205 GRCM PP 1-33

ACUL1lJRAL
STUDIES
APPROACH TO
ME� □ IA
Theory
I n this book, we offer a sele�tion of critical examinations of popuiar culture and emergent media to
exemplify a powerful method of analysis you will be able ro apply on your own co ocher examples. In
chis way, we hope to promote and support critical media literacy. While there are many ways co chink
about media literacy, for che purposes of chis book, we argue that in a postindustrial society dominated
by corporate media and commercial messages media literacy can be one tool to help limit the discursive
power of media in our lives. W hile a sophisticated level of media literacy cannot replace ocher efforts
to democratize our society's economic and cultural resources, in our view, it does give audiences the
skills necessary to analyze and question the ideologies that often work at a subtextual level within media
narratives and images.
We begin wirh media theory because we think students will find it useful to have a good grasp of
several central concepts, illuscrared in an introductory way here, before going on to tackle later readings
in which an understanding of these concepts is often presumed. In the media theory section, we especially
highlight the central concepts and terms of the field of cultural studies as applied to me�ia culture.
As in all che other sections of chis book, the chapters in chis section are in dialogue with one another in
many ways. In these opening comments, we give only one possible reading of the ways their main themes
connect.
We open with "Culcural Studies, Multiculcuralism, and Media Culture," by Douglas Kellner (I.l).
This essay secs out the three-part approach to cultural studies (political economy/production, textual
analysis, and audience reception/consumption) chat characterizes chis field. Like Kellner, we believe
that co understand a media artifact such as a TV show, advertisement, social media site, or online digital
game, one must be able to understand the socioeconomic context in which it is created (political economy/
production); analyze its constructed meaning(s) through careful attention to its particular visual/verbal/
auditory languages, or codes (textual analysis); and determine its actual impact on individuals and groups
and how these audiences contribute to che meaning-making process, and even to the production and
distribution of cultural produces (audience consumption/production). In addition, Kellner points to
che importance of intersectional considerations of gender, sexuality, race, class, and more, as categories of
difference and social analysis in cultural studies work.
In "The Meaning of Memory" (I.2), an important historical background piece that sheds light on
how and why corporations came co dominate media culcure so heavily in the United States, George Lipsitz
shows how che needs of the national economy in che post-World War II period facilitated the development
of mass television production. He explores how the increase in the sale of televisions and the develop
ment of a group of situation comedies were used to transform a traditional, ethnic immigrant ideology
that stressed values of community, thrift, and commitment to labor unions into an American Dream
ideology that stresses individualism, consumerism, and suburban domesticity-values consistent with
the needs of the expanding postwar capitalist economy.
1
ce, and Class in Media
2 Ge nder, Ra
In subsequent decades, media industries have changed dramatically as a result of mergers and buyouts.
Com mercial entertainment today is a highly profit-oriented business controlled for the most part by a
small number of giant corporations. In "The Economics of the Media Industry" (I.3), David P. Croteau
and William 0. Hoynes focus on the concentration of ownership in these industries, showing why chis is
an important problem in a purportedly democratic society.
Giant media conglomerates are able to "assemble large portfolios of magazines, television stations,
book publishers, record labels, and so on to mutually support one another's operations" (a process called
"horizontal integration"). They also use "vertical integration"-"the process by which one owner acquires
all aspects of production and distribution of a single type of media product"-to gain further control over
the market. As the authors point out,
In chis era of integrated media conglomerates, media companies are capable of pursuing elaborate cross
media strategies, in which company-owned media products can be packaged, sold, and promoted across
the full range of media platforms. Feature films, their accompanying soundtracks and DVD/Blu-ray
Disc releases, spin-off television programs, and books, along with magazine cover stories and plenty
of licensed merchandise can all be produced and distributed by different divisions of the same conglom
erate. (p. 28)
In these ways, corporate media giants benefit economically from conglomeration and integration and,
arguably, make it "more difficult for smaller media firms to compete," but even more worrisome is the potential
for such conglomerates to translate media ownership into political power. Offering examples from the United
States (Michael Bloomberg), Europe (Italy's Silvio Berlusconi), and the United Kingdom and Australia (Rupert
Murdoch), the authors warn chat "owners can systematically exclude certain ideas from their media produces."
Building on political economist Herb Schiller's concept of "the corporate voice," they ask us to consider
whether "the corporate voice has been generalized so successfully that most of us do not even think of it as a
specifically corporate voice: That is,,the corporate view has become 'our' view, the 'American' view, even though
the interests of the corporate entities that own mass media are far from universal" (p. 32).
One way of thinking about how the corporate view becomes woven into dominant ways of thinking
about the world is the theory of hegemony that James Lull explores in his chapter (I.4). While Karl Marx
was one of the first major social thinkers to explore how the ideologies of the ruling class become the
mainstream ideas of the time, theorists such as Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, and Stuart Hall helped
develop the more nuanced concept of hegemony that Lull defines as "the power or dominance that one
social group holds over others" (p. 34). As Lull points out,
Owners and managers of media industries can produce and reproduce the content, inflections, and tones
of ideas favorable to them fat more easily than other social groups because they manage key socializing
institutions, thereby guaranteeing that their points of view are constantly and attractively cast into the
public arena. (p. 34)
Though many critical studies of media owned by private companies use the concept of hegemony,
at first it seems more difficult to apply this notion to the Internet, which has been seen as a kind of
"public sphere" in which many voices are heard, because there are often-obscured, profit-oriented entities
in control of production and distribution of online content. Indeed, somewhat grandiose and utopian
claims were made in some circles about the new �,of free expression and democratic cultural production
the Internet would bring with it. But as John Bellamy Foster and Robert W McChesney remind us in
"The Internet's Unholy Marriage to Capitalism" (I.5), there is a need to think more critically about the
relationship between the Internet and capitalism. They argue: "There was-and remains--extraordinary
democratic and revolutionary promise in this communication revolution. But technologies do not ride
roughshod over history, regardless of their immense powers. They are developed in a social, political, and
economic context" (p. 37).
Gen der. Race, and Class in Media
4
irs producers incended, (2) produce a negotiated reading (partially resisting che encoded meaning), or me
(3) creace an opposicional readi_ng of d1ei r own, completely rejecting che preferred meaning of the text. aw
Janice Radway's classic eclrnographic research ioco audience ri:cepcion of romance novels was an eany
and influential Study of how specific readers actually engage with a mass merua re.ice. Io "Women Read po
the Romance" (I.7), Radway looks closely at how a group ofWhice lower-income womeo in che 1970s and pr,
1980s negotiated with the genre of the romance novel, in terms of both the books they selected and the "R
ways they actually read the text and appropriated and changed its meanings. Radway acknowledges that tel
"romance reading . .. can function as a kind of training for the all-too-common task of reinterpreting a ao
spouse's unsettling actions as the signs of passion, devotion, and love" (p. 58). Yet she sees, in these women's en
selection of certain books as favorites and their rejection of others, an active tendency to critique certain pr
patriarchal masculine behaviors, substituting an ideal of the "nurturing" male that might have been miss WI
ing in their own family lives. Thiough the act of reading irself, she argues, this group of women romance
readers escaped temporarily from familial demands on their time, and. Radway interprets chis accion as en
potential resistance to, or refusal to accept completely, the parriarchal restriccions on cheir lives. While th
encouraging respect for women's own experiences as cultural consumers, however, Radway warns that we it
should not confuse modes of resistance that reside in textual consumption with more practical, real-world
modes of resistance (such as organized protest against the patriarchal abuses women meet in real life).
Rad.way's work helped establish the field of media audience studies, which has since developed into
a rich body of research and interpretation. At the same time, over the past two decades or so, a distinct
subfield of audience study has emerged, devoted to one particularly active kind of text consumer-the fan.
In an early and influential essay, "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching"
(1.8), Henry Jenkins III drew our attention to "a largely unexplored terrain of cultural activiry, a subterra
nean network of readers and writers who remake [media texts] in their own image." For Jenkins and many
who have been influenced by his work,
"fandom" is a vehicle for marginali�d subterranean groups (women, the young, gays, etc.) to pry open
space for their cultural concerns within dominant representations; it is a way of appropriating media texts
and rereading them in a fashion that serves different interests, a way of transforming mass culture into
popular culture. (p. 63)
Drawing on the cheories of Michel de Cerceau and his own srudies of fans organized around their
mutual appreciation of the long-running science fiction television series about space exploration by a team
of diverse characters, Jenkins brought to light a fascinating body of fan fiction, written for the most part by
female fans, whom he conceptualized as
reluctant poachers who steal only those things that they truly love, who seize televisual property only
to protect it against abuse by those who created it and who have claimed ownership over it. In embrac
ing popular texts, the fans claim those works as their own, remaking chem in their own image. . . .
Consumption becomes production; reading becomes writing; spectator culture becomes participatory
culture. (p. 68)
Following Jenkins's lead, contemporary fandom studies foreground the agency and creativity of culture
consumers who go on to produce cheir own cultural materials, often through such "poaching" of ideas
and materials from che original mass-produced texts. Emergent digital technologies have dearly added
to the opportunities available to do-it-yourself cultural producers outside of the commercial world of the
media industries, including fans. Moreover, some individuals and groups have taken advantage of social
networking platforms to facilitate not only fandom but also polltical activism.
Some critical media theorists have warned (as Kellner does) of the dangers of overemphasizing the
power of media audiences to resist or effectively challenge the dominant ideologies that normalize social
and economic inequities, simply through their activities as consumers-even if they become devoted fans.
After all, as Morgan and Shanahan's chapter reminds us, it is the heaviest users of media content that are
Part I • A Cultural Studies Approach to Media: Theory 5
ed meaning), or most likely to accept the ideological tendencies of the content they love, without even being consciously
g of the text. aware that they are being inf luenced.
vels was an early Throughout this section of the anthology, the notions of both media power and resistance to that
L "Women Read power have already frequently surfaced, as they will throughout the rest of the book. Richard Butsch
in the 1970s and provides us with a detailed and challenging discussion of these notions in our final chapter of the section,
selected and the "Reconsidering Resistance and Incorporation" (1.9).Some strands of cultural studies work on the media
knowledges that tend to ignore the more structured analysis of political economy, which foregrounds the inequality of
• reinterpreting a access to media resources. Butsch's chapter is both a critique of an overly celebratory use of the idea of audi
.n these women's ence resistance and a call for a more nuanced understanding of how resistance and "incorporation" (the
, critique certain process by which resistance is co-opted and contained within hegemony) work together. In this way, he
have been miss works to bridge competing paradigms within media studies.
;vomen romance We have aimed in this book to contribute to the project Butsch calls for.We invite you, the reader, to
:ts this action as engage in a critical analysis of your own media consumption, exploring how you may be at times resisting
1eir lives. W hile the dominant ideologies while at other times unwittingly internalizing the "corporate voice" and weaving
1y warns that we it into your own social construction of reality.
;tical, real-world
in real life).
! developed into
or so, a distinct
sumer-the fan.
xtual Poaching"
:ivity, a subterra
nkins and many
etc.) to pry open

