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雩兮 2017-04-03

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8 PART 1 | MEDIA AND THE INFORMATION AGE

CHANGING INDUSTRIES A convergence trend continues to propel the transformation of conventional media to new digital forms (see Figure 1.1, page 5), although the forces behind this trend are shifting. In the 1990s, conventional media fi rms tried to dominate new media. Cable television and publishing giant Time-Warner merged with America Online, then the largest Internet provider. News Corporation, owner of the Fox Network, bought MySpace.com. Rival old-media conglomerates Disney Corporation, National Amusements (owner of Viacom cable networks and CBS Television), and NBC Universal (a subsidiary of General Electric) likewise positioned themselves to make, distribute, and exhibit content across the Internet as well as by print, radio, recorded music, television, and fi lm. However, few of these combinations proved successful and media conglomerates came undone. AOL Time Warner went back to calling itself Time Warner and later separated its cable systems from its media operations and spun off AOL. New media companies seized the initiative from the old. Apple made itself into the most powerful player in the recorded music industry with iTunes, rocked the telephone industry with the iPhone, and is shaking up print media with the iPad. Google emerged as the largest advertising medium, and TiVo’s digital video recorders sent tremors through the TV industry. Following an economic crisis that began in 2007, debt-laden media deals failed as loans came due and fi nancing dried up. Advertising revenues and media stocks slumped followed by a collapse in demand for consumer products. No industry was hit harder than newspapers. The number of two- newspaper cities dwindled and other daily papers cut back on the number of days they made home deliveries or became exclusively online publications. Charter Communications, the fourth-largest cable company in the United States, fi led for bankruptcy, as did the second-largest radio ownership group, Citadel Broadcasting. Billionaire Sumner Redstone, owner of CBS Television and Viacom, was forced to sell video game maker Midway Games at a huge loss to help bail himself out of debt. Cable television giant Comcast Cablevision snapped up NBC Universal as revenues from its fl agship NBC television network plummeted. Changing industries also mean challenging careers for those entering media professions. (see Your Media Career: Room at the Bottom, Room at the Top, p. 9).

CHANGING LIFESTYLES When new media enter our lives, media consumption patterns evolve. Fourfi fths of Internet users now watch video online in a month, averaging about 10

FUTURE TV Many consumers are moving to Digital TV because it promises wider and better pictures, improved sound, more channels, and interactivity.

Justin Pumfrey/Taxi/Getty Images

Convergence is the integration of mass media, computers, and telecommunications.

CHAPTER 1 | THE CHANGING MEDIA 9

ROOM AT THE BOTTOM, ROOM AT THE TOP YOUR MEDIA CAREER

The rewards of top-echelon media careers are well publicized: multimillion-dollar salaries, hobnobbing with the rich and famous, globe-hopping lifestyles. Only a few make it to the level of a Diane Sawyer, a Steven Spielberg, a Bob Woodward, or a Howard Stern from among the tens of thousands who enter the media industry each year from courses like the one you are taking now. Still, fulﬁ lling professional success can be attained in less visible media occupations, either behind the scenes of global productions or in local markets, where the rewards may come from creative self-expression or from the satisfying feeling of “making a difference.” The challenges of media careers are many. It is often said that media industries “eat their young.” Some young college graduates never move beyond internships, often unpaid ones, or entry-level “go-for” positions. Making the jump to steady professional employment sometimes depends on

things we do not learn in college, such as h aving family connections or being born with basic creative talent. Those who progress beyond the entry level may leave after “burning out” on the workload or ﬁ nding that competitive pressure from yet newer waves of eager college graduates keeps both entry- and mid-level salaries relatively low. Yet, the media want you. Some media industries, notably music, television, advertising, and ﬁ lm, feed on the creative energies of young professionals who give them insights into young consumers. That means positions are continually opening up at all levels and talented and well-connected graduates can rise rapidly through the ranks. However, it is also possible to be “washed up” at age 30. Convergence makes media-related careers highly volatile. Whenever you read about a media merger or a new form of digital media production or distribution it means that dozens, if not hundreds, of existing media jobs may

hours of viewing monthly (comScore, 2009). Three-fourths of Internet users visited the Internet for political purposes during the 2008 elections (Pew Research Center, 2009). Top video games like “Call of Duty” make as much money as top movies like Iron Man 2. A lifestyle change among the college-age population makes media executives take notice: young adults are no longer easily reached by conventional mass media. They spend so much time juggling their iPods, cell phones, and video games (often simultaneously) and participating in online communities such as Facebook that there is l ittle time or interest left for newspapers or television. That’s why the old media run websites to sustain interest in Survivor, create “buzz” for new movies, or add live discussion forums to printed stories. It’s also why media and advertisers look for new ways to recapture the young adult audience, such as making TV shows available online and inserting ads into video games. CHANGING CAREERS Online news sources are part of the reason newsrooms are emptying out or being sold out in distressed sales. AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek

10 PART 1 | MEDIA AND THE INFORMATION AGE

New media introduce us to alternative ways to live, as millions of people now work, shop, seek health information, and pursue their hobbies online (Pew Research Center, 2006a). Others forge new identities (Turkle, 1995), develop new cultures (Lévy, 2001), and fi nd information to make personal decisions o nline. However, the new media may also displace close human relationships with superficial ones online (McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & B rashears, 2006), lower the quality of public discourse by substituting Internet rumors for professional journalism, or drag popular culture to new lows. SHIFTING REGULATIONS With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress stripped away regulations that protected publishing, broadcasting, cable and satellite television, telephone, and other media companies from competing with one another. Lawmakers had hoped to spark competition, improve service, and lower prices in

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is federal legislation that deregulated the communications media.

