Question

Explain how a government's political philosophy has shaped its mass communication industry. Give an example.

Answer 1

Media in the United States comprises several different types of widespread communication: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites (especially blogs). Many of these networks are controlled by large, for-profit corporations that reap revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and the sale of copyrighted material. American media conglomerates tend to be leading global players, generating substantial revenue, not to mention fierce opposition in many parts of the world. Further deregulation and convergence are under way, suggesting more mega-mergers, greater concentration of media ownership, and the emergence of multinational media conglomerates. Critics allege that localism (local news and other content at the community level), media spending and coverage of news, and diversity of ownership and represented views have suffered as a result of such processes.

To better understand media, we need to understand the political environment in which they operate. This becomes obvious when we consider the drastic differences between media in a democratic society and those in totalitarian nations. State control of the mass media is a routine element of totalitarian systems. Here the structural constraint of the state largely dominates the potential agency of the media. In extreme cases, state-owned news agencies, broadcast media, and film studios act as propaganda arms of the state, promoting a narrow set of government-sanctioned images and messages. Audiences in such nations must become adept at “reading between the lines” in decoding such propaganda efforts. The emergence of illegal underground media is also common in such situations, affirming the active agency of citizens in even the bleakest of circumstances

The case of radio “piracy” highlights several interesting features of media regulation. For one thing, when it comes to regulation, not all media are alike. The rules regulating media have historically differed among the three basic types of communication media: print media, broadcast media, and common carriers. The last category refers to communication 80 / Production: The Media Industry and the Social World \\systems whose operators must provide equal access in their service of the public, often because they have some type of protected monopoly. The mail system is a common carrier. The government, in an example of how regulation helps the media, uses the mail service to subsidize the print media through the establishment of lower mail rates for newspapers, magazines, and books.

Some government regulations, such as broadcast licenses, currently protect the financial interests of commercial media. Indeed, the media industry could not exist in its present form without active government regulation and control. That is why the media industry actively supports some regulations, namely, those that benefit the industry. But other regulations, as we will see below, are created to protect the interests of the public against the influence of the powerful media industry