1iing media texts
nass culture into
:ed around their

,ration by a team
the most part by
.al property only

rer it. In embrac
own image....
11es participatory
ativity of culture
aching" of ideas
ve clearly added
cial world of the
rantage of social
�mphasizing the
normalize social
me devoted fans.
content that are
-
CULTURAL STUDIES,
MULTICULTURALISM.
AND MEDIA CULTURE
Douglas Kellner
adio, television, film, popular music, the individuals and citizens in learning how to cope
R
Internet and social networking, and other with a seductive cultural environment. Learn
forms and products of media culture provide ing how to read, criticize, and resist sociocultural
materials out of which we forge our very identi manipulation can help one empower oneself in
ties, including our sense of selfhood; our notion relation to dominant forms of media and culture.
of what it means to be male or female; our con It can enhance individual sovereignty vis-a-vis
ception of class, ethnicity and race, nationality, media culture and give people more .power over
sexuality; and division of the world into categories their cultural environment.
of "us" and "them." Media images help shape our In this chapter, I will discuss the potential
view of the world and our deepest values: what we contributions of a cultural studies perspective to
consider good or bad, positive or negative, moral media critique and literacy. Ftom the 1980s to
or evil. Media stories provide the symbols, myths, the present, cultural studies has emerged as a set
and resources through which we constitute a com of approaches to the study of culture, society, and
mon culture and through the appropriation of politics. The project was inaugurated by the Uni
which we insert ourselves into this �ulture. Media versity of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary
spectacles demonstrate who has power and who Cultural Studies, which developed a variety of
is powerless, who is allowed to exercise force and critical methods for the analysis, interpretation,
violence and who is not. They dramatize and legit and criticism of cultural artifacts. Through a set
imate the power of the forces that be and show the of internal debates, and responding to social strug
powerless that they must stay in their places or be gles and movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the
oppressed. Birmingham group came to focus on the interplay
We are immersed from cradle to grave in a of representations and ideologies of class, gender,
media and consumer society, and thus it is impor race, ethnicity, and nationality in cultural texts,
tant to learn how to understand, interpret, and including media culture. They were among the
criticize its meanings and messages. The media first to study the effects on audiences of newspa
are a profound and often misperceived source of pers, radio, television, film, advertising, and other
cultural pedagogy: They contribute to educating popular cultural forms. They also focused on how
us how to behave and what to think, feel, believe, various audiences interpreted and used media cul
fear, and desire-and what not to. The media are ture differently, analyzing the factors that made
forms of pedagogy that teach us how to be men different audiences respond in contrasting ways
and women. They show us how to dress, look, and to various media texts, and how they made use of
consume; how to react to members of different media in their personal and social lives in a multi
social groups; how to be popular and successful plicity of ways.1
and how to avoid failure; and how to conform to Through studies of youth subcultures, British
the dominant system of norms, values, practices, cultural studies demonstrated how culture came
and institutions. Consequently, the gaining of to constitute distinct forms of identity and group
critical media literacy is an important resource for membership for young people. In the view of
This piece is an original essay chat was commissioned for this volume. It has been updated from an earlier version that appeared in the
third edition.
6
Chapter 1 • Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture 7
cultural studies, media culture provides the mate to maintain and generally serve as a front for nor
rials for constructing views of the world, behavior, mative aesthetic valuations and, often, a political
and even identities. Those who uncritically follow program (i.e., either dismissing mass culture for
the dictates of media culture tend to "mainstream" high culture/art or celebrating what is deemed
themselves, conforming to the dominant fashion, "popular" while scorning "elitist" high culture).
values, and behavior. Yet cultural studies is also Cultural studies allows us to examine and
interested in how subcultural groups and indi critically scrutinize the whole range of culture
viduals resist dominant forms of culture and iden without prior prejudices toward one or another
tity, creating their own sryle and idendties. Those sort of cultural text, institution, or practice. It
who obey ruling dress and fashion codes, behav also opens the way toward more differentiated
ior, and political ideologies thus produce their political, rather than aesthetic, valuations of cul
identities as members of specific social groupings tural artifacts in which one attempts to distin
10w to cope
within contemporary U.S. culture, such as White, guish critical and oppositional from conformist
1ent. Learn
middle-class, conservative American men, or les and conservative moments in a given cultural
ociocultural
bian African American women, for instance. Per artifact. For instance, studies of Hollywood film
:r oneself in
sons who identify with subcultures, such as punk show how key 1960s films promoted the views of
and culture.
culture or Latino subcultures, dress and act dif radicals and the counterculture and how film in
1ty vis-a-vis
ferendy rhan chose in the mainstream and thus the 1970s was a battleground between liberal and
power over
create opposirronal iderrciries, defining themselves conservative positions; late 1970s films, however,
against standard models. tended toward conservative positions that helped
he potential
Cultural studies insists that culture must be elect Ronald Reagan as president (see Kellner &
�rspective to
studied within the social relations and system Ryan, 1988). During the Bush-Cheney era, there
he 1980s to
through which culture is produced and consumed were many oppositional films, such as the work
rged as a set
and that che study of culture is thus lm.i:matdy of Michael Moore, and liberal films that featured
society, and
bound up with the study of society, policies, and black heroes and anticipated the election of Barack
by the Uni-
economics. Cultural studies shows how media Obama (Kellner, 2010). For instance, African
>ntemporary
culture articulates the dominant values, politi American actor Will Smith was the top grossing
a variety of
cal ideologies, and social developments and nov U.S. actor during the Bush-Cheney era, Denzel
terpretation,
elties of the era. It con.ceives of U.S. culmre 'and Washington won two Academy Awards and
hrough a set
society as a contested terrain, with various groups played a wide range of characters, and Morgan
social strug
and ideologies struggling for dominance (Kellner, Freeman played a president, corporate executive,
d 1970s, the
1995, 2010). Television, film, music, and other crime figure, and even God, attesting that U.S.
the interplay
popular cultural forms are thus often liberal or publics were ready to see African Americans in
:lass, gender,
conservative, or occasionally express more radi major positions in all arenas of society. This is not
1ltural texts,
cal or opposition.al views-and can be conrradic to say that Hollywood "caused" Obama's surpris
: among the
tory and ambiguous as well in their meanlngs and ing victory in 2008 but that U.S. media culture
s of newspa-
messages. anticipated a blackpresident.
1g, and other
Cultural studies is valuable because it provides There is an intrinsically critical and political
used on how
some tools that enable individuals to read and dimension to the project of cultural studies that
,d media cul
interpret culture critically. It also subverts distinc distinguishes it from objectivist and apolitical
rs that made
tions between "high" and "low" culture by consid academic approaches to the study of culture and
rasting ways
e.-irlg a wide continuum of culrural artifacts, from society. British cultural studies, for example, ana
• made use of
opera and novels to soap opera-s and TV wrescling, lyz ed culture historically in the context of its soci
es in a multi-
while .refusing to ei:ecc any spccifk elite culrural etal origins and effects. It situated culture within
hierarchies or canons. Earlier mainstream aca a theory of social production and reproduction,
tures, British
demic approaches to culture tended to be primar specifying the ways cultural forms served either
;ulture came
ily literary and elitist, dismissing media culture as to further social domination or to enable people
ty and group
banal, trashy, and not worthy of serious attention. to resist and struggle against domination. It ana
the view of
The project of cu.lnua.l studies, in contrast, a:voids lyzed society as a hierarchical and antagonistic
t appeared in the curtirtg the £i.eld of culmre lnco high and low, or set of social relations characterized by the oppres
popular versus el ice. Such distinctions ate difficulr sion of subordinate class, gender, race, ethnic,
8 Part I • A Cultural Studies Approach to Media: Theory
and national strata. Employing the Italian soci mainstream. This makes it a target of conservative
This cc
ologist Antonio Gramsci's (1971) model of hege forces that wish to preserve the existing canons of
rawly f.
mony and counterhegemony, it sought to analyze White male, Eurocentric privilege, and thus attack
to the 1
"hegemonic" or ruling, social, and cultural forces multiculturalism in cultural wars raging from the
tions, I
of domination and to seek "counterhegemonic" 1960s to the present over education, the arts, and
(a) disc
forces of resistance and struggle. The project was the limits of free expression. (b) eng,
aimed at social transformation and attempted to Cultural studies thus promotes a critical mul
specify forces of domination and resistance to aid ticulturalist politics and media pedagogy that
the process of political struggle and emancipation aims to make people sensitive to how relations of
from oppression and domination. power and domination are "encoded" in cultural
PROD
For cultural studies, the concept of ideology
is of central importance, for dominant ideologies
serve to reproduce social relations of domina
texts, such as those of television and film, or how
new technologies and media such as the Internet
and social networking can be used for opposi
-
POLll
Since c1
tion and subordination. 2 Ideologies of class, for tional pedagogical or political purposes (Kahn & many rr
instance, celebrate upper-class life and denigrate Kellner, 2008). A critical cultural studies approach cant to i
the working class. Ideologies of gender promote also specifies how people can resisr che dominam: texts wi
sexist representations of women, oppressive ide encoded meanings and produce their own critical bution,
ologies of sexuality promote homophobia, and and alternative readings and media artifacts, as of culn
ideologies of race use racist representations of peo well as new identities and social relations. Cultural culture
ple of color and various minority groups. Ideolo studies can show how media culture manipulates tributed
gies make inequalities and subordination appear and indoctrinates us and rhus can empower indi the text
natural and just and thus induce consent to rela viduals to resist the dominant meanings in media or dow1
tions of domination. Contemporary societies are cultural products and produce their own mean approac
structured by opposing groups who have different ings. It can also point to moments of resistance and ally cor
political ideologies (liberal, conservative, radical, criticism within media culture and thus help pro The sys
etc.), and cultural studies specifies what, if any, mote development of more critical consciousness. part, wt
ideologies are operative in a given cultural artifact A critical cultural studies approach structur
(which could involve, of course, the specification embodred in many of the articles collected in not be s
of ambiguities and ideological contradictions). In this reader-thus develops concepts and analyses effects t
the course of this study, I will provide some exam that will enable readers to analytically dissect rhe Stu<
ples of how different ideologies are operative in artifacts of contemporary media culture and gain ular mt
media cultural texts and will accordingly provide power over their cultural environmenc. By expos ing the
examples of ideological analysis and critique. ing the entire field of culture and media technol which a
Because of its focus on representations of race, ogy to knowledgeable scrutiny, cultural studies well as
gender, sexuality, and class, and its critique of ide provides a broad, comprehensive framework to Domin:
ologies that promote various forms of oppression, undertake srudies of cukure, politics, and society defined
cultural studies lends itself to a multiculturalist for rhe purposes of individual empowermem and the pro,
program that demonstrates how culture reproduces social and political struggle and transformation. codes a,
certain forms of racism, sexism, and biases against In the following pages, I will therefore indicate of the
members of subordinate classes, social groups, or some of the chief components of the type of cul instance
alternative lifestyles. Multiculturalism affirms the tural studies I find most useful for understanding long, fr
worth of different types of culture and cultural contemporary U.S. society, culture, and politics. system,
groups, claiming, for instance, that Black; Latino; Twitter
Asian; Native American; lesbian, gay, bisexual, years of
transgendered, and questioning (LGBTQ); and COMPONENTS OF A CRITICAL legal an,
other oppressed and marginalized voices have their of musi<
CULTURAL STUDIES APPROACH
own validity and importance. An insurgent multi mation,
culturalism attempts to show how various people's As a theoretical apparatus, cultural studies con political
voices and experiences are silenced and omitted tains a threefold project of analyzing the produc corpora
from mainstream culture, and struggles to aid in tion and political economy of culture, cultural film an
the articulation of diverse views, experiences, and texts, and the audience reception of those texts and States is
cultural forms from groups excluded from the their effects in a concrete sociohistorical context. and gan
1servative This comprehensive approach avoids too nar action/adventure series, reality TV series, and so
canons of rowly focusing on one dimension of the project on, which are familiar and popular with audi
ms attack to [he exclusion of others. To avoid such limita ences. This economic factor explains why there
from the tions, I propose a multiperspectival approach that are cycles of certain genres and subgenres, sequel
arts, and (a) discusses prnduccion and polici,ca economy, mania in the film industry, crossovers of popular
(b) engages in.textual an:i,lysis, a c studies the films into television series, and a certain homo
:ical mul reception and use ofculrural texts.J geneity in products constituted within systems
;ogy that of production marked by relatively rigid generic
lations of codes, formulaic conventions, and well-defined
1 cultural PRODUCTION AND ideological boundaries.
a, or how POLITICAL ECONOMY Likewise, study of political economy can help
: Internet determine the limits and range of political and
r opposi Since cultural production has been neglected in ideological discourses and effects. My study of
(Kahn & many modes of recent cultural studies, it is impor television in the United States, for instance, dis
approach tant to stress the importance of analyzing cultural closed that the takeover of the television networks
iominant texts within their system of production and distri by major transnational corporations and commu
rn critical bution, often referred to as the political economy nications conglomerates in the 1980s was part of a
:ifacts, as of culture.4 Inserting texts into the system of "right turn" within U.S. society, whereby powerful
Cultural culture within which they are produced and dis corporate groups won control of the state and the
,nipulates tributed can help elucidate features and effects of mainstream media (Kellner, 1990). For example,
,wer indi the texts that textual analysis alone might miss during the 1980s, all three networks were taken
in media or downplay. Rather than being an antithetical over by major corporate conglomerates: ABC was
,n mean approach to culture, political economy can actu taken over in 1985 by Capital Cities, NBC was
tance and ally contribute to textual analysis and critique. taken over by GE, and CBS was taken over by
help pro The system of production often determines, in the Tisch Financial Group. Both ABC and NBC
_ousness. part, what sorts of artifacts will be produced, what sought corporate mergers, and this motivation,
proach structural limits will determine what can and can along with other benefits derived from Reagan
lected in not be said and shown, and what sorts of audience ism, might well have inf luenced them to down
1 analyses effects the text may generate. play criticisms of Reagan and generally support his
issect the Study of the codes of television, film, or pop conservative programs, military adventures, and
and gain ular music, for instance, is enhanced by study simulated presidency.
By expos ing the formulas and conventions of production, Corporate conglomeratization has intensified
L technol which are shaped by economic and technical, as further, and today Time Warner, Disney, Rupert
tl studies well as aesthetic and cultural, considerations. Murdoch's News Corporation, Viacom, and other
ework to Dominant cultural forms are structured by well global media conglomerates control ever more
1d society defined rules and conventions, and the study of domains of the production and distribution of
