and promoting conversation.
Beyond information, television deeply influences culture and society. It introduces audiences to new types of humor, languages, traditions, lifestyles, and more. Television shows, news programs, and films often reflect societal values while attempting to challenge norms and spark innovation.
Want to Learn More About Television?
Routledge offers a variety of texts on television, its impact, and the TV industry. Get started with one of the titles below:
Related Books
Meta Television
The idea of metatextuality is frequently framed as a recent television development and often paired with the idea that it represents genre exhaustion. US television, however, with its early “live” performances and set-bound sitcoms, always suggested an element of self-awareness that easily shaded into metatextuality even in its earliest days.
Global Television Formats
For decades, television scholars have viewed global television through the lens of cultural imperialism, focusing primarily on programs produced by US and UK markets and exported to foreign markets. Global Television Formats revolutionizes television studies by de-provincializing its approach to media globalization.
Television Studies After TV
Television studies must now address a complex environment where change has been vigorous but uneven, and where local and national conditions vary significantly. Globalizing media industries, deregulatory policy regimes, the multiplication, convergence, and trade in media formats, the emergence of new content production industries outside the US/UK umbrella, and the fragmentation of media audiences are all changing the nature of television today.
Relocating Television
For over half a century, television has been the most central medium in Western democracies – the political, social and cultural centrepiece of the public sphere. Television has therefore rarely been studied in isolation from its socio-cultural and political context; there is always something important at stake when the forms and functions of television are on the agenda.
Digital Film and Television Culture
Digital Film and Television Culture introduces a new framework for the aesthetic and cultural analysis of contemporary film and serial drama, stars on social media, and movie awards shows. It examines contemporary digital media culture with four specific case studies, their cultural contexts, and how audiences engage with them online.