1. De ning the Media Landscape
Summary
The rise of the digital media implies further challenges and changes.
It has systematically opposed responses to change.
Media life: one approach to theorizing media.
The media industry: broadcasting – print – recording industries – PR – advertising – marketing
– social media companies
Media company: A company whose primary function is to produce or distribute media content.
1. Media Ecology
The Medium is the Message
• The media is what has the real social signi cance.
• Researchers should try to learn about the cultural impact that has the medium.
• Each media technology enables a di erent extension of our communicative senses.
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,• Media as an extension of ourselves (our senses) – they expand our physical sphere of
communication (e.g. how we can talk across greater distances and at greater speed).
• We inhabit a global village – cool & informal mediums are important to enhance it.
• Allows multi-directional and decentralized electronic communication across the
world.
• Medium encourages certain patterns of communication while prevents others.
• Technological biases
• Print media – it encouraged that the reader is dictated by one-directional and intense
detail of information thus received a precise set of messages from few sources and
was not able to participate.
• It encouraged the development of society ruled by a rigid cultural hierarchy.
• Homogenizes language.
• Electronic media – TV liberates audiences from restrictions by enhancing
participatory and communicative practices.
• More spontaneous – intimate – informal (everyday talk) – incomplete
• It invites audience participation.
• Shifts away from centralized
• Postman argues how early newspapers o ered detailed & localized & relevant source of
communication.
• It encouraged a rational and serious engagement with local issues
• Promotes the development of informed & reasoned/critical discussion and political
engagement.
#A
Key characteristics of Mass Media (content)
The media Industry: broadcast, print, lm, and recording industries.
Mass media: Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines,
1. One-way (One to many): one single identical message sent to a large mass audience (e.g.
radio broadcast) – no individual fragmentation.
• One way from sender to receiver.
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, 2. Experiential goods: it is about the experience
• Value comes from how you experience it – immaterial attribute
• It comes from its originality and intellectual property & the quality of the music/stories are
told.
3. High xed (“ rst copy” costs): low marginal costs & economies of scale – involves a lot
amount of resources.
• Economies of scale:
4. Potential for (cheap) re-versioning: reselling in di erent formats/versions, recreating content
in di erent ways that leads to economies of scope. This is because so many copies can be
made. Relatively cheaper than initial cost.
• Economies of scope:
• Di erent versions of the same product
5. High risk:. High rst copy costs regardless of the number of consumers (cost so much to
make).
• High 1st copy costs.
• Consumer taste is changeable + can vary + hard to predict
Ordered by recency:
“Bomb”: a monetary connotation.
Not just in movies.. also in .newspapers, magazines, books, radio programmes, television
shows
#B
Hot vs. Cold
• A
- Hot medium (Radio – Books – Newspaper): high de nition – data sensitive – has large
amount of information conveyed – occupies all attention of individual and leaves few gaps
to be completed by audience.
• Print media – universally hot
• Thanks to the ability to mass-produce books and standardized print media, senses
became fragmented – end of oral, informal and face-to-face communication.
- Consequence: standardize dialect, language and culture
- Dictate particular ordered ways of viewing the world and homogenize
societies into organized nation states.
• Examples: Radio – audience requires intense concentration thus strongly shaping
their interpretations
- Cold medium: low in information intensity – high audience participation – leaves lot of
gaps for audience to ll in
• Electronic media – increasingly cool
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, • Examples: TV – combined visual and sound content simultaneously (sound and
low-de nition moving pictures) BUT provide less detail, allowing viewers to partially
interpret for themselves.
#C
De ning the Mass Media Market
• Dual-product market:
1. Content sold to audiences (e.g. a National Geographic)
2. Audiences sold to advertisers (in exchange to the media product).
• “Attention economy”: attention is the real product being sold/bought.
• Result: advertising goals in uence the content/strategy
• This is problematic for journalism in particular.
• Broader inherent tension: creative industries vs. commercial needs.
• Advertising has stop in uence the content to some extent as creative produce has to
be sold.
• The mass market media is changing.
#D
Change in the Mass Media Market
• Hodkinson argues about digitalization – digital technologies are the biggest force.
• He highlights 4 di erent outcomes.
1. Convergence: previously separate channels fused. (channels – content – computing) –
separate things in the media world all come together.
2. Interactivity: two-way communication replaces one-way. Engage with it at all times (e.g. )
Users also become producers as they can produce media products themselves.
3. Diversi cation: heightened users control and choice – fragmentation and expansion of the
content.
4. Mobility: media becomes the norm.
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Summary
The rise of the digital media implies further challenges and changes.