ment and the production of culture can help elucidate the culture (McChesney, 2000, 2007). In this global
)rmation. codes actually in play. Because of the demands context, one cannot really analyze the role of the
: indicate of the format of radio or music television, for media in the Gulf War, for instance, without also
pe of cul instance, most popular songs are 3 to 5 minutes analyzing the production and political economy of
rstanding long, fitting into the format of the distribution news and information, as well as the actual text of
::,olitics. system, just as the length of content on YouTube or the GulfWar and its reception by its audience (see
Twitter has technical constraints. From the early Kellner, 1992). Likewise, the ownership by conser
years of the Internet to the present, there have been vative corporations of dominant media corpora
legal and political conflicts concerning file sharing tions helps explain mainstream media support of
CH of music, other forms of media culture, and infor the Bush-Cheney administration and its policies,
mation, situating media culture in a force field of such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Kellner,
dies con political conflict. Because of their control by giant 2003, 2005).
e produc corporations oriented primarily toward profit, Looking toward entertainment, female pop
' cultural film and television production in the United music stars such as Madonna, Britney Spears,
texts and States is dominated by specific genres such as talk Beyonce, and Lady Gaga deploy the tools of the
1 context. and game shows, soap operas, situation comedies, glamour industry and media spectacle to become
icollS of fashion, beaury, style, and sexuality, as in a text co qualitative study chat examines rep
as;
well as purveyors of music. And i□ appraising che resentations of women, Blacks, or ocher groups,
inc
full social impact of pornography, one needs to be or applies various critical theories co unpack
"go
aware of the immense profits gen e y rbe sex the meanings of che rexes or explicate how texts
off
industry and the porential for harm endemic to function co produce meaning. Traditionally, the
the production process o.f. say, pornographic films qualicacive analysis of texts attended co the formal Ca
and videos, and not just dwell on che cc..xrs them artistic properties of imaginative literature-such
selves and their effects on audiences. as scyle, verbal imagery, characterization, narra pro
Furthermore, in an era of globalization, one tive structure, and point of view. From the 1960s fon
must be aware of the global networks chat produce on, however, literary-formalist cexcual analysis has mo
and distribute culture in the interests of profit and been enhanced by methods derived from semi sen
corporate hegemony. The Internet and new media otics, a system for investigating the creation of pol
link the globe and distribute more culture co more meaning not only in writcen languages but also ous
people than at any time in history, yet giant media in other, nonverbal codes, such as the visual and alsc
conglomerates and institutions, such as the state, auditory languages of film and TV. rep
that can exert censorship continue to be major Semiotics analyzes how linguistic and nonlin rep
forces of cultural hegemony (see McChesney 2013). guistic cultural "signs" form systems of meanings, anc
Yee political economy alone does not hold che key co as when giving someone a rose is interpreted as a din
cultural studies, and important as it is, it has limita sign of love or getting an A on a college paper is a
tions as a single approach. Some political economy sign of mastery of the rules of the specific assign con
analyses reduce the meanings and effects of texts co ment. Semiotic analysis can be connected with cull
rather circumscribed and reductive ideological func genre criticism (the study of conventions govern gen
tions, arguing chat media culture merely reflects the ing long-established types of cultural forms, such ide1
ideology of the ruling economic elite that controls as soap operas) to reveal how the codes and forms ima
the culture industries and is nothing more than a of particular genres construct certain meanings. gro,
vehicle for capitalise ideology. It is true that fI1edia Situation comedies, for instance, classically fol ove:
culture overwhelmingly supports capitalist values, low a conflict/resolution model that demonstrates peo
but it is also a site of intense struggle between dif how to solve certain social problems with correct cliff
ferent races, classes, genders, and social groups. It actions and values, and they thus provide moral cal
is also possible in the age of new media and social ity tales of proper and improper behavior. Soap of I
networking for consum�rs to become producers of operas, by contrast, proliferate problems and pro idec
their own media content and form, including oppo vide messages concerning the endurance and suf clas
sitional voices and resistance. Thus, to fully grasp fering needed to get through life's endless miseries, of d
the nature and effects of media culture, one needs while generating positive and negative models of spe1
to develop methods to analyze the full range of its social behavior. And advertising shows how com opp
meanings and effects that are sensitive to the always modity solutions solve problems of popularity, mat
mutating terrain of media culture and technology. acceptance, success, and the like. met
A semiotic and genre analysis of the film Rambo spe<
(1982), for instance, would show how it follows the illu1
TEXTUAL ANALYSIS conventions of the Hollywood genre of the war oth1
film that dramatizes conflicts between the United inst
The products of media culture require multidi States and its "enemies" (see Kellner, 1995). Semi der,
mensional close textual readings to analyze their otics describes how the images of the villains are icy,;
various forms of discourses, ideological positions, constructed according to the codes of World War II Yec1
narrative strategies, image construction, and movies and how the resolution of the conflict and use<
effects. "Reading" an artifact of media culture happy ending foHow the tradition of Hollywood sch<
involves interpreting the forms and meanings of classical cinema, which portray the victory of good hovi,
elements in a music video or television ad as one over evil. Semiotic analysis would also include study pon
might read and interpret a book. There has been of the strictly cinematic and formal elements of com
a wide range of types of textual criticism of media a film such as Rambo, dissecting the ways camera
culture, from quantitative content analysis that angles present Rambo as a god or how slow-motion stre1
dissects the number of. say, episodes of violence images of him gliding through the jungle code him spot
� rep as a force of nature. Formal analysis of a film also have been strong on class and historical contextu
groups, includes how lighting is used to code characters as alization and weak on formal analysis, while some
unpack "good" or "evil," or how any of the technical features versions are highly "reductionist," reducing textual
,w texts of film production can help generate meanings. analysis to denunciation of ruling class ideology.
tlly, che Similarly, a semiotic analysis of James Feminism excels in gender analysis and in some
, formal Cameron's Avatar (2009) would reveal how che versions is formally sophisticated, drawing on such
,-such images in the film present an anti-militarist and methods as psychoanalysis and semiotics, although
, narra pro-ecological agenda, although che narrative some versions are reductive, and early feminism
e 1960s form celebrates a White, male savior, replicating often limited itself to analysis of images of gender.
ysis has more conservative narratives. Avatar also demon Psychoanalysis in turn calls for the interpretation
1. semi strates how fantasy artifacts can project a wealth of of unconscious contents and meaning, which can
ction of political and ideological meanings, often ambigu articulate latent meanings in a text, as when Alfred
>ut also ous or contradictory. Discussions of Avatar have Hitchcock's dream sequences project cinematic
ual and also generated heated debates in the politics of symbols chat illuminate his characters' dilemmas
representation, concerning how the film has or when the image of the female character in Bon
nonlin represented gender, sexuality, race, the military, nie and Clyde (1967), framed against the bar of her
anings, and the environment, as well as ocher themes and bed, suggests her sexual frustration, imprisonment
:ed as a dimensions of the film (see Kellner, 2010). in middle-class family life, and need to revolt.
_per is a The textual analysis of cultural studies thus Of course, each reading of a text is only one
assign combines formalise analysis with critique of how possible reading from one critic's subjective posi
,d with cultural meanings convey specific ideologies of tion, no matter how multiperspectival, and may
�overn gender, race, class, sexuality, nation, and other or may not be the reading preferred by audiences
LS, such ideological dimensions. Ideologies refer to ideas or (which themselves will be significancly different
i forms images chat construct the superiority of one class or according to class, race, gender, ethnicity, ideol
anings. group over others (i.e., men over women, Whites ogy, and so on). Because there is a split between
lly fol- over people of color, ruling elites over working-class textual encoding and audience decoding, there is
1strates people, etc.) and thus' reproduce and legitimate always the possibility for a multiplicity of readings
correct different forms of social domination. Ideologi of any text of media culture (Hall, 19806). There
moral cal textual analysis should deploy a wide range are limits to the openness or polysemic nature
r. Soap of methods to fully explicate each dimension of of any text, of course, and textual analysis can
1d pro ideological domination across representations of explicate the parameters of possible readings and
nd suf class, race, gender, and sexuality, and other forms delineate perspectives chat aim at illuminating the
jseries, of domination and subordination and to show how text and its cultural and ideological effects. Such
,dels of specific narratives serve interests of domination and analysis also provides the materials for criticizing
,., com oppression, contest it, or are ambiguous (as with misreadings, or readings that are one-sided and
ularity, many examples of media culture). Each critical incomplete. Yet to further carry through a cul
method focuses on certain features of a text from a tural studies analysis, one must also examine how
Rambo specific perspective: The perspective spotlights, or diverse audiences actually read media texts and
>ws the illuminates, some features of a text while ignoring attempt to determine what impact or influence
he war others. Marxist methods tend to focus on class, for they have on audience thought and behavior.
United instance, while feminist approaches highlight gen
. Semi der, critical race theory emphasizes race and ethnic
ins are ity, and gay and lesbian theories explicate sexuality. AUDIENCE RECEPTION AND
War II Yet today, the concept of"intersectionality" is often USE OF MEDIA CULTURE
ict and used, and many feminists, Marxists, critical race
ywood scholars, and other forms of cultural studies depict All texts are subject to multiple readings depend
,f good how gender, class, race, sexuality, and other com ing on the perspectives and subject positions of the
e study ponents intersect and co-construct each other in reader. Members of distinct genders, classes, races,
�nts of complex cultural ways (see Crenshaw, 1991). -nations, regions, sexual preferences, and politi
�amera Various critical methods have their own cal ideologies are going to read texts differently,
notion strengths and limitations, their optics and blind and cultural studies can illuminate why diverse
ie him spots. Traditionally, Marxian ideology critiques audiences interpret texts in various, sometimes
conflicting, ways. Media culture provides materials studies, particularly in the United States. Impor
di
for individuals and communities to create identities tantly, there is a danger that class will be downplayed ta
and meanings, and cultural studies work on audi as a significant variable that structures audience ce
ences detects a variety of potentially empowering decoding and use of cultural texts. Cultural studies st
uses of cultural forms. One of the merits of cultural in England were particularly sensitive to class dif vi
studies is that it has focused on audience reception ferences-as well as subcultural differences-in the re
and fan appropriation, and this focus provides one use and reception of cultural texts, but I have noted b,
of its major contributions, although there are also many dissertations, books, and articles in cultural SC
some limitations and problems with the standard studies in the United States in which attention to ti
cultural studies approaches to the audience.5 class has been downplayed or is missing altogether. i-:
Ethnographic research studies people and their This is not surprising, as a neglect of class as a con VI
groups and cultures and is frequently used in an stitutive feature of culture and society is endemic in al
attempt to determine how media texts affect spe the American academy in most disciplines. d
cific audiences and shape their beliefs and behavior. There is also the reverse danger, however, of si
Ethnographic cultural studies have indicated some exaggerating the constitutive force of class and C
of the various ways audiences use and appropriate downplaying, or ignoring, such other variables as a
texts, often to empower themselves. For example, gender and ethnicity. Staiger (1992) noted that p
teenagers use video games and music television to Fiske, building on Hartley, lists seven "subjectivity ti
escape from the demands of a disciplinary society. positions" that are important in cultural reception C
Males use sports media events as a terrain of fan "self, gender, age-group, family, class, nation, 0
tasy identification, in which they feel empowered ethnicity"-and proposes adding sexuality. All f
as "their" team or star triumphs. Such sports events these factors, and no doubt more, interact in shap t.
also generate a form of community currently being ing how audiences receive and use texts and must be a
lost in the privatized media and consumer culture taken into account in studying cultural reception, s
of our time. Indeed, fandoms of all sorts, from for audiences decode and use texts according to the
Star Trek fans (''Trekkies"/"Trekkers") �o devotees specific constituents of their class, race or ethnicity, r
of various soap operas, reality shows, or current gender, sexual preference, and so on. s
highly popular TV series, also form communities Furthermore, I would warn against a tendency
that enable them to relate to others who share their to romanticize the "active audience" by claiming
interests and hobbies. Some fans, in fact, actively re that all audiences produce their own meanings
create their favorite cultural forms (see examples in and denying that media culture may have powerful
Jenkins, 1992; Lewis, 1992; and Gray, Sandvoss, & manipulative effects. There is a tendency within the
Harrington, 2007). Other studies have shown that cultural studies tradition of reception research to
audiences can subvert the intentions of the produc dichotomize between dominant and oppositional
ers or managers of the cultural industries that sup readings (Hall, 1980b). "Dominant" readings are
ply them, as when astute young media users laugh at those in which audiences appropriate texts i:n line
obvious attempts to hype certain characters, shows, with the interests of the dominant culture and the
or products (see de Certeau, 1984, for more exam ideological intentions of a text, as when audiences
ples of audiences constructing meaning and engag feel pleasure in the restoration of male power, law
ing in practices in critical and subversive ways). and order, and social stability at the end of a film
The emphasis on active audience reception such as Die Hard, after the hero and representatives
and appropriation, then, has helped cultural stud of authority eliminate the terrorists who had taken
ies overcome the previously one-sided textualist over a high-rise corporate headquarters. An "opposi
orientations to culture and also has directed focus tional" reading, in contrast, celebrates the resistance
to the actual political effects texts may have. By to this reading in audience appropriation of a text.
combining quantitative and qualitative research, For example, Fiske (1993) observed (and implicitly
audience reception and fandom studies-includ approved) resistance to dominant readings when
ing some of the chapters in this reader-are pro homeless individuals in a shelter cheered the violent
viding important contributions to how people destruction of police and authority figures during
interact with cultural texts. repeated viewings of a videotape of Die Hard.
Yet I see several problems wit� reception stud Fiske's study illustrates a tendency in cul
ies as they have been constituted within cultural tural studies to celebrate resistance per se without
tares. Impor distinguishing between types and forms of resis One new way to research media effects is to
e downplayed rance (a similar problem resides with indiscriminate use Google, or databases chat collect media texts,
ues audience celebration of audience pleasure in certain reception to trace certain effects of media artifacts through
1ltural studies studies). For example, some would argue that the analysis of references to them in the journalistic
: to class dif violent resistance co social authority valorized in this media. Likewise, a new terrain oflnternet audience
�nces-in the reading of Die Hard glamorizes brutal, masculinisc research studies how fans act in chat rooms or on
t I have noted behavior and che use of physical violence to solve fansices devoted to their favorite artifacts of media
es in cultural social problems. It is true chat theorises of revolu culture. New media such as Facebook, YouTube,
