Week 6- political economy

This week was focused on the political economy of the media industry, centring on commodification, spatialisation and structuration. The key reading is written by Des Freedman who is a university professor with years of experience of research in the media industries. This is evident as he outlines the rise in digital media causing a decrease in revenue for media organisations and that there is a lack of competition due to the structure of the media industry.

The specialist reading outlines the negative aspects brought to the journalism industry through the digital age. It’s developed my understanding of the ways in which the digital age has strained journalists to be integrated in cross-media, consequently from an increase of workload. This convergence has resulted in the threat to journalism shifting from PRisation. The authors continuously reinforce the idea that the Internet is the most significant factor for the restructuring of the industry. It has created competition through a free market system. This links to Karl Marx’s idea that news has no “natural right to exist if it cannot pay its way in a capitalist economy” (Freedman., D 2010: 35). This means that the recline in print journalism has occurred as it cannot afford to coexist and compete with the internet.

Contrastingly, my found reading primarily focuses on the free market of media has resulted in there being an upper advantage for larger companies, in terms of domination and revenue. This has made me think about media organisations differently as I now understand that large companies such as Murdock’s, are at a greater advantage of receiving more revenue. This is due to Smythe making me reconsider an organisation’s aim. They produce audiences rather than products. This is so that they can attract specific audiences that advertisers want, resulting in more people buying the products being advertised by this company. This is because an organisation balances “revenue indirectly from advertising and directly from consumers” (Long and Wall., 2012: 175). These companies will produce products that attract mass or niche audiences and will encourage the consumer to also buy their other products produced by sister organisations through association and development of their name.

I’m interested in studying the ideological content of media. I would analyse certain output from several different organisations to distinguish the different agendas behind them. This would allow me to differentiate between whether an organisation that owns certain outputs can influence customer and audience purchase behaviour.