Media Essay

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The media is a significant industrial sector in its own right and it is also part  of the infrastructure of the global economy. Its dual function as a site of important  business  transactions  and  as a market  creator has increased materially since World War II in conjunction with the emergence of computer technology, particularly the internet,  and the return  of globalization. Determining the boundaries of the global media industry  and  assessing its role  in the  international economy  remain  problematic.  Media  is a relatively porous  term  that  encompasses  the  means  of mass communication, which  include  the  internet,  newspapers, radio, and television. It is difficult to monitor accurately the global trade of media content and products or to measure their impact on the economy.

The word  media,  like other  metonymies,  elides important distinctions  by aggregating disparate mediums  under  a single name. It remains  a useful term because the variety of communication and content  that falls within its wide remit share certain characteristics.  These features are best observed in relation to technology and trade. The tripartite  relationship,  or nexus, of media, technology, and trade is not linear, but circular. New technology influences the media and the media may influence the structure of technology. Trade affects the media and the media may affect trade. Likewise, the media may act as a catalyst in the interaction  between technology and trade.

Media  And Telecommunications

The   development   of   communication  technology often gives rise to new media. The advent  of telegraphy during  the 19th century  enabled the creation of news agencies, such as the Associated Press and Reuters, which permitted the rapid collection and distribution  of news. An abundance  of news matter, in conjunction  with the availability of cheaper newsprint and improved printing presses, was a necessary precondition for the rapid increase of daily newspaper  publication  during  the  1870s. Improved  access to information  facilitated publication of evening newspapers.  The issuing of newspapers  in the early afternoon  and  subsequent  editions  throughout the evening had hitherto  been curtailed  because morning newspapers containing the latest news circulated to suburban areas via train, forestalling publication of papers later in the day.

Subsequent   advancements    in   telecommunications had similar effects. Radio gave rise to broadcasting and television to video. Satellites permitted companies such as CNN to provide round-the-clock televised news. This new medium  operated  on the same  principle  as telegraphy; namely, information collected was transmitted and then distributed  to a variety of users before being translated  into a secondary  medium,  such  as  stereos,  television  sets, etc., and relayed to the  wider public. The internet has altered this order of operations  by removing the intervening  step  between  transmission  and  reception. Users may now directly access and contribute to the creation of information.

This development  has led to the creation  of “new media” and altered  the  structure  and course  of the industry.  New  media  include  platforms  and  tools for information  gathering  (internet  search engines), production and editing (audio, publishing, and Web development),  digital storage and retrieval, distribution  (digital subscriber  lines [DSL]), access, design, and  display (GPS, voice recognition  software, etc.). Changes in technology have generated potential economies  of scale and scope that  have led to concentration and conglomeration.  The press barons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—Beaverbrook, Hearst, Northcliffe, Pulitzer—controlled  horizontally integrated  businesses, such as films and magazines, and  vertically  integrated   concerns,  such  as  paper mills and publishing houses. These companies  were behind  a series of mergers,  particularly  during  the interwar period, which led to industry concentration, especially in newspaper  publishing.  The economies permitted  by the confluence  of new and old media technologies, often referred  to as synergy, have enabled the  rise of global media  conglomerates  on an unprecedented scale.

These companies,  among which AOL Time Warner,  Bertelsmann  AG, News  Corporation,   Viacom, and  Walt  Disney are  the  largest,  may  strategically employ one company product,  such as television, to promote  another,  such as newspapers.  By virtue  of their ownership  positions in a multitude  of different sectors, these leviathans control a large percentage of media production and output. Scholars and critics of the mass media have perceived in the development of these conglomerates a threat to the public sphere, the civic utility of the press, and the marketplace of ideas. Conversely, others have seen in their emergence  the rise of professionalism, improvement in content, and greater access to information. The internet  has materially reduced  the costs of production and thus  the number  of content  providers has increased dramatically. Entrenched  media interests  are attempting  to influence the structure  of the internet  and to control access to information  in the face of competition  from such independent organizations.

Established media concerns have historically attempted to shape, if not control,  the development of telecommunications. The way in which these technologies  are  structured has  depended  upon  policy decisions  that  are  subject  to  influence.  In England during  the  19th  century,  publishers  in  the  provinces and in London attempted to prevent legislative changes to the Stamp Taxes, which placed an onerous levy on newspaper publication, to prevent the establishment of competitors.  In 1870, British newspapers successfully influenced  telegram  tariffs  charged  to the press by the General Post Office after telegraph nationalization. In the United States, newspaper publishers affected congressional debates about the ownership  of telegraphy. In both  countries,  newspapers attempted to block and then to control  the development of broadcasting. These conflicts, which were in part generated  by the development  of new technology, consistently turn on questions concerning access to information.