t attention to tion, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Frantz Fanon, and Twitter, and other social networking sites produce
J.g altogether. Herbert Marcuse, among others, have argued chat forums for more active audiences, as well as new
:lass as a con violence can be either emancipatory, when directed sites for audience research. As audiences critically
is endemic in at forces of oppression, or reactionary, when discuss or celebrate their preferred artifacts of media
ines. directed at popular forces struggling against oppres culture and, in some cases, produce their own ver
, however, of sion. In contrast, many feminises and those in the sions, disseminated to audiences throughout the
of class and Gandhian tradition see all violence against others Internet and via new digital technologies, media
r variables as as a form of brutal, masculinisc behavior, and many culture expands its reach and power while audi
) noted char people see it as a problematic form of conflict resolu ences can feel that they are part of their preferred
"subjectivity tion. Thus, audience pleasure in violent resistance cultural sites and phenomena. Studies are prolifer
1 reception cannot be valorized per se as a progressive element ating in this field, examining how Facebook, You
:lass, nation, of the appropriation of cultural texts. Instead, dif-. Tube, Twitter, and other new media are used by
exualicy. All ficulc discriminations must be made as to whether individuals and groups in diverse ways, from shar
:ract in shap che resistance, oppositional reading, or pleasure in ing pictures and media content to social networking
; and musc be a given experience should be understood as progres to political expression and organizing and pedagog
ral reception, sive or reactionary, emancipatory or destructive. ical purposes (Kellner & Kim, 2010).
ording to the Thus, while emphasis on the audience and
: or ethnicity, reception was an e�cellent correction to the one
sidedness of purely textual analysis, I believe that TOWARD A CULTURAL
st a tendency in recent years, cultural studies has overempha STUDIES THAT IS CRITICAL,
by claiming sized reception and textual analysis while under MULTICULTURAL. AND
m meanings emphasizing the production of culture and its MULTIPERSPECTIVAL
.ave powerful political economy. T his type of cultural studies
cy within the fetishizes audience reception studies and neglects To avoid the one-sidedness of textual analysis
1 research to both production and textual analysis, thus pro approaches or audience and reception studies,
oppositional ducing populist celebrations of the text and audi I propose that cultural studies itself be multiper
readings are ence pleasure in its use of cultural artifacts. This spectival, getting at culture from the perspectives
rexes in line approach, taken to an extreme, would lose its criti of political economy, text analysis, and audience
lture and the cal perspective and put a positive gloss on audi reception, as outlined above. Textual analy
en audiences ence experience of whatever is being studied. Such sis should use a multiplicity of perspectives and
.e power, law studies also might lose sight of the manipulative critical methods, and audience reception studies
:nd of a film and conservative effects of certain types of media should delineate the wide range of subject posi
presencatives culture and thus serve the interests of the cultural tions, or perspectives, through which audiences
J.O had taken industries as they are presently constituted. appropriate culture. This requires a multicultural
. An "opposi No doubt, media effects are complex and con approach that sees the importance of analyzing the
:he resistance troversial, and it is the merit of cultural studies to dimensions of class, race and ethnicity, and gen
ion of a text. make the analysis of such effects an important pare der and sexual preference within the texts of media
nd implicitly of its agenda. Previous studies of the audience and culture, while also studying their impact on how
adings when reception of media privileged ethnographic studies audiences read and interpret media culture.
:d the violent that selected slices of the vast media audiences, usu In addition, a critical cultural studies approach
gures during ally from the sites where researchers themselves lived. attacks sexism, heterosexism, racism, and bias
·Hard. Such studies are invariably limited, and broader against specific social groups (i.e., gays, intellec
ncy in cul effects research can indicate how the most popular tuals, seniors, etc.) and criticizes texts chat pro
:r se without artifacts of media culture have a wide range of effects. mote any kind of domination or oppression. As
an example of how considerations of production, marriages and ongoing world tours, as well as to
textual analysis, and audience readings can fruit examine how contemporary fans view Madonna
fully intersect in cufoural studies, let us ref lect on in an age that embraces pop singers such as
the Madonna phenomenon. Madonna came on the Beyonce and Lady Gaga.
scene in the moment of Reaganism and embodied Likewise, Michael Jackson's initial popular
the materialistic and consumer-oriented ethos of ity derived from carefully managed media spec
the 1980s ("Material Girl"). She also appeared in tacles, first in the Jackson Five and then in his own
a time of dramatic image proliferation, associated career. Jackson achieved his superstar status, like
with MTV, fashion fever, and intense marketing of Madonna, from his MTV-disseminated music
products. Madonn,a was one ofchcfirst MTV music videos and spectacular concert performances, in
video superstars who consciously crafted images to which promotion, image management, and his
attract a mass audience. Her early music videos were publicity apparatus made him the King of Pop.
aimed at teenage girls (the Madonna wannabes), While, like Madonna, his frequent tabloid and
but she soon incorporated Black, Hispanic, and media presence helped promote his career, media
minority audiences with her images of imcnacial spectacle and rableids also derailed ir, as he was
sex and multicultural "family" in her concerts. She charged with child abuse in well-publicized cases.
also appealed ro gay and lesbian audiences, as well After his death in 2009, however, Jackson had a
as feminise and academic audiences, as her videos remarkable surge in popularity as his works were
became more complex and political (e.g., "Like a disseminated through the media, including new
Prayer," "Express Yourself," "Vogue," etc.). media and social networking sites.
Thus, Madonna's popularity was in large part
a function of her marketing strategies and her pro
duction of music videos and images that appealed CULTURAL STUDIES FOR
to diverse audiences. To conceptualize the mean THE 21ST CENTURY
iugs and effects in her music, films, concerts, and
public relations stunts re-9uires that ,her artifacts As discussed above, a cultural studies that is criti
be interpreted within the comext of their produc cal and multicultural provides comprehensive
tion and reception, which involves discussion approaches ro culture that ca.n be applied to a
of MTV, the music industry, concerts, market wide variety of media arcifacrs, from advertising
ing, and rhe production of images (see Kellner, and pornography co Beyonce and the Twilight
1995). Understanding Madonna's popularity also sel'.ies, &om reality TV and World of Warcraft co
requires focus on audiences, not just as individu Barbie and Avatar. Its comprehensive perspectives
als bu.t as members of specific groups-such as encompass political economy, textual analysis, and
teenage girls, who were empowered by Madonna audience research and provide critical and politi
in their struggles for individual identity, or gays, cal perspectives that enable individuals to dissect
who were also empowered by her incorporation the meanings, messages, and effects of dominant
of alternative images of sexuality within popular cultural focms. Cultural studies is thus part of a
mainstream cultural artifacts. Yet appraising the critical media pedagogy that enables individuals
politics and effects of Madonna �so requires anal to resist media manipulation and increase their
ysis of how her work might merely _reproduce a freedom and individuality. It can empower people
consumer culture that defUles identity in terms of to gain sovereignty over their culuue and struggle
images and consumption. It would make an inter for alternative cultures and poliricaJ change. Thus,
esting project to examine how former Madonna cultural studies is not just another academic fad
fans view the superstar's evolution and recent but, rather, can be part of a struggle for a better
incarnations, such as her many relationships and society and a better life.
NOT�S
1. For more information on British cultural studies, Hall (19806); Hammer and Kellner (2009);
seeAgger (1992); Durham and Kellner (2012); Johnson (1986-1987); O'Connor (1989);
During(l992, 1998);.Fiske (1986); Grossberg and Turner (1990). The Frankfurt school also
(1989); Grossberg, Nelson, and Treichler (1992); provided much material for a critical cultural
, as well as to studies approach in its works on mass culture of culture take place within a specific
lew Madonna from the 1930s through. the present; on the economic system, constituted by relations
tgers such as relation between the F rankfun: school and benveen rhc scare and economy. For instance,
British cultural studies, see Kellner (1997). in the United Scates, a capitalise economy
itial popular dictates chat culrural ptoduction is governed
2. On rhe concept of ideology, see rhc Cemre
l media spec by laws of the marker, bur cbe democratic
for Comemporary Culcural Studies (1980),
en in his own imperatives of the system mean that there
Kellner (1978, 1979), Kellner anciRyan
1r status, like is some regula.cion of culrurc by rhc scare.
(1988), and Thompson (1990).
_nated music There are often tensions within a given
ormances, in 3. This modd was adumbr:i,ted in Hall (1980a) society concerning how many activiries
ent, and his and Johnson (1986-1987), and guided much should be governed by me imperatives of the
<ing of Pop. of the early Birmingham work. Aroillld the market, or economics, alone and how much
tabloid and m id-1980s, however, the Birmingham group state regulation or intervention is desirable
:areer, media began to increasingly n.eglecr the production to ensure a wider diversity ofbroadcast
it, as he was and political economy of culture (some believe programming, for instance, or che prohibition
licized cases. char chis was always a problem with their of phenomena agreed t0 be harmful, such
ckson had a work), and the majority of their studies became as cigarette advertising or pornography (see
: works were more academic, cur offfrom political struggle. Kellner, 1990; McChesney, 2007).
:luding new I am chus-rrying to recapture the spirit of the
5. Influential cultural studies that have focused
early Bianingham project, reconstructed
on audience reception include Ang (1985,
for our comemporary moment. For a fuller
1996), Brunsdon and Morley (1978), Fiske
development of my conception of cultural
(1989a, 19896), Jenkins (1992), Lewis
studies, see Kellner (1992, 1995, 2001, 2010).
(1992), Morley (1986), and Radway (1983).
4. The termpolitical economy calls arcenrion to On "fandom," see Gray, Sandvoss, and
the face chat ch� production and distribution Harrington (2007).
that is criti
aprehensive
pplied to a
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Kellner, D. (1997). Critical theory and British ments, and genera
cultural studies: The missed articulation. In Thompson, J. (1990). Ideology and modern cul New Deal attemp1
J. McGuigan (Ed.), Cultural methodologies ture. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press and Stanford grass roots mass ac
(pp. 12-41). London: Sage. University Press. social order and r,
macy for the capi
Kellner, D. (2001). Grand 1heft 2000. Lanham, Turner, G. (1990). British cultural studies: An The social welfare
MD: Rowman & Littlefield. introduction. New York: Unwin Hyman.
Reproduced by permissi
November 1986. Not fo
to terror
1m, MD:
THE MEANING OF MEMORY
�e crisis of
Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early
voodfilm Network Television Programs
len, MA:
George Lipsitz
.be, criti
Review
THE MEANING OF MEMORY Deal" in 1935 went far beyond any measures pre
s, 32(1), viously favored by Roosevelt and most of his advi
... In the midst of extraordinary social change, sors, but radical action proved necessary for the
i politica:
television became the most important discursive Administration to contain the upsurge of activ
·ary Hol medium in American culture. As such, it was ism that characterized the decade. Even in the
Jniversity charged with special responsibilities for making private sector, industrial corporations made more
new economic and social relations credible and concessions to workers than naked power realities
legitimate to audiences haunted by ghosts from necessitated because they feared the political con
m culture the past. Urban ethnic working-class situation sequences of mass disillusionment with the system
comedies provided one means of addressing the (Berger 1982).
1r democ anxieties and contradictions emanating from the World War II ended the depression and
us times.
clash between the consumer present of the 1950s brought prosperity, but it did so on a basis even
and collective social memory about the 1930s and more collective than the New Deal of the 1930s.
1940s. Government intervention in the wartime economy
n revolu The consumer consciousness emerging from reached unprecedented levels, bringing material
if media. economic and social �hange in postwar America reward and shared purpose to a generation raised
conflicted with the lessons of historical experience on the deprivation and sacrifice of the depression.
for many middle- and working-class American In the postwar years, the largest and most disrup
ect: How
families. The Great Depression of the 1930s had tive strike wave in American history won major
emocracy.
not only damaged the economy, it also undercut improvements in the standard of living for the
the political and cultural legitimacy of American average worker, both through wage increases and
London: capitalism. Herbert Hoover had been a national through government commitments to insure full
hero in the 1920s, with his credo of "rugged indi employment, decent housing, and expanded edu
vidualism" forming the basis for a widely shared cational opportunities. Grass roots militancy and
·oblem of
cultural ideal. But the depression discredited working-class direct action wrested concessions
�s in Mass
Hoover's philosophy and made him a symbol of from a reluctant government and business elite
yesterday's blasted hopes to millions of Americans. mostly because the public at large viewed workers'
Chapel In the 1930s, cultural ideals based on mutuality demands as more legitimate than the desires of
and collectivity eclipsed the previous decade's capital (Lipsitz 1981).
"rugged individualism" and helped propel mas Yet the collective nature of working-class mass
cultural
sive union organizing drives, anti-eviction move activity in the postwar era posed severe problems
t
ments, and general strikes. President Roosevelt's for capital. In sympathy strikes and secondary
dern cu/ New Deal attempted to harness and co-opt that boycotts, workers placed the interests of their class
Stanford grass roots mass activity in an attempt to restore ahead of their own individual material aspirations.
social order and recapture credibility and legiti Strikes over safety and job control far outnum
macy for the capitalist system (Romasco 1965). bered wage strikes, revealing aspirations to con
,dies: An
The social welfare legislation of the "Second New trol the process of production that conflicted with
Reproduced by permission of the American Anthropological Association from Cultural Anthropology, Volume 1, Issue 4, pp. 355-387,
November 1986. Not for sale or further reproduction.
17
--
capitalist labor-management relations. Mass dem For Americans to accept the new world of 1950s' addition, FCC deci
onstrations demanding government employment consumerism, they had to make a break with the narrow VHF band
and housing programs indicated a collective politi past. The depression years had helped generate ship and operatior
cal response to problems previously adjudicated on fears about installment buying and excessive mate markets, and to pl
a personal level. Radical challenges to the author rialism, while the New Deal and wartime mobi new stations durin
ity of capital (like the 1946 United Auto Work lization had provoked suspicions about individual 1948 and 1952 a 1
ers' strike demand that wage increases come out acquisitiveness and upward mobility. Depression advertising-orient(
of corporate profits rather than from price hikes era and war time scai:ci.ries of consumer goods had model of radio w
passed on to consumers), demonstrated a social led workers to internalize discipline and frugal educational TV, c
responsibility and a commitment toward redis ity while nurturing networks of mutual support Allen 1983). Gov
tributing wealth, rare in the history of American through family, ethnic, and class associations. forces, establishec
labor (Lipsitz 1981:47-50). Government policies after the war encouraged an television, bur th<
Capital attempted to regain the initiative in the atomized acquisitive consumerism at odds with the American ecc
postwar years by making qualified concessions to the lessons of the past. At the same time, federal become so well a<
working-class pressures for redistribution of wealth home loan policies stimulated migrations to the ness and governrr
and power. Rather than paying wage increases our suburbs from traditional, urban ethnic working the official state e,
of corporate profits, business leaders instead worked class neighborhoods. The entry of television into Fearing both
to expand the economy through increases in gov the American home disrupted previous patterns ened militancy a1
ernment spending, foreign trade, and consumer of family life and encouraged fragmentation of rate and busines.