It has systematically opposed responses to change.
Media life: one approach to theorizing media.
The media industry: broadcasting – print – recording industries – PR – advertising – marketing
– social media companies
Media company: A company whose primary function is to produce or distribute media content.
1. Media Ecology
The Medium is the Message
• The media is what has the real social signi cance.
• Researchers should try to learn about the cultural impact that has the medium.
• Each media technology enables a di erent extension of our communicative senses.
fi ff fi
,• Media as an extension of ourselves (our senses) – they expand our physical sphere of
communication (e.g. how we can talk across greater distances and at greater speed).
• We inhabit a global village – cool & informal mediums are important to enhance it.
• Allows multi-directional and decentralized electronic communication across the
world.
• Medium encourages certain patterns of communication while prevents others.
• Technological biases
• Print media – it encouraged that the reader is dictated by one-directional and intense
detail of information thus received a precise set of messages from few sources and
was not able to participate.
• It encouraged the development of society ruled by a rigid cultural hierarchy.
• Homogenizes language.
• Electronic media – TV liberates audiences from restrictions by enhancing
participatory and communicative practices.
• More spontaneous – intimate – informal (everyday talk) – incomplete
• It invites audience participation.
• Shifts away from centralized
• Postman argues how early newspapers o ered detailed & localized & relevant source of
communication.
• It encouraged a rational and serious engagement with local issues
• Promotes the development of informed & reasoned/critical discussion and political
engagement.
#A
Key characteristics of Mass Media (content)
The media Industry: broadcast, print, lm, and recording industries.
Mass media: Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines,
1. One-way (One to many): one single identical message sent to a large mass audience (e.g.
radio broadcast) – no individual fragmentation.
• One way from sender to receiver.
fi ff
, 2. Experiential goods: it is about the experience
• Value comes from how you experience it – immaterial attribute
• It comes from its originality and intellectual property & the quality of the music/stories are
told.
3. High xed (“ rst copy” costs): low marginal costs & economies of scale – involves a lot
amount of resources.
• Economies of scale:
4. Potential for (cheap) re-versioning: reselling in di erent formats/versions, recreating content
in di erent ways that leads to economies of scope. This is because so many copies can be
made. Relatively cheaper than initial cost.
• Economies of scope:
• Di erent versions of the same product
5. High risk:. High rst copy costs regardless of the number of consumers (cost so much to
make).
• High 1st copy costs.
• Consumer taste is changeable + can vary + hard to predict
Ordered by recency:
“Bomb”: a monetary connotation.
Not just in movies.. also in .newspapers, magazines, books, radio programmes, television
shows
#B
Hot vs. Cold
• A
- Hot medium (Radio – Books – Newspaper): high de nition – data sensitive – has large
amount of information conveyed – occupies all attention of individual and leaves few gaps
to be completed by audience.
• Print media – universally hot
• Thanks to the ability to mass-produce books and standardized print media, senses
became fragmented – end of oral, informal and face-to-face communication.
- Consequence: standardize dialect, language and culture
- Dictate particular ordered ways of viewing the world and homogenize
societies into organized nation states.
• Examples: Radio – audience requires intense concentration thus strongly shaping
their interpretations
- Cold medium: low in information intensity – high audience participation – leaves lot of
gaps for audience to ll in
• Electronic media – increasingly cool
ff ff fi fi fi fi ff fi
, • Examples: TV – combined visual and sound content simultaneously (sound and
low-de nition moving pictures) BUT provide less detail, allowing viewers to partially
interpret for themselves.
#C
De ning the Mass Media Market
• Dual-product market:
1. Content sold to audiences (e.g. a National Geographic)
2. Audiences sold to advertisers (in exchange to the media product).
• “Attention economy”: attention is the real product being sold/bought.
• Result: advertising goals in uence the content/strategy
• This is problematic for journalism in particular.
• Broader inherent tension: creative industries vs. commercial needs.
• Advertising has stop in uence the content to some extent as creative produce has to
be sold.
• The mass market media is changing.
#D
Change in the Mass Media Market
• Hodkinson argues about digitalization – digital technologies are the biggest force.
• He highlights 4 di erent outcomes.
1. Convergence: previously separate channels fused. (channels – content – computing) –
separate things in the media world all come together.
2. Interactivity: two-way communication replaces one-way. Engage with it at all times (e.g. )
Users also become producers as they can produce media products themselves.
3. Diversi cation: heightened users control and choice – fragmentation and expansion of the
content.
4. Mobility: media becomes the norm.
fi fifi
ff fl fl
