CMST 1A03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Raymond Williams, Market Power, Meritocracy

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Communication Studies
• Course: CMST 1A03
• Professor: Dilyana Mincheva

Document Summary

Lecture 10 political economy of the media. All forms of mass communication require resources: time, money, labour, materials. There are five groups served by the media: owners, audiences, advertisers, workers and the government (added in the textbook) All these groups are multilayered formations that need special attention. All of the groups participate in different ways in media economy. Profit, public service and social purpose inform the owners of the field. Are active in the ways they choose, receive and draw meaning from media. Digital media accelerates audience participation: youtube, blogs, etc. Promote the goods and services that they want to sell. Access to media audiences is what advertisers buy when they advertise advertising is a driver of capitalism: Capitalist economies require increasing consumer spending: advertising acts as a catalyst for this spending. Advertising creates demand for products and services which allow companies to expand revenue. The medias principle commodity is the audience, which is sold to advertisers.