debt. Such expansion could meet the demands the family into separate segments of the consumer consumer spendi
of workers and consumers without undermining market.1 The priority of consumerism in the econ to be necessary
capital's dominant role in the economy. On the pre omy at large and on television may have seemed postwar era (Lii:
sumption that "a rising tide lifts all boars," business organic and unplanned, but conscious policy deci spending for the
leaders sought to connect working-class aspirations sions by officials from both private and public sec had complemen
for a better life to policies that insured a commen tors shaped the contours of the consumer economy improve the scar
surate rise in corporate profits, thereby leaving the ,and television's role within it. that the key to
distribution of wealth unaffected. Federal defense increased consu1
spending, highway construction programs, and sion of credit (Iv
home loan policies expanded the economy at home COMMERCIAL TELEVISION Here too, gover
in a manner conducive to the interests of capital, AND ECONOMIC CHANGE dally with rega
while the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan of homes and
provided models for enhanced access to foreign Government policies during and after World War II, the margin;
markets and raw materials for American corpora II shaped the basic contours of home television as jumped from 4<
tions. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 banned the an advertising medium. Government-sponsored ership deductio
class-conscious collective activities most threaten research and development during the war per loan policies fa
ing to capital (mass strikes, sympathy strikes, sec fected the technology of home television while family detachec
ondary boycotts); the leaders of labor, government, federal tax policies solidified its economic base. or constructio r
and business accepted as necessity the practice of The government allowed corporations to deduct Debt-encum be
paying wage hikes for organized workers our of the rhe cost of advertising from their taxable incomes these policies i
pockets of consumers and unorganized workers, in during the war, despite the fact that rationing and lion ne_w housi
the form of higher prices (Lipsitz 1981). defense production left business with few products ing che perce1
Commercial network television played an to market. Consequently, manufacturers kept the from below 4(
important role in this emerging economy, func names of their products before the public while 1960. Mo rtg a
tioning as a significant object of consumer pur lowering their tax obligations on high wartime debt and low d
chasers as well as an important marketing medium. profits. Their advertising expenditures supplied consumer pur
Sales of sets jumped from three million during the radio nerworks and advertising agencies with the building polic
entire decade of the 1940s to over five million a capital reserves and business infrastructure that and contribut•
year during the 1950s (TV Facts 1980:141). But enabled them to dominate the television industry biles (Harem;
television's most important economic function in the postwar era. After the war, federal antitrust of these polic
came from its role as an instrument of legitima action against the motion picture studios broke up cars averaged
tion for transformations in values initiated by the the "network" system in movies, while the FCC 1940s, but gn
new economic imperatives of postwar America. sanctioned the network system in television. In almost $30 bi
Chapter 2 • The Meaning of Memory 19
f 1950s' addition, FCC decisions to allocate stations on the For the first time in U.S. history, middle
�ith the narrow VHF band, to grant the networks owner class and working-class families could routinely
;enerate ship and operation rights over stations in prime expect to own homes or buy new cars every few
·e mate markets, and to place a freeze on the licensing of years. Between 1946 and 1965 residential mort
: mobi new stations during the important years between gage debt rose three times as fast as the gross
lividual 1948 and 1952 all combined to guarantee that national product and disposable income. Mort
>ression advertising-oriented programming based on the gage debt accounted for just under 18% of dispos
Jds had model of radio would triumph over theater TV, able income in 1946, but it grew to almost 55%
frugal educational TV, or any other form (Boddy 1985; by 1965 (Stone 1983:122).In order to insure even
mpport Allen 1983). Government decisions, not market tual payment of current debts, the economy had
iations. forces, established the dominance of commercial to generate tremendous expansion and growth,
1ged an television, but these decisions reflected a view of further stimulating the need to increase consumer
is with the American economy and its needs which had spending. Manufacturers had to find new ways
federal become so well accepted at the top levels of busi of motivating consumers to buy ever increasing
to the ness and government that it had virtually become amounts of commodities, and television provided
orking the official state economic policy. an important means of accomplishing that end.
on into Fearing both renewed depression and awak Television advertised individual products, but
,atterns ened militancy among workers, influential corpo it also provided a relentless flow of information and
tion of rate and business leaders considered increases in persuasion that placed acts of consumption at the
nsumer consumer spending-increases of 30% to 50% core of everyday life. The physical fragmentation
e econ to be necessary to perpetuate prosperity in the of suburban growth and declines in motion picture
seemed postwar era (Lipsitz 1981:46, 120-121). Defense attendance created an audience more likely to stay
:y deci spending for the Cold War and Korean Conflict at home and receive entertainment there than ever
ilic sec had complemented an aggressive trade policy to before. But television also provided a locus redefin
:onomy improve the state of the economy, bur it appeared ing American ethnic, class, and family identities
that the key to an expanding economy rested in into consumer identities. In order to accomplish
increased consumer spending fueled by an expan this task effectively, television programs had to
sion of credit (Moore and Klein 1967; Jezer 1982). address some of the psychic, moral, and political
Here too, government policies led the way, espe obstacles to consumption among the public at large.
cially with regard to stimulating credit purchases The television and advertising industries knew
of homes and automobiles. During World War that they had to overcome these obstacles. Mar
·ld War II, the marginal tax rate for most wage earners keting expert and motivational specialist Ernest
1sion as jumped from 4% to 25%, making the home own Dichter stated that "one of the basic problems of
,nsored ership deduction more desirable.Federal housing this prosperity is to give people that sanction and
a:r per- loan policies favored construction of new single justification to enjoy it and to demonstrate that the
1 while family detached suburban housing over renovation hedonistic approach to life is a moral one, not an
c base. or construction of central city multifamily units. immoral one" (Jezer 1982:127). Dichter went on
deduct Debt-encumbered home ownership in accord with to note the many barriers that inhibited consumer
1comes these policies stimulated construction of 30 mil acceptance of unrestrained hedonism, and he
ng and lion new housing units in just twenty years, bring called on advertisers "to trafn the average citizen
·oducts ing the percentage of home-owning Americans to accept growth of his country and its economy
ept the from below 40% in 1940 to more than 60% by as his growth rather than as a strange and fright�
; while 1960. Mortgage policies encouraging long term ening event" (Dichter 1960:210). One method
·artime debt and low down payments freed capital for other of encouraging that acceptance, according to
tpplied consumer purchases, while government highway Dichter, consisted of identifying new products
ith the building policies undermined mass transit systems and styles of consumption with traditional, histor
re that and contributed to increased demand for automo ically sanctioned practices and behavior. He noted
1dustry biles (Hartman 1982:165-168). Partly as a result that such an approach held particular relevance
ttitrust of these policies, consumer spending on private in addressing consumers who had only recently
oke up cars averaged $7.5 billion per year in the 1930s and acquired the means to spend freely and who might
eFCC 1940s, but grew to $22 billion per year in 1950 and harbor a lingering conservatism based on their
on. In almost $30 billion by 1955 (Mollenkopfl983:lll). previous experiences (Dichter 1960:209).. ..
"Mama's Birth
FAMILY FORMATION AND THE Chester A. Riley confronts similar choices
about family and commodities in The Life ofRiley. eared the tensions I
ECONOMY-THE TELEVISION VIEW
His wife complains that he only takes her out co sumer desire ender
Advertisers incorporated their messages into urban the neighborhood bowling alley and restaurant, The show begins
ethnic working-class comedies through indirect not co "interesting places." Riley searches for ways make Norwegian
and direct means. Tensions developed in the pro co impress her and discovers from a friend that a long ago to "catc.
grams often found indirect resolution in commer waiter at the fancy Club Morambo will let them accomplishment, I
cials. Thus Jeannie MacClennan's search for an eat first and pay later, at a dollar a week plus ten asks Mama what sl
American sweetheart in one episode of Hey Jean percent interest. "Ain't chat dishonest?" asks Riley. day. In an answer
nie set up commercials proclaiming the abilities of "No, it's usury," his friend replies. Riley does gender roles of the
Drene shampoo to keep one prepared to accept lase not borrow the money, but he impresses his wife a fine new job for
minute daces and of Crest toothpaste to produce anyway by taking the family out to dinner on marry nice young 1
an attractive smile (Hey Jeannie: "The Rock and the proceeds of a prize that he received for being children-just like
Roll Kid"). Conversations about shopping for new the one-thousandth customer in a local flower become president o
furniture in an episode of The Goldbergs directed shop. Though we eventually learn that Peg Riley Ropes 1954). In on,
viewers' attention to furnishings in the Goldberg only wanted attention, not an expensive meal, the dominant culn
home provided for the show by Macy's department the happy ending of the episode hinges totally on expectations: succe
score in exchange for a commercial acknowledg Riley's prestige, restored when he demonstrates his riage and childrea1
ment (The Goldbergs: "The In-laws"). ability to provide a luxury outing for the family dency for her son-
But the content of the shows themselves (Life ofRiley: R228). But we learn
offered even more direct emphasis on consumer The same episode of The Life ofRiley reveals needs, although "
spending. In one episode of The Goldbergs, Molly another consumerist element common to this Her sister, Jenny,
expresses disapproval of her future daughter-in subgenre. When Riley protests that he lacks the show, but Mama ,
law's plan to buy a washing machine on the install money needed to fulfill-Peg's desires, she answers she has to cook a I
ment plan. "I know Papa and me never bought that he would have plenty if he didn't spend so invited to dinner.
anything unless we had the money to pay for it," much on "needless gadgets." His shortage of cash never seems to get
she intones with logic familiar to a generation becomes a personal failing caused by incompe "it's a disgrace wh
with memories of the Great Depression. Her son, tent behavior as a consumer. Nowhere do we hear her own," and "it's
Sammy, confronts this "deviance" by saying, "Lis about the size of his paycheck, relations between can't have some tiI
ten, Ma, almost everybody in this country lives his union and his employer, or, for that matter, a valid one, and W<
above their means-and everybody enjoys it." the relationship between the value of his labor and resonated for worr
Doubtful at first, Molly eventually learns from the wages paid to him by the Stevenson Aircraft availability of hou:
her children and announces her conversion to the Company. Like Uncle David in The Goldbergs synthetic fibers an
legitimacy of installment buying by proposing who buys a statue of Hamlet shaking hands with should have decre:
that the family buy two cars so as to "live above Shakespeare and an elk's tooth with the Gettys spent in housew<
our means-the American way" (The Goldbergs: burg address carved on it-Riley's comic character home-makers sper
"The In-laws"). In a subsequent episode, Molly's stems in part from a flaw which in theory could be week (51 to 56) do
daughter, Rosalie, assumes the role of ideological attributed to the entire consumer economy: a pre in the 1920s. Adve
tutor to her mother. When planning a move out occupation with "needless gadgets." By contrast, undermined the p<
of their Bronx apartment to a new house in the Peg Riley's desire for an evening out is portrayed by upgradtng starn
suburbs, Molly ruminates about where co place her as reasonable and modest-as reparation due her and expanding de
furniture in the new home. "You don't mean we're for the inevitable tedium of housework. The solu and menus for t.
going to take all this junk with us into a brand new tion to her unhappiness, of course, comes from 1982:168). In that
house?" asks an exasperated Rosalie. With tradi an evening out rather than from a change in her been justified in h
tionalist sentiment Molly answers, "Junk? My own work circumstances. Even within the home, division of labor v
furniture's junk? My furniture that I lived with television elevates consumption over production; about the possibil:
and loved for twenty years is junk?" But in the end production is assumed co be a constant-only but network telev
she accepts Rosalie's argument-even selling off consumption can be varied. But more than enjoy and more commo
all her old furniture co help meet the down pay ment is at stake: unless Riley can provide her with like housework: A
ment on the new house, and deciding co buy new the desired night on the town, he will fail in his ter's family buy I
furniture on the installment plan (The Goldbergs: obligations as a husband (Life ofRiley: R228; The iron stove-for h
"Moving Day"). Goldbergs: "Bad Companions").... fol," she tells the
Chapter 2 • The Meaning of Memory 21
choices "Mama's Birthday," broadcast in 1954, delin the rhetoric of advertising. "You just put your
efRilry. eated the tensions between family loyalty and con dinner inside them, close 'em up, and go where
• out to sumer desire endemic to modern capitalist society. you please. When you come back your dinner is
aurant, The show begins with Mama teaching Katrin to all cooked" (Meehan and Ropes 1954). Papa pro
)r ways make Norwegian potato balls, the kind she used tests that Mama likes to cook on her woodburn
that a long ago to "catch" Papa. Unimpressed by this ing stove, but Jenny dismisses chat objection with
t them accomplishment, Katrin changes the subject and an insinuation about his motive, when she replies,
!us ten asks Mama what she wants for her upcoming birth "Well, I suppose it would cost a little more than
Riley. day. In an answer that locates Mama within the you could afford, Hansen" (Meehan and Ropes
r does gender roles of the 1950s, she replies, "Well, I think 1954).By identifying a commodity as the solution
is wife a fine new job for your Papa.You and Dagmar to to Mama's problem, Aunt Jenny unites the inner
ter on marry nice young men and have a lot of wonderful voice of Mama with the outer voice of the sponsors
being children-just like I have. And Nels, well, Nels to of television programs....
1ower become president of the United States" (Meehan and Prodded by their aunt, the Hansen chDdren go
Riley Ropes 1954).In one sentence Marna has summed up shopping and purchase the fireless cooker from a
meal, the dominant culture's version of legitimate female storekeeper who calls the product "the new Eman
lly on expectations: success at work for her husband, mar cipation Proclamation-setting housewives free
es his riage and childrearing for her daughters, the presi from their old kitchen range" (Meehan and Ropes
tmily dency for her son-and nothing for herself 1954). Our exposure to advertising hyperbole
But we learn that Marna does have some should not lead us to miss the analogy here: house
veals needs, although we do not hear it from her lips. work is compared to slavery, and the commercial
this Her sister, Jenny, asks Marna to attend a fashion product takes on the aura of Abraham Lincoln.
; the show, but Marna cannot leave the house because The shopkeeper's appeal convinces the children to
wers she has to cook a roast for a guest. whom Papa has pool their resources and buy the stove for Mama.
d so invited to dinner. Jenny comments that Mama But we soon learn that Papa plans to make a fireless
cash never seems to get out of the kitchen, adding that cooker for Mama with his tools.When Mama dis
1pe- 'lc's a disgrace when a woman can't call her soul covers Papa's intentions she persuades the children
1ear her own," and "it's a shame that a married woman to buy her another gift. Even Papa admits that his
'een can't have some time to herself" The complaint is stove will not be as efficient as the one made in a
:ter, a valid one, and we can imagine how it might have factory, but Mama nobly affirms that she will like
rnd resonated for women in the 1950s. The increased his better because he made it himself The chil
raft availability of household appliances and the use of dren use their money to buy dishes for Mama, and
r synthetic fibers and commercially proq:ssed food Katrin remembers the episode as Marna's happiest
·ith should have decreased the amount of time women birthday ever (Meehan and Ropes 1954).
ys spent in housework, but surveys showed that The stated resolution of "Mama's Birthday"
ter home-makers spent the same number of hours per favors traditional values. Mama. prefers to protect