Contested   conceptions   of  intellectual   property and  the  juridical  solutions  devised to secure  copyright  and ownership  of information  may advantage particular  media  interests  and  shape  the  structure of the industry. For example, in 1918, the Associated Press gained a quasi-property right in news through the United  States Supreme  Court  that  enabled it to restrict  the distribution  and use of its news reports. More recently, media companies have filed copyright suits to prevent the sharing of music, images, and texts via the internet.  Solutions to such problems have led to the creation  of new platforms for the distribution of media, such as Apple’s iTunes and iPod, which take advantage of copyright restrictions  by vertically integrating music-purchasing and listening platforms. These questions  of access to  information  thus  also hinge on trade and telecommunications regulation.

Media  And Globalization

Trade  generates  information  and  is generated  by it. Reuters, the news agency, was established in London in 1851 after the completion  of a telegraph cable connecting  England and France. The company  provided clients in England with commercial information  from continental  European bourses and vice versa. Scholars have shown how similar services contributed to price convergence, the development  of arbitration,  and the facilitation of trade. Flows in the direction and volume of information  change according to patterns  of trade. During the 19th century, Reuters’ profit streams from foreign clients  closely followed the  ebb and  flow of British foreign direct  investment.  This example  also illustrates how the regulation of technology may affect the relationship between trade and media.

The development  of an international network  of telegraph cables during the 19th century contributed to the advancement  of global trade by facilitating the rapid distribution  of information  around  the world. These cables, although typically constructed and owned  by private  companies,  were  closely aligned with national and political interests. Cables often snapped  and failed to function.  To encourage  companies  to undertake  the  relatively risky business  of laying  submarine   telegraph   cables,   governments often provided subsidies or concessions to domestic companies.  Until  World  War  II, Britain dominated international telecommunications. Its advantage  lay in naval power and easy access via imperial possessions to the natural  resources  necessary for submarine telegraph  cable insulation.  In terms  of miles of cable owned, France, Germany, and the United States lagged significantly far behind. Much of the world’s news and commercial information passed through London, contributing to the development  of British trade and financial services.

The way in which these international cables coupled with domestic  telegraph  lines determined how information  traveled  from  country  to country.  Different regulatory  environments,  such as the nationalization of domestic  telegraph  lines, as in much  of Europe, or private ownership, as in the United States, determined whether or not information  passed from one  carrier  to another  or moved seamlessly across national boundaries. European countries formed an International  Telegraph  Union  in  1865 to  develop standards,  tariffs, and  regulations  pertaining  to the transmission   of  information   and  to  facilitate  easy communication among their respective government controlled telegraph and telephone networks. The United  States  for many  years abstained  from  such organizations in part because it refused to restrict the movement  of the private American  companies  that controlled domestic telecommunications.

In  this  environment the  development  of  global media  roughly adhered  to the  boundaries  of imperial interest.  Reuters, the news agency of the British Empire,  was at  the  head  of an  international cartel consisting of numerous other national news agencies, among  which the  most  prominent were Havas, the French  agency; Wolff, the German  agency; and the Associated Press, the U.S. agency. These organizations divided the international news market  among them and exchanged their respective news reports,  which raised barriers  to entry against potential  competing news organizations by controlling trade in and access to  information.  Although  such  practices  restricted the distribution  of information, exchange among cartel members generated a larger news report  for each agency’s clientele than would have been possible had they operated  independently.  International syndication of news content  and foreign ownership of media outlets was rare at this time.

Changes in patterns  of trade  during  the interwar period, particularly  following the Great Depression, contributed to realignment in the international movement  of information  and the structure  of the global media  industry.  The advent  of international broadcasting during the 1920s also contributed to this process. Radio undermined the British advantage in international telegraphy. American, French, and German  concerns  actively competed  in territories  that had been the sole preserve of British firms. American news organizations, such as the United Press and the Associated Press, quickly infiltrated areas of informal empire, such as Japan, which Reuters had dominated. These developments  contributed to a rearrangement of the  news agency cartel  according  to which each agency obtained  rights  to enter,  but  not  to actively compete  with, the  national  territory  of the  others. After World War II, Reuters redirected  its news services away from Britain’s colonies and dominions and toward Europe and North America.

