COMM 2360 1st Edition Lecture 4Outline of Last Lecture I. The Frankfurt School a. Political Economy b. Domination of the Media c. Alienation and the Culture Industry Outline of Current Lecture II. Critique of the Culture Industry III. Mapping the Culture Industry IV. Trends in Telecom V. Implications Current LectureCould read Adorno- Culture Industry Review: Frankfurt- critique of culture industry o analysis: factory metaphor, political economyo function: advertising (programming is extension)  the center and reason for existence of commercial culture in general  programming should be understood as an extension of advertising - ex. flowo ad are what supports content- but the content is an extension of that ad- mutually reinforce one another o ex. learning jazz guitar- gets ads for guitar related items lead purchaseso ex. Men’s mag stories- support advertising- be constantly generating anxiety that you’re not big/strong enough o ex. women’s mag- anxiety not pretty enough/have bad breath/not pleasing mano self-criticism is inherent to advertising system  purpose: control and domination- steering of large pop towards certain kinds of behavior-consumerism These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. qualities; alienation, lack of authenticity, questionable messages- alienation- divided from something- feeling (unsatisfied/unconnected when consuming commercial art) o prevailing message- consumption is the highest expression of yourself  ownership, consolidation, monopoly - critique of political econ asks who owns what and does that make a differenceo how many owners?o is there a competition?  does it matter if monopoly on media institutions that control what goes on in your brain?Mapping the Culture Industry - Robert McChesney- writes about basic econ of who owns what - consolidation o number of crop that control a majority of US media  papers, mags, tv, radio, stations, books, music, movies, vid, wire service, photo agencies)- 1980s- all of ^ consolidated into a few companies - then number dropped- in 90s- a world in which 5-6 huge media monopolies controlled everything o Ben Badician? Authoro large company gobble up smaller companies  big six from 2000- looks like It does today - 1. Vivendi - 2. newscorp o Rupert Murdock owns thiso fox news o radio channels - 3. AOL/Time Warnero consolidated from get go- o CNN o Ted Turner - 4. Disney/ABC- 5. Bertelsmann - 6. Viacomo mtv, vh1, upper division cable channelso *if there are only 6 why don’t we know who they are? 2003 - Viacom- Disney- aol/Tv- newscorp- clear channel o radio company o owns about 40% of market in the US o owns every major radio talk show host that you can nameo dereg in 1990s- ate up mom and pop companies  djs disappeared from radio- recorded dj- stopped talking about what’s going on in town o ONE CONGLOMERATE- AOL/TimeWarner  mag - time - Mad mag tv- wb- at&t internet- Amazon - AOL IM  movies music books theme parks  sports- Braves  other- entire spectrum of holdings- and this isn’t unique to them o GE  the biggest company on the planet - not just a media company- they make light bulbs/radio- holdings in industrial sectors, telecom, manu - makes industrial aircraft, hotels, insurance, nuclear weapons/energy  interesting case study - do you think msnbc would do an expose on something that could hurt their partner (nuclear power) - high profile cases of this nature- every story has to go through a series of filters- is it harmonized with GE or not (if not filtered off the screen)  different news channels- mouthpiece for GE- 20/20- expose on Disneyland- Disney employees complaining o can’t take mask off- can’t destroy illusion and take off costume o Macy’s day parade- character on top of float- waving, passed out- they won’t take mask off and ruin parade  character initiated class action law suit  couldn’t air show- parent company said no  obvious filtering mechanism that has to do with interest of companies 2012 - the bigger than company the stronger the filter- who has come out winners from big media monoplogy o Disney corp o TW o Viacom o NBC universal o News Corpo Yahoo o Microsoft o Google - diverse holdings compacted into 6 or 8 - 30 Rock- commented on fact that Comcast bought TW o can’t say certain things The big ones - newcorpo might buy timewarner (then also may have Viacom) - Ge/nbc/msnbco buys vivendi in 2006- aol/two newscorp looking to buy - Disney/abc/capital cities - cbs corp/Viacomo time-warner looking to buy viacom- clearchannel o most dramatic example of consolidationo make it seem as though you have a diversity of options - google o 40% of internet traffic is google related Anti-trust laws- ex. Rockefeller- government breaks up large monopoly - similar laws in broadcast o how much can own o how much cross ownership - people get around laws with middle man/ expanding into diverse segments trends in music ownership - big labels crashing and burning in last few years - Vivendi bought by GE/NBC/MSNBC in 2006 - Sony buys BMG in 2008- AOL/TimeWarner looking to buy BMI - last decade, 6 to three major music players - rise of Apple and Spotify as distribution networks o at first- broad spectrum- self-publishing of music o then consolidated quickly now only 2-3 places to purchase music - Pandora plays less to musicians than major labels- Death Cab for Cutie- getting majorly ripped off- Apple- made music proprietary- iTunes Store with iPod what happened to the internet? - internet seems diffused - could internet consolidate? o yes o newscorp buys myspace in 2005 o google buys youtube in 2006 o GE/NBC owns Hulu o FB still owns player bought Instagram - online video- who owns what o google o fox interactive (newcorp) o Hulu o Yahoo o Microsoft o Viacom o etc. - Wired mag ran an article “the death of the internet” o interesting take on how internet has changed over time (1990-2010)  early on- internet featured websites now the internet isn’t websites- it’s been taken over by peer to peer, apps(displaced websites) - press an app that’s more than likely associated with large media company - eyeballs have been consolidated into apps - same with websites-