be week (51 to 56) doing housework as they had done. Papa's feelings rather than having a better stove,
re in the 1920s.Advertising and marketing strategies and the product built by a family member has
st, undermined the potential of technological changes more value than one sold as a commodity.Yet the
ed by upgrading standards for cleanliness in the home entire development of the plot leads in the opposite
.er and expanding desires for more varied wardrobes direction. The "fireless cooker" is the star of the
u and menus for the average family (Hartmann episode, setting in motion all the other characters,
m 1982: 168).In that context, Aunt Jenny would have and it has unquestioned value even in the face of
er been justified in launching into a tirade about the Jenny's meddlesome brashness, Papa's insensi
e, division of labor within the Hansen household or tivity, and Marna's old-fashioned ideals. Buying
'
1" about the possibilities for cooperative housework, a product is unchallenged as the true means of
y but network television specializes in a less social changing the unpleasant realities or low status of
and more commodified dialogue about problems women's work in the home.
h like housework: Aunt Jenny suggests that her sis This resolution of the conflict between con
s ter's family buy her a "fireless cooker"-a cast sumer desires and family roles reflected televi
e iron stove-for her birthday. "They're wonder sion's social role as mediator between the family
ful," she tells them in language borrowed from and the economy. Surveys of set ownership showed
no pronounced stratification by class, but a clear "Youngsters today need television for their morale
correlarion berween family size and television pur as much as they need fresh air and sunshine for their
chases: households with three co five people were health " (Wolfenscein 1951). Like previous commu
mosr likely co own television secs, while chose with nications media, television sets occupied honored
only one person were lease likely to own them places in family living rooms, and helped structure
(Swanson and Jones 1951). T he television indus family time; unlike other previous communica
try recognized and promoted ics privileged place tions media, they displayed available commodities
within families in advertisements like the one in a way that transformed all their entertainment
in the New York Times in 1950 chat proclaimed, into a glorified shopping catalogue....
NOTE
1. Nielsen ratings demonstrate television's view market, see Parricia J. Bence (1985), ''.Analysis
A
the
of the fo.mily as separate m;u:ket segments to and History of Typology and Forms of
ern
be addressed independently.For an analysis Children's Network Programming From 1950
all l
of the induscry 's view of children as a special to 1980." as f
OW[
REFERENCES ther
dim
Allen, Jeanne. 1983. The Social Matrix of Televi Life of Riley. 1953. Academy of Television Arts in-d
sion: Invention in che Uni red Sraces. In Regarding Collection. R228. University of California, Los that
Televison. E. Ann Kaplan, ed. Pp. 109-119. Los Angeles.' Ho}
Angeles: Oniversiry Publications ofAmerica. ofn
Lipsitz, George. 1981. Class and Culture in Cold
Berger, Henry. 1982. Social Protest in' St. Louis. War America: A Rainbow at Midnight. New York:
Paper presented at a Committee for the Humani
ties Forum. St. Louis, Missouri. March 12.
Praegcr.
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Meehan, Elizabeth, and Bradford Ropes. 1954.
Boddy, William. 1985. The Studios Move Into Mama's Birthday. Theater Arcs Collection. Uni Om
Prime Time: Hollywood and the Television Indus versity Research Library.University of California, its i
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Bag
Dichrer, Ernest. 1960. The Strategy of Desire. Mollenkopf, John. 1983. The Contested City. had
Garden City: Doubleday. Princeton: Princeton University Press. onl}
try
Goldberg,, The. 1955. Moving Day. Academy of Moore, Geoffrey, and Phillip Klein. 1967.
Television Ar.ts Collection. 35F34I. University of Bag
The Quality of Consumer lnsrallment Credit.
nies
California, Los Angeles. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic
Via,
Research.
---. 1955. The In-laws. Academy of Televi all 1
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nia, LosAngeles. dance. New York: Oxford Uni.versity Press. radi
to f
---. 1955. Bad Companions. Academy of Stone, Michael.1983. Housing and the Economic
rati,
Television Arts Collection. F32I9. University of Crisis. In America's Housing Crisis: What Is to Be
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California, LosAngeles. Do11e?Chester Haranan, ed. Pp. 99-150. London
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and New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Hartmann, Susan. 1982. The Home Front and
Beyond. Boston: Twayne. Swanson, Charles E., and Robert L. Jones (1951). Mee
Television Ownership and Its Correlates. ]01,mal con
Hey Jeannie. 1956. The Rock and Roll Kid.Acad
ofApjJlied Psychology 35:352-357.
emy of Television Arts Collection. University of
California, Los Angeles. TVFacts. 1980. New York: Facts on File.
Jezer, Marty. 1982. The Dark Ages. Boston: South Wolfenscein, Martha. 1951. The Emergence of
End. Fun Morality. journal ofSocial Issues 7(4):15-25.
r their morale
shine for their
·ious commu
pied honored
THE ECONOMICS OF THE
ped structure
communica
MEDIA INDUSTRY
::ommodities
David P. Croteau and William D. Haynes
1tertainment
A great deal 0. f che media content we consume into the CBS Corporation and Viacom, Inc. But
), "Analysis
His produced by media companies and mosc of even in che face of such change, media ownership
che media in che United Sr.ates a.n d ocher West remains highly concentrated in the 2010s. Within
lS of
ern democracies are for-profit businesses. Like each sector of che media industry, a few l.ai:ge com
From 1950
ail businesses, they are influenced by issues such panies rower above their smaller competitors. For
as profitability, cost containment, and evolving example,
ownership panerns. To understand che media,
Movies. The global motion picture industry is
then, we mU/it have some sense of the economic
dominated by six companies-Comcast's Univer
dimension of che media industry; (For a more
sal Pictures, Viacom's Paramount Picru:res, Time
rision Arts ln-depch treacmcnc of the economic dynamics
Warner's Warner Bros., Walt Disney Srud.ios, the
1'rnia, Los that shape rhe media industry, see Croteau and
News Corporation's 20th Century Fox:, and Sony
Hoynes 2006; for a focus on the global dimension
Picrnres Encertainmem. ln2012, Sony led the way
of media, see Flew2007.)
:re in Cold with worldwide box: office revenues of $4.4 bil
'l"ewYork: lion, with less than half of its ricker sale revenue
($1.77 billion) inNorrh America. Its top film, che
CONCENTRATION OF OWNERSHIP James Bond movie Skyfall, made more than $1 bil
,es. 1954. lion_ at the global box office. Ti.me Warner was a
ion. Uni One of the clearest trends in media ownership is
close second at the global box: office, wirh $4.25
:alifornia, its increasing concentration in fewer hands. In
billion in 2012 ticket sales. The remaining four
his classic book, The New Media Monopoly, Ben
major motion picture companies each brought in
Bagdikian (2004) argued that ownership of media
ted City. more than $2 billion in global ticker sale.� in2012:
had become so concentrated that by the mid-2000s
Fox ($3.7 billion), Disney ($3.6 billion), Univer
only five global firms dominated the media indus
sal ($3.13 billion), and Paramount ($2.4 billion)
:i. 1967. try in the United States, operating like a cartel.
(McClintock 2013). ln addition, some of the lead
: Credit. Bagdikian identified the five dominant compa
ing "independent" film companies are owned by
.conomic nies as Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company,
the industry giants-Focus Features {Comcast),
Viacom, News Corporation, and Bertelsmann,
.Fox Searchlight (News Corporation), Sony Pic
all multimedia entertainment conglomerates that
ifAbun- tures Classics ( Sony/Columbia), Paramounc Van
produce and distribute newspapers, magazines,
tage (Paramount), and New Line (Time Warner).
radio, television, books, and movies. According
�onomic to Bagdikian, "This gives each of the five corpo Television. Unlike other media sectors, broadcast
Is to Be rations and their leaders more communication television has become somewhat less concentrated
London power than was exercised by any despot or dicta since the 1990s w.hen FOX joined ABC, CBS, and
torship in history" ( Bagdikian2004: 3). NBC to expand the number of major broadca�
In the years since the publication of The New nerwor�s ro four. 1n 2006 Warner Bros. and CBS
: (1951). Media Monopoly, the media landscape has changed partnered to launch a 5th broadcast network, the
Journal considerably. For example, in 2006 Viacom split CW Network, after the two partners shut down
Croceau, D. P., & Hoyncs, W. D. ,(2014). "The economics of che media industry." In M,Ji,i/socitty: Industries, image,, and auditnus
:nee of (5'" Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
;-25.
23
their separate fledgling networks WB and UPN. people (nearly half the U.S. adult population) and
While cable televisi.on has offered the most new control a 21.5 percent share of domestic magazine
programming, the major cable television chan advertising spending (Time Inc. 2013).
nels are often owned by the same companies that
Recorded Music. Only three companies are
own the broadcast networks. For example, Time
responsible for the vast majority of U.S. music
Warner (co-owner of the CW Network) owns
sales. Universal Music Group, Sony Music Enter
CNN, HBO, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network,
tainment, and Warner Music Group accounted for
truTV, Turner Classic Movies, and Cinemax. The
more than 87 percent of total U.S. music sales in
News Corporation (owner of Fox) also owns FOX
2012 (Christman 2013). (Universal purchased the C<
News, FOX Business, FX, SPEED, FUEL TV,
Fox Movie Channel, Fox Soccer Channel, and
number four music company, EMI, in late 2012, Al
but European antitrust regulations required Uni
National Geographic. Disney (owner of ABC) Cc
versal to sell some of EMI's labels. In early 2013,
owns ESPN, Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC feVI
Universal sold Parlophone-the label with rights
Family, and SOAPnet Networks; and Disney tirr
to albums by a variety of popular artists, such as
is also part-owner of several other major cable occ
Coldplay, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd-to War
channels, including A&E, Lifetime Television, the Th.
ner Music Group.) Each of the big three controls
History Channel, and the Biography Channel. mu
a number of smaller labels and local subsidiaries.
The major players in the television industry of,
are leaders in other media sectors as well. Com Radio. Clear Channel, with more than 850 radio div,
cast, owner of NBCUniversal, is the nation's stations in 2012, is the dominant player in the U.S.
largest cable television company and the nation's radio industry. Clear Channel's radio stations and con
largest Incecnet service provider, as well as one of online and mobile applications reach 237 million pur.
the major players in television production and listeners in the United States each month (Cl�r Uni
distribution. In addition, the broadcast television Channel 2013). . .. attr;
networks and the major movie studios typically The major media companies own vast pore- buy,
share owners. Four of the five broadcast networks folios of producrs, spanning the range of media fail
are owned by media conglomer:aces with major formars and delivery sysrems. fndeed, rhe media into
film studios: ABC (Disney), NBC (Universal), giants own such a dizzying array of entertairunenr (spli
Fox (Twentieth Cenrury Fox), and CW (Warner and news media rhar the scale of their operations the r
Brothers). And these major movie studios are the may surprise many readers. 13ecause most products
leading producers of prime-time programming carry a disdncr name, rather rhan the label of the
for network television, accounting for abou.t 90 corporate owner, most media users are unaware
percent of the series on the major networks (Kunz char a large number of media outlets are actu
2009). This kind of ownership structure makes it :illy owned by a single corporacion. lo the world
vcry difficult for ind-ependenr producers co consis of newspapers, for example:, chains such as Gan
tently gee their programs on broadcast television. nett and MediaNews own newspapers all over the
Book Publishing. The global Engllsh-laoguage
country.... [n 2013, Gannett owned more than
80 daily newspapers, including USA Today, the •
book marker is dominated by the "Big Five" pub
best-selling newspaper in the United Stares, along
lishers-Penguin Random House, HarperCollins
side hundreds of websites and 23 1 television stations
(owned by News Corporation), Simon & Schus
in the United States (Gannett 2013). MediaNcws
ter (owned by CBS Corporation), Hachette Book
Group, the second largest newspaper publisher
Group and Macmillan. Some analysts believe rhat
additional consolidation of the book industry is on
in the country, owns more than 60 newspapers, •
including the Denver Post, the Detroit News, and
the horizon (Pfanner and Chozick 2012).
rhe San Jose Mercury News along with 450 websites
U.S. Magazines. Time Inc. (property of Time and more than 200 specialty magazines (M,edi
Warner, which operates, among others, the pre aNews Group 2013). Ar che newspaper chains,
mium cable television network HBO, Warner each paper has a different name, and it is nor
Brothers, and CNN) towers above its competi
tors. Its 21 U.S. publications in print, online, and
always apparent co readers char a paper is part of a
national chain. Similarly, in book publishing, the
•
via mobile devices reach more than 138 million major companies have so many different imprints
Chapter 3 • The Economics of the Media Industry 25
:ion) and chat even a conscientious reader is unlikely to know Netscape (1998), the Moviefone data
rragazine the common owners of the different imprints. For base (1999), Mapquest (1999), the online
example, Bertelsmann's Penguin Random House, music store MusicNow (2005), and the
1ies are far and away the largest English language book news/entertainment site The H11jfi11gton
:. music publisher in the world, owns more than 75 pub Po,t (2011).
c Emer lishing imprints.... • The cable giant Comcast purchased a
ntedfor number of smaller cable companies over
sales in ilie years, inchtdingAT&T Broadband
Lsed the CONGLOMERATION (2001).It partnered wirll Sony to buy
e 2012, AND INTEGRATION MGM and its prnducrion studio, United
:d Uni Artists (2005), and NBCUniversal
' 2013, Concentration of media ownership means that
acquiring a controlling stake in 2011 and
l rights fewer corporations own the media. At the same
the remainder in 2013 (see Figure 3.1).
:uch as· time that concentration of ownership has been
occurring, conglomeration has been raking place. • Walt Dj�ney Company acquired(and lacer
> War
mtrols Thar is, media companies have become part of sold) Mirama.-ic Films (1983), CapCicies/
tries. much larger corporations, which own a collection ABC (1995), Marvel Enrercainmenc
of other companies that may operate in highly (2005), Pixar animation studios (2006),
tradio diverse business areas. and Lucasfilm (2012)-owner of the Star
eU.S. Much as in other industries, the largest media Wars franchise.
1s and companies are growing in size and reach as they
1illion purchase or merge with their competitors. lo the Media-in both news and entercainment
Clear Uniced Star.cs, media outlets are among the most forms--are a key segment of the American economy
attractive properties to both'potential investors and and are attractive to growing conglomerates. TI1e
port buyers.While some high-proflle mergers uJtinlately media industry produces high visibilit}'. substantial
rredia fail-including AOL-Time Warner (which split pro.firs, and a major item for ex:porr co oilier
1edia into two companies in 2009) and Viacom-CBS countries.
ment (split in 2006)-tbe process of conglomeration in Concentration has affected the relationships
tions the media industry is continuous. For example, among various media organi2.adons within a sin
lucts gle conglomerate. Economic analyses have long
fthe used ilie terms horizontal integration and vertical
• Google purchased over 125 companies
.vare ;ntcgra.tion to describe two types of ownership con
ctu between 2001 and 2013, including
YouTube (2006), on.line advertising centration in any indusrry. lo rlle meclia industry,
orld vertical integration refers to the process by which
company Doubledick (2007), the \
�an one owner acquires all aspeccs of production and
the Zagat restaurant guide (2011), and GPS
navigation firm Waze (2013). distribution of a single rype of media produce. For
nan example, a movie company mighr integrate verti
the • Yahoo bought about 80 companies, cally by acquiring talent agencies ro acquire scriprs
ng including Internet radio site Broadcast. and sign actors, p.roducrion studios to crca.re fllms,
)ns com (1999), job search engine HotJobs. manufacturing planes to produce DVDs, and
:ws com (2002), and the blogging site Tumblr various venues to show the movies, such as theater
b.er (2013). chains, premium cable channels, broadcast televi
:rs, sion nerworks, and Internet-based streaming ser
• In addition to dozens of newspapers, the
nd vices. The company could then better concrol the
tes News Corporation bought 20th Century
Fox (1984), ilie Metromedia group of entire process of creating, producing, marketing,
ii- and dimiburing movies. Simi.larly, a book pub
1s, television srations (1986), MySpace
(2005) (later sold), and Dow Jones, owner lishermight integrate vertically by acquicing paper
ot mills, printing facilities, book binderies, trucking
·a of The Wall StreetJournal (2007).
fu:ms, and Internet booksellers....
1e • AOL bcJLLght early onlinc service provider Horizontal integration refers co the process
ts Compuscrv (1997), clie web browser by which one company buys different kinds of
FIGURE3.1 ■ Anatomy of a Media Conglomerate: Comcast Corporate Holdings FIGURE3.2 ■