The  development  of computer,   fiber-optic,  and satellite technology contributed to the rise of media conglomerates  and  to  the  deregulation,  privatization, and liberalization of international telecommunications.  In the  1960s, these  changes  precipitated the final dissolution of the international cartel of news agencies and gave rise to new competition from emergent global media companies. Changes to the regulatory  regime during  the 1970s and 1980s, which coincided  with shifts in domestic  industrial policy, most notably in Britain and the United States, facilitated a significant expansion of the global media industry  and enabled corporations to enter  foreign markets. Foreign ownership of news and media outlets upset nationalistic conceptions  of the fourth estate,  but  the  number  of global media  products has  not  significantly increased.  Global integration has tended  to take place in the financing of media products  rather  than in the content  of the products themselves.  There has, however, been a significant increase  in the international export  of commercial information  services since the collapse of the international monetary system since the 1970s.

Critics have noticed in these developments the perpetuation of traditional  colonial power relationships and have bemoaned an imbalance in the transmission of information  and media products  between the   developed   and   developing  worlds.  Concerns about cultural imperialism have rallied activists who perceive in globalization and the standardization of media content  the seeds of hegemony and homogeneity. Concerns about the corporate  pursuit of profit trumping public interest have motivated the development of alternative media projects and organizations empowered by the internet that aim to provide a voice to underrepresented parties. Conversely, proponents of deregulation  and privatization  of telecommunications  argue  that  a competitive  regulatory  environment predicated on free trade is not only the best way in which to surmount market imperfections, but that government  intervention in the free flow of information and cultural artifacts is circumspect  and threatens to infringe upon freedom of expression.

Conclusion

The media, because of its importance  to international trade as well as the dissemination  of financially and culturally  valuable information,  is a contested  and, therefore,  visible industry.  Everyone has an opinion on the news and where it derives. Changes in telecommunications and trade affect the media industry and the shared characteristics  of the different means of communication that  it comprises. These changes in turn  have a profound  effect on the way in which people receive information  about the world in which they  live. The tripartite  relationship  among  media, telecommunications, and trade is cyclical and so too is the relationship among the media and the public.

Commercial  media outlets operate in a dual market. They sell content  to viewers, readers, and other participants.  The attention of these consumers  is in turn sold to advertisers. Since the rise of mass circulation  newspapers  during  the  1870s, media  outlets have depended  less and  less for their  profits  upon circulation  and more upon advertising. Media companies have been thus  propelled  to devise methods for attracting  either a large or a lucrative audience. A general effect of this development  has been a reduction in the cost of media products.  It has also meant that media companies must alter their means of attracting  audiences  in accordance  with technological shifts affecting the way in which the public prefers to imbibe information.

Although radio and television have diminished newspaper sales in the past, there has hitherto  been no written alternative to the press. The internet  has challenged the newspaper by luring away its readers, and, in so doing, depleting  its sources  of advertising. Companies believe they can reach a larger pool of potential  consumers  more directly via advertisements  placed on frequently  visited Web sites. This development  has led to a proliferation  of internet based platforms that combine the provision of information  with  advertising.  A prime  example  of this phenomenon is Google, the internet  search engine, which directs  users to advertising  Web sites based on the items for which they are searching. This sort of interactive  ad placement  has improved  the  efficacy of advertising and provided internet companies with the capital necessary to amass vast quantities of information  that  is then  made accessible to people throughout the  world. In light of this  competitive threat  to traditional  media, pundits  now speculate about  the demise of the newspaper  and the disappearance of the printed word.

Bibliography:

  1. Jeremy Burke, “Primetime Spin: Media Bias and Belief Confirming  Information,” Journal of Economics and Management  Strategy (v.17/3, 2008);
  2. J. Drake, “The Rise and  Decline of the  International Telecommunications  Regime,” in Regulating the Global Information Society, C. T. Marsden (Routledge, 2000);
  3. Lisa M. George, “The Internet  and the Market for Daily Newspapers,” B E Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy (v.8/1, 2008);
  4. R. Headrick, The Invisible Weapon: Telecommunications and International Politics 1851–1945 (Oxford University Press, 1991);
  5. Hills, Telecommunications and Empire (University of Illinois Press, 2007);
  6. H. Johnston, ed., Encyclopaedia of International Media  and  Communications (Academic Press, 2003);
  7. Anu Mitra, Mary Anne Raymond, and Christopher  Hopkins, “Can Consumers  Recognize Misleading Advertising Content  in a Media-Rich Online Environment?” Psychology & Marketing (v.25/7, 2008);
  8. Starr, The Creation of the Media (Basic Books, 2004);
  9. JoAnne Yates, Wanda  Orlikowski,  and  Anne  Jackson, “The  Six Key Dimensions of Understanding Media,” MIT Sloan Management Review (v.49/2, 2008).

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