Local television as a representative of culture in a globalising world; Şanliurfa

Globalisation as a concept expresses the process of communities' increasing interdependency. The prevailing question posed by research into the cultural dimension of globalisation has been whether the process of globalisation creates a global culture. Debates in which the gradual loss of indigenous culture is considered a threat, the media outlets of the global media companies are considered as the protagonists of the prevalent worldwide cultural de-differentiation. Thus, the Americanising, standardising broadcasts of the global media have increased the importance of the local media's potential representation of different cultures. Satellite broadcasting offers the local televisions a media tool and this has brought about increased expectations. This study explores to what extent local televisions theoretically can convey indigenous cultural values to the global media thanks to satellite broadcasting, how much this capacity realistically can be used, and how much of what they represent is global and how much is local. The study aims to discover to what extent local televisions can represent local cultures in an environment of global broadcasting amid increasing standardisation. To this end the study has used the examples of 25 prime time television programmes on four local television channels broadcasting from Şanlıurfa's satellite frequency, analysed the concept of cultural standardisation and differentiation, and it debates how globalisation is reflected in the local culture. Qualitative research methods have been used; interviews were conducted, and academic literature scanned for in-depth data. Literature scans showed that the increased importance of local television, efforts to reflect local culture remain rather limited. Therefore, the study is important as a contribution to the literature debating local television from a cultural aspect. In conclusion the study shows that even if the local televisions are stylistically influenced by global media broadcasting, they constitute an important potential for reflecting local cultural differences.