Cable Television • Largest video provider In the United States, through Comcast
Cable-more than 22 million subs,cribers
MUSIC
Internet Service • Largest residential Internet service provider In the United
[
States-19.4 million customers
Musician
Phone Service • 4th largest phone company in the United States-10 million customers
Broadcast Television •
•
NBC television network
Telemundo, Spanish language network
[ Talent agen
•
•
10 NBC-owned local television stations
15 Telemundo-owned local television stations
[ Music lab
Sound reco
Cable Television Networks • USA Network manufactL
• Syfy
• E!
• CNBC Internet digitc:
distributior
• MSNBC
• Bravo
• Golf Channel
• Oxygen
• NBC Sports Network MUSI
• Style
Musici,
• MLB Network (joint venture with Major League Baseball)
• NHL Network (joint venture with National Hockey League)
Talent ag
• 10 regional sports networks
• 3 regional news networks
Music I
FIim • Universal Pictures
• Focus Features
Sound recor
Internet Sites • Hulu (online video) manufac
• Fandango (movie ticket sales)

• Daily Candy (fashion and restaurant news)
• Televlslon Without Pity (TV fan site) Internet di!;
distributi
Theme Parks • Universal Studios Florida
• Universal Studios Hollywood
Note: Shaded, bold-!
Sports and Entertainment • Philadelphia Flyers, NHL hockey team
• New Era Tickets ticketing company media, concenn
• Wells Fargo Center sports arena ing rypes of m,
through one inc
Source: Comcast Corporate website. media cong lome
mag azines, tele,
record labels, an
another's operat
•
FIGURE 3.2 ■ Vertical and Horizontal Integration in the Media Industry
Example of Vertical Integration:
MUSIC BOOKS FILM
[ Musicians
I l Authors
I I Actors
I I ·1 I
11ers
[ Talent agencies Literary agencies Talent agencies
[ Music labels
I I Publishers
I I Film studios
Sound recording Film and DVD

