1. Political Economy An approach to reading media A Guide

2. An introduction It is not obvious, in the field of media, culture and communication, why political economic approach is valid. Nevertheless, the value of a political economy perspective becomes apparent when dealing with media-related controversies. In 2007, two events caught the attention of mainstream and cyberspace media.

3. Case study - CBB Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 4, 2007) resulted in allegations of racist bullying. A barrage of complaints by viewers, were to OfCom. This led to the withdrawal of sponsorship of the programme (Carphone Warehouse). ‘Premium’ rate voting phone lines were called into question. This prompted questions by politicians, policymakers and industry players about whether a public service broadcaster like Channel 4 should be involved in such programming.

4. Case study – CBB continued… Endemol UK, who made the programme, were ‘hand-rubbing’ and ‘high-fiving’ at this point. The international publicity created by the controversy, helped launch the ‘brand’ into new overseas markets, such as India. From which the racist slant originated…

5. Case study – Virgin vs. News Corps. At the same time, a more localised debate in the media about a public disagreement between Virgin Media (incorporating NTL cable company) and BskyB (news Corporation) over the latter’s investment in ITV. Richard Branson saw this as a ‘threat to democracy’, as News Corporation already had a significant share of the British newspaper market.

6. Political Economy If we are interested in understanding and explaining why media/s are attracted to these situations. Then political economic theorists would argue that we need to go beyond the audience as either the consumer or the citizen …and go beyond the study of texts in question… …and beyond the production of those texts. Therefore, our enquiry would need to consider wider political and economic context, as the events mentioned reflect four major events over national and international levels.

7. The four events First, both events remind us about mergers and takeovers of media companies which have led to the creation of large corporate conglomerations. Secondly, these events serve as a reminder that some of these organisations (for example, news Corporation) have expanded their operations throughout the world, hence the term transnational conglomerate.

8. The four events continued… Thirdly, the above events reflect a gradual shift in society that has led to the ‘market’, rather than a ‘public service’, as the preferred way of delivering goods and services – including an increasing array of ‘cultural’ products. This, in turn, has resulted in regulation or re- regulation, or deregulation processes by governmental reduction of the rules. Fourthly, the above events vividly illustrate how digitisation and interactivity have helped to transform when, how, where and why we access and consume ‘cultural’ products. Technical convergence = a single regulatory body (OfCom) – replacing sector specific regulators.

9. Four key approaches Firstly, a requirement to study media holistically. Economy is not seen a separate domain, but is interrelated with social, cultural and political life (Golding and Murdock 2000). Secondly, a requirement for a historical perspective in needed. This will note changes over a period of time in, for example, the growth of media, the extended reach of media corporations, the increased commodification of social and cultural life, evidenced by the ongoing costs of hardware and software required to participate in an ‘information society’, and the changing role of the state.

10. Four key approaches continued … The third involves concerns of ‘the balance between capitalist enterprise and public intervention’ (p.72) illustrated by the privatisation of previously publicly owned and operated services, and more importantly the restriction of growth of public service broadcasters such as the BBC. Finally, the fourth involves a commitment to moral philosophy, requiring attention to concerns about ‘justice, equality and the public good’ (p.73).

11. Justice, equality and the public good This fourth point is about ethics and values that differentiates political economy from mainstream economics (Hesmondhalgh 2002: 30-1). Further distinctions can be made between critical and classical political economy. Critical political economy deals with power, how it is constituted and executed, which has a Marxian perspective. Classical political economy deals with exchange, consumer choice and freedom (assuming that these notions exist – see postmodernism).

12. The reading Bagdikian identified that there were limited companies dominating the American media. The suggestion posited was that they had the power to set agendas, and thereby, dictate what Americans should be thinking about. Bear in mind on reading, that critical political economy, ‘places too much emphasis on production at the expense of consumption processes and proffering an erroneous image of the viewer, reader and listener as a passive dupe’ (Williams 2003: 95).

13. The reading continued… The reading is taken from an edited volume, by John Downing, Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi and Ali Mohammadi, who are all respected academics. Each of them have written a chapter in their specialism. Other chapters span a diverse range of topics, hence the title, Questioning the media: a critical introduction. The excerpt is taken from ‘Media, Power and Control’. Highlighting to key concerns ‘power’ and ‘control’. The title is ‘media in the U.S. political economy’

14. The reading continued… The author Edward Herman co-wrote the iconic work – Manufacturing Consent: the political economy of the mass media, with Noam Chomsky. This implies that mass media are propagandarist. The reading deals with these perspectives, one of them being the ‘propaganda model’.