Paper mills and printers
manufacturers manufacturers
Internet digital music Internet

Movie theaters
distribution sites booksellers
Example of Horizontal Integration:
MUSIC BOOKS FILM
Musicians
I I Authors
I I Actors
Talent agencies
I I Literary agencies
I I Talent agencies
Music labels
I I Publishers
I I Film studios
Film, videocassette, and

Sound recording (CD)
Paper mills and printers DVD
manufacturers
manufacturers
Internet digital music Internet

Movie theaters
distribution sites booksellers
Note: Shaded, bold-faced companies are owned by the same corporation.
media, concentrating ownership across differ Warner Bros. released the 2001 film Harry Potter
ing types of media rather than up and down and the Sorcerer's Stone, its then-parent company
through one industry. In horizontal integration, AOL Time Warner pursued an elaborate mul
media conglomerates assemble large portfolios of timedia strategy to cash in on the Harry Potter
magazines, television stations, book publishers, franchise. AOL's online services provided links to
record labels, and so on ro mutually support one various Harry Potter web pages, including sites
another's operations. In a classic example, when for purchasing the Harry Potter merchandise that
AOL sold. The company's movie information The cultural consequences are more ambigu can use thei1
site, Moviefone, promoted and sold tickets to the ous. However, an institutional approach suggests consumers d
film, while company magazines Time, People, and that such ownership patterns are likely to affect
Entertainment Weekly featured prominent Harry the types of media products created. In particu
Potter stories. In addition, AOL Time Warner lar, integrated media conglomerates seeking the Thelmpa1
used its cable systems and cable networks for mas benefits of "synergy" are likely to favor products What has cl
sive promotion of the film, and the company chat can best be _exploited by other components of over the pa
owned Warner Music Group released the Harry the conglomerate. (Synergy refers to the dynamic television, 1
Potter soundtrack.More recent blockbusters such where components of a company work together receive? In c
as The Avengers (Disney 2012), The Dark Knight to produce benefits that would be impossible glomeration
Rises (Warner Bros. 2012), and Avatar (Fox 2009) for a single, separately operated unit of the com est warning
have employed similar strategies, taking advan pany.) For example, horizontal integration may have come f
tage of new promotional channels, such as biogs, well encourage the publication of books that can because sor
smartphone apps, and social networking sites. be made into movies and discourage the publica sheltered f1
In another example, Disney turned its sports tion of those that cannot. Or it might encourage ing. For ex
cable franchise ESPN into a multimedia cross the creation of TV talent search programs because respectable
promotional vehicle, developing ESPN .com, ESPN they can generate new musical acts who are con stood to re1
Classic, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, tractually obligated to record for the company's mitment t�
ESPNU, the ESPN Radio Network, ESPN: The music label, featured in the company's magazines, networks.·
Magazine, an ESPN news service, ESPN3 (a played on the company's radio stations, and show stantial pr:•
broadband service), and ESPN Mobile, all work cased on their websites. More generally, promotion takeover o
ing together to promote Disney's growing list of and marketing are likely to dominate the decision conglomer
ESPN products. Such cross-media promotion making process within a horizontally integrated Ken A
can be a very powerful strategy. One experimen media industry. a vivid pie
tal study found that a coorclinaced television and Vertical integration becomes especially sig that time,
print ad campaign for a television program was' far nificant when the company that makes the prod the major
more effective than single-media campaigns; cross uct also controls its distribution. For example, a sions. For
media campaigns "resulted in higher attention corporation that owns a mail-order book-of-the example, t
from audiences, improved memory, greater per month club is likely to prominently feature its Electric le
ceived message credibility ... and higher viewing own publications, limiting competitors' access to role of telc
intep.t compared to using repetitive single-source a lucrative segment of the book-buying market. Or the newcc
promotions" (Tang, Newton, and Wang 2007: a company with a movie studio can highlight its Auletta te
132).This kind of opportunity for cross-promotion own films on its movie cable channel. the newo·
is one of the driving forces behind the growth of The possibilities for fully using horizontal
horizontally integrated media companies. and vertical integration are startling. In this era emph
of integrated media conglomerates, media compa witho
nies are capable of pursuing elaborate cross-media Sales,
CONSEQUENCE S OF strategies, in which company-owned media prod mana
CONGLOMERATION ucts can be packaged, sold, and promoted across execu
the full range of media platforms. Feature films, ment
AND INTEGRATION
their accompanying soundtracks and DVD/Blu cials,
W hile the trends in media ownership may be of ray Disc releases, spin-off television programs, from
interest in themselves, our prime concern is with and books, along with magazine cover stories how:
the relationship between ownership and the media and plenty of licensed merchandise, can all be
product. What are the consequences of integration, produced and distributed by different divisions Gen<
conglomeration, and concentration of ownership? of the same conglomerate-with each piece serv specified
ing to promote the broader franchise. One conse Willard
quence of integration, then, is an increase in media the pro{
Integration and Self-Promotion
cross-promotion and, perhaps, a decrease in media presiden
The economic factors propelling both vertical and products that are not suitable for cross-promotion. the perk
horizontal integration are clear: Owners perceive It also makes it more difficult for smaller media lightbull
such arrangements as both efficient and profitable. firms to compete with the major corporations who to pleas<
re ambigu- can use their vast and diverse holdings to saturate Since that time, the network news programs
1ch suggests consumers during their promotional campaigns. have faced stiff competition from the 24-hour
:�y to affect cable news channels, yet they are expected to turn
In particu a profit by attracting audiences that owners expect
seeking the The Impact of Conglomeration
and advertisers demand. One result has been an
or products What has the growth of large multimedia firms increased emphasis on entertainment and celeb
nponents of over the past few decades meant for the news, rities on the network news-what former CBS
he dynamic television, radio, films, music, and books we news anchor Dan Rather called "the Hollywood
rk together receive? In other words, to what extent does con ization of the news" due to the growth of "stupid
impossible glomeration alfcct the media product? The loud celebrity stories" (Brill's Content 1998: 117). The
if the com est warnings about the impact of conglomeration changes that were seen as a threat to serious broad
ration may have come from within the news industry, in part cast news in the 1980s and '90s are now the norm
ks that can because some news media had traditionally been in the industry, with the broadcast networks now
he publica sheltered from the full pressure of profit mak routinely incorporating entertainment, celebri
encourage ing. For example, for much of television history, ties, human interest, and other light fare into their
ms because respectable television news divisions were under broadcasts....
10 are con stood to represent a necessary public service com Conglomeration has affected print jour
company's mitment that lent prestig� to the major broadcast nalism as well. Some critics have long argued
magazines, networks. They were not ;xpected to turn a sub that corporate takeovers of print media put the
and show stantial profit. However, that changed with the emphasis on attracting and entertaining consum
promotion takeover of news operations by major corporate ers rather than on informing citizens (Squires
e decision conglomerates during the 1980s. 1993). In this context, newspapers become
integrated Ken Auletta's Three Blind Mice (1991) paints increasingly colorful, focus attention on the lives
a vivid picture of the clash that ensued during of celebrities, and print sensationalistic stories
:cially sig- that time, when new corporate owners took over about dramatic and bizarre happenings. One
the prod the major television networks and their news divi example is NewsCorp's head Rupert Murdoch
:xample, a sions. For those who worked at NBC News, for now best-known as the owner of FOX-who
ok-of-the example, the purchase of the network by General launched his career by buying up newspapers in
feature its Electric led to conflicts about the meaning and Australia and England and converting them into
access to role of television news. In most of these conflicts, down-market tabloids that specialized in sex,
1arket.Or the new corporate owners ultimately prevailed.As scandal, and celebrities.This was epitomized by
�hlight its Auletta tells it, when General Electric took over as his purchase of Britain's The Sun, which became
the new owners of NBC, they notorious-and popular-for its scandalous cov
10rizontal erage, even adopting a "Page Three" feature
n this era emphasized a "boundaryless" company, one a daily photo of a topless or nude model (Braid
ia compa- without walls between News, Entertainment, 2004). The 2011 phone-hacking scandal in Eng
1ss-media Sales, and other divisions....At NBC's annual land, which led to the shutdown of Murdoch's
dia prod management retreat in 1990, many of the 160 British tabloid News of the World, showed how
:ed across executives questioned why Sales or Entertain far profit-focused news organizations can go in
ire films, ment couldn't have more input into news spe search of a story. Hundreds, and perhaps thou
1VD/Blu-
cials, or why News tended to keep its distance sands, of phones were hacked by reporters at the
1rograms,
from the rest of the company, as if it were some newspaper, who sought titillating information
:r stories how special.(p. 564) about crime victims, their families, and celebri
mall be ties.In the report on the scandal commissioned
divisions General Electric chair Jack Welch even by the British government, Lord Justice Leveson
ece serv- specified that Today Show weather reporter concluded that "there has been a recklessness
1e conse Willard Scott should mention GE lightbulbs on in prioritising sensational stories, almost irre
in media the program. According to former NBC news spective of the harm that the stories may cause
in media president Lawrence Grossman, "It was one of and the rights of those who would be affected
imotion. the perks of owning a network. ... You get your (perhaps in a way that can never be remedied),
:r media lightbulbs mentioned on the air.... People want all the while heedless of the public interest" (The
ons who to please the owners" (Husseini 1994: 13) . Leveson Inquiry 2012: 10) ....
Media Control and Political Power ofltalian television programming (The Economist In some cas
2001). Thar's because Italian prime ministers have hav dire ct conu
e
Can concentrated media ownership be trans the eight ro replace the boards of directors of the are able to exert
lated into undue political influence? Most people three public television channels, known as RAI, ideas chat enha1
recognize the importance of such a question in and thus can influence RAI's editorial choices. media magnate
examining the government's contrnl of media in In subsequent election campaigns, Berlusconi not has used a variet}
totalitarian nations. It is dear in such situations only had his own private television networks as a holdings to adv:
that state ownership and exclusive access arc likely polirical resource, but he also influenced the pub goals. In 1975, r
to affect media products. In the United States, lic channels. slant che news so
most discussion about the flirsr Amendment Berlusconi's domination of television was so rive choice for pr
and free speech also focuses on the possibility of great char, afrer the 2001 election and again in journalists went
government censorship. This discussion is gener 2004, the European Federation of Journalists papers played a c
ally blind, however, to the impact of corporate called for new regulations limiting media owner British conserva1
ownership. ship. In 2004, both the European Parliament and Murdoch financ
In addressing this concern, Bagdikian (2004) the Council of Europe condemned the open con up of che high-p
has argued that the United Stares has a "private flict of inceresr berwcen Bedusconi's role as prime The Weekly Stan
ministry of informationt metaphorically referring minister and char of media magn;ue. The corrosive Cor poration ini
to the type of government-led propaganda system effect of chis arrangement on Italian democracy Fox News Chan
thar exisrs in cocalirar:ian societies. Io the case of was so serious char Freedom House, an indepen former executive
the contemporary United States, however, private dent watchdog group that produces annual rank lican Party polit
interests, not the government, largdy control chis ings of freedom and democracy around rhe world, many have arg1
information system. Bagdikian suggests chat when downgraded Italian freedom of the press &om servative agend,
a small number of firms with similar interests "free" co "partially free" (Freedom House 2004). McDermott 2(
dominate the media industry, it begins co function After Berlusconi launched a series of accacks and Corporation bo1
in a way similar to a state informacion sysrem. Ir • lawsuits agai.n t the press, Reporters Without Bor over as owner of
is hard co question the undedyi.ng argumenr char ders (2009) declared that Berlusconi "is on che most influential
those who own large media conglomerates have verge of being added to our list of Predators of Press papers in che cot
at lease the pocenti;u co wield a great de:i..l of politi Freedom," which would be a first for a European More recent
cal power. country (Ginsborg 2005; Hine 2001). Berlusconl billionaire brotr
How mighc ownership of media rranslare into resigned as prime minister in 2011 in the midst of Par ty movemen
political power? It is possible char chose build a sex scandal. In 2013, however, he was once again ing to the const
ing media empires could use their media outlets a prominent figure in national politics, and he lost sought to pure!
to promote a very specific political agenda. Fur a close election for a fourth term as prime minister. owner of severa
thermore, when media bacons become candidates Though rh.e media environment is quite dif.. ing the Los Ange,
for major office, their media holdings can be ferenc largely because of the vast size of the U.S. News of the Ko
invaluable political resources. Perhaps the stark media industry, private media ownership can papers sparked c
est example of this in a Western _democracy is rhe be a huge political asser in the United Stares too. chat the Ko chs
case of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, who managed Media enrrepreneur Michael Bloomberg amassed potentia1 politic
to use ownership of private media co gain pub a fortune selling technology and media produces Koch brothers l
lic office-which then enabled him co influence to businesses. He drew on the widespread recogni the company.
public media. tion of his brand-name line of Bloomberg business H owever,
Silvio Berlusconi, a media magnate and the media products--and the enormous profits they news outlets, re
dominant force in Italian broadcasting and pub have generated for him-in his successful cam or evenhandedr
lishing, was elected prime minister three times paign to become New York City mayor in 2001. Journalists ofte1
(1994, 2001, and 2008). For Berlusconi, own In the process, he spent $69 million of his own sort of fourth e
ership of television and radio clearly had great money-more d1an $92 pe.r voce. Bloomberg won cive, legislative,
political value; he owned strategic assets that wete reelection in 2005 then successfully had the term government. Tb
unavailable to other political actors. In the 2001 limit law changed so he could run again (and win politicians (Lou
electoral campaign, he was given four rimes the again) i.n 2009. There has long been speculation with perhaps ti
exposure of his rival candidate on che television that Bloomberg, one of the 10 wealthiesc people major news mt
networks that he owns. After winning chat elec in rhe United Scares as of 2012 (Forbes 2012), will and blatantly P
tion, he went on to effectively control 90 percent one day launch a presidential bid. Instead, viewer!
ne Economist
In some cases, owners of media companies approach on cable programs that focus on analy
tinisters have sis and commentary or on the growing number of
have direct control over media products and thus
ectors of the
are able to exert political influence by promoting ideologically driven websites and biogs.
•wn as RAI,
ideas that enhance their interests. Conservative The process of using media to promote a polit
rial choices. media magnate Rupert Murdoch, for example, ical agenda is more complex than simply feeding
rlusconi not
has used a variety of his News Corporation's media people ideas and images chat they passively accept.
:tworks as a Owners can use media sites to disseminate a spe
holdings to advance his political and economic
ed the pub- goals. In 1975, he had his Australian newspapers cific position on a controversial issue or to help
slant the news so blatantly in favor of his conserva legitimize particular institutions or behaviors. Just
:ion was so tive choice for prime minister that Murdoch's own as important, owners can systematically exclude
d again in certain ideas from their media products. While
journalists went on strike in protest. His British
Journalists papers played a crucial role in the 1979 election of control of information or images can never be
dia owner British conservative Margaret Thatcher. In 1995, total, owners can tilt the scales in particular direc
ament and Murdoch financed the multimillion-dollar start tions quite dramatically.
open con
up of the high-profile conservative U.S. magazine Ownership by major corporations of vast
e as prime The Weekly Standard. In 1996, Murdoch's News portfolios of media gives us reason to believe
:corrosive Corporation initiated a 24-hour news channel, that a whole range of ideas and images-those
emocracy Fox News Channel (headed by Rush Limbaugh's that question fundamental social arrangements,
indepen former executive producer and long-time Repub under which the media owners are doing quite
ual rank lican Party political consultant, Roger Ailes), that well-will be visible primarily in low-profile
he world, many have argued promotes a consistent con media. This does not mean that all media images
ess from servative agenda (Ackerman 2001; Aday 2010; and information are uniform. It means that some
:e 2004). McDermott 2010). When Murdoch's News ideas will be widely available, while others will
acks and Corporation bought Dow Jones in 2007, it took be largely absent. For example, stories critical of
out Boe- over as owner of The Wall Streetjournal, one of the gridlock in the federal government are frequent;
; on the most influential-and editorially conservative in contrast, stories critical of capitalism as an eco
:of Press papers in the country. nomic system that can facilitate inequality are
1ropean More recendy, Charles and David Koch, the very rare. There is no way of proving the connec
rlusconi billionaire brothers who helped support the Tea tion, but the media's focus on the shortcomings of
nidst of Party movement and who provide major fund the government, rather than of the private sector,
:e again ing to the conservative movement more broadly, seems consistent with the interests of the corpo
he lost sought to purchase the Tribune Company, the rate media owners.
inister. owner of several prominent newspapers, includ This process is most obvious in products that
ire dif ing the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. directly address contemporary social and political
:e U.S. News of the Koch brothers' interest in the news events, but it also happens in entertainment prod
p can papers sparked concern among journalists worried ucts. Consider, for example, the depiction of gays
!s too. that the Kochs were primarily interested in the and lesbians on prime-time television. For most
1assed potential political value of the newspapers. The of U.S. television history, there were virtually no
,ducts Koch brothers later dropped their efforts to buy gay or lesbian characters. As gay rights advocates
:ogni the company. made advances in the 1980s and 1990s, gay and
siness However, some media outlets, especially lesbian characters began appearing, though infre
they news outlets, rely on a perception of objectivity quently and in often superficial depictions. Also,
cam- or evenhandedness to maintain their legitimacy. gay characters faced constraints that heterosexual
WOI. JournaJists often see themselves as members of a characters did not; for example, they typically did
own sort of fourth estate, complementing the execu not kiss, even as popular television continued to
won tive, legislative, and administrative branches of become more explicit in depictions of heterosexual
!Im
government. Their job is to act as watchdogs over sex. It was not until 2004 that the first television
Win politicians (Louw 2010; Schultz 1998). As a result, drama series to revolve around a group of les
tion with -perhaps the exception of Fox News, most bian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered characters
:>pie major news media outlets will not consistently appeared; The L Word ran from 2004 to 2009 on
will and blatantly promote a single political agenda. the premium cable channel Showtime. There is
Instead, viewers are more likely to find such an no conspiracy here. More likely, a small number
of profit-making firms chat rely on mass audiences truth." The 2003 U.S.-led invasion oflraq was jus
Auletta, Ken.
and major advertisers simply avoided potential tified by the alleged presence of weapons of mass
Networks Lost
controversies that might threaten their bottom destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The news media
line. As network executives and major advertisers reported these WMD charges uncritically, relying Bagdikian, B
began to define such images as more acceptable to on official sources and without in-depth investi Boston: Bea c
mainstream audiences, lesbian and gay characters gation, effectively affirming the Bush administra Braid, Ma q
have become more commonplace and more diverse tion's rationale for war. According to one study of Naked Trutl:
in recent years (GLAAD 2012).... U.S. news media coverage in the first three weeks Retrieved fr
The political impact of concentrated corpo of the Iraq war, pro-war U. S.sources outnumbered news/magazi
rate ownership, however, is both broader and sub antiwar sources by 25 to 1, thus making it very dif
tler than the exclusion of certain ideas in favor of ficult for citizens to access critical perspectives on Christman, I
others. Herbert Schiller (1989) argues that "the the war (Rendall and Broughel 2003). ket Top Doi
corporate voice " has been generalized so success One possible political consequence of the con Retrieved f
fully that most of us do not even think of it as a centration of media ownership is that, in some industry/reco
specifically corporate voice.That is, the corporate ways, it becomes more difficult for alternative top-dog-in-H
1• view has become "our" view, the "American" view, media voices to emerge. Because mass media out Clear Cham
even though the interests of the corporate enti lets in all sectors of the media industry are large www.cleard:
ties that own mass media are far from universal. mass-production and mass-distribution firms,
One example of this is the entire media-generated ownership is restricted to those who can acquire Croteau, Da
discourse-in newspapers, television, radio, and substantial financial resources. In the age of mul Business ofA
timillion-dollar media enterprises, freedom of the lntereSt. 2nd
magazines-about the American economy, in
Sage.
which corporate success provides the framework press may be left to those few who can afford to
for virtually all evaluations of national economic own what has become a very expensive press. TheEconomi
well-being. Quarterly profits, mergers and acqui The Internet offers the possibility for small from http:
sitions, productivity, and fluctuations in the producers to create professional-looking alterna story_id=59:
financial markets are so widely discussed that tive media-from websites and blogs to mobile
Flew, Terry.
their relationship to the corporate voice is dif apps and streaming video. However, without a
New York: I
ficult to discern. The relationship between cor means to effectively promote such sites, and with
porate financial health and citizen well-being, out the budget to pay for staff to continuously Freedom H,
however, is rarely discussed explicitly-even in produce substantive new content that continues A Global Si.
times of serious financial crisis. During the eco to draw users, most online alternative media are MD:Rowrr
nomic crises of 2008-2009, the U.S.news media limited to relatively small niche audiences. Televi
Forbes. 20
were remarkably unquestioning of the message sion and the major daily newspapers-along with
People in 1'
from both government and the private sector that the online content associated with these major
.forbes.com
a massive and immediate bailout of banks, Wall media-are still the main sources of news for most
Street firms, and other corporate interests was of the population. Gannett. :
absolutely essential. In the end, ownership of the means of infor http:// w w,
A concentrated media sphere can also under mation becomes part of larger patterns of inequal template=ci
mine citizens' capacity to monitor their govern ity in contemporary societies, and large media
Ginsborg ,
ment's war-making powers. McChesney (2008: conglomerates can use their capacity to shape
sion, Power
98) argues that "those in power, those who benefit media discourse and their substantial financial
from war and empire, see the press as arguably the resources to influence public policy. In this sense, GLA AD.:
most important front of war, because it is there mass media institutions are no different from other 2013 Seas1
that consent is manufactured, and dissent is mar social institutions; they are linked to the patterned .org/public
ginalized.For a press system, a war is its moment of inequality that exists throughout our society....
Hine, Dav
and the Cc
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Culture, Practices, and Ethics ofthe Press: Executive .php

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ACUL1lJRAL

etc.) to pry open

:ed around their

.al property only

FIGURE3.1 ■ Anatomy of a Media Conglomerate: Comcast Corporate Holdings FIGURE3.2 ■

• Fandango (movie ticket sales)

FIGURE 3.2 ■ Vertical and Horizontal Integration in the Media Industry

Example of Vertical Integration:

MUSIC BOOKS FILM

[ Talent agencies Literary agencies Talent agencies

Sound recording Film and DVD

Internet digital music Internet

Example of Horizontal Integration:

MUSIC BOOKS FILM

Film, videocassette, and

Internet digital music Internet

Note: Shaded, bold-faced companies are owned by the same corporation.

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