MEDIA EFFECT Mass killings like those at Fort Hood, Texas raise concerns about the effects of the Internet. In this case, the killer contacted radical groups online.

AP Images/Sipa

disappear. In the short term, the challenge will be starting a media career. The Great Recession of 2007–2009 made entry into mass-media fields more difficult than usual (Vlad et al., 2009). Most people entering the workforce today will have four or ﬁ ve different careers regardless of the ﬁ eld they enter and that is also true of media careers. When we say “different careers,” we don’t mean working your way up through a progression of related jobs inside an industry, say, from the mailroom at NBC Television to vice president for Network Programming at CBS. For many of our readers it will mean starting out in a media industry but retraining to enter health care, education, or computer careers where employment is expected to grow the fastest over the next decade. To assess your options you can visit the Occupational Outlook Handbook (https://www.bls. gov/OCO/), an authoritative source of information about the training and education needed, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions for a wide variety of media occupations. Or, keep reading. In each chapter you will ﬁ nd features about media careers in related ﬁ elds.

While in college prepare yourself for the c hallenging career road ahead by diversifying your skills. Multimedia computer skills are not only in demand in media industries, but also will help you leap into other careers if necessary. The abilities to write a coherent paragraph and to p roduce professional photos, videos, audio, and web pages are in demand across the information economy. Multimedia creators also have entrepreneurial opportunities o utside of the walls of the conventional media institutions, from bloggers to web page designers to YouTube “producers.” To take advantage of those opportunities, or to prepare for the day that you might meet the limits of your c reative talent, learn as much as you can about all facets of the media. Those include the economic, legal, marketing, and management aspects. Mix in challenging science and liberal arts courses to further diversify your options. P erfecting your production skills might help you land your ﬁ rst media job but too narrow of a focus might relegate you to low-paying, unsteady freelance production work that does not require a college education. Don’t waste yours!

CHAPTER 1 | THE CHANGING MEDIA 11

all communications media. Unfortunately, the flurry of corporate mergers, buyouts, and bankruptcies has outpaced consumer benefi ts. Another information-age legislation, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, has perhaps had a more immediate impact on media consumers. This legislation broadened the copyright protection enjoyed by writers, performers, songwriters, and the giant media corporations that own the rights to such valued properties as Bugs Bunny. However, other legislation weakens the rights of students and professors to reproduce copyrighted printed works for non-commercial, educational use. It also cracks down on students and other individuals who “share” music and videos online. Vital consumer interests are also at stake in the battle over net neutrality. The outcome will determine whether Internet providers will remain neutral in handling information on the Internet or whether they will win the right to favor certain types of information over others. With that right would come the ability to prioritize content created by their corporate partners and to charge their competitors extra, charges that would be passed on to consumers. RISING SOCIAL ISSUES The media themselves have long been social issues. Television is often singled out for the sheer amount of time that impressionable youngsters spend watching it. Children ages 2–5 average 32 hours a week in front of the television screen (McDonough, 2009), including the time they spend watching programs recorded on digital video recorders and DVDs. Television has been criticized for its impacts on sexual promiscuity, racial and ethnic stereotypes, sexism, economic exploitation, mindless consumption, childhood obesity, smoking, drinking, and political apathy. The impact of television on violence is an enduring concern of parents and policy makers alike. By the time the average child fi nishes elementary school, he or she has seen 8,000 murders on TV. By high school graduation, that number will have escalated to 40,000 murders and 200,000 other acts of violence (TV-Free, n.d.), and that does not include fi lm or video games or any of the “beat downs” they may see on YouTube. New media are fast replacing television as the number one concern about media effects. The interactive nature of new media may make them more potent than conventional forms. Some researchers believe that video games have much greater effects on violent behavior than old media and are nearly as powerful inducements to violence as participation in street gangs (Anderson et al., 2006). New media have also made it possible for children to turn into producers of problematic content, including videos of middle school beat downs posted on YouTube and exchanges of self-posed child pornography exchanged as cell phone text messages. Internet critics also worry that although many use the Internet to engage in positive social interaction and to seek out diverse political viewpoints, it may prompt others to live isolated lives in front of the computer screen or to affi liate with terror groups online. Finally, does the spread of the Internet c reate

Net neutrality means users are not discriminated against based on the amount or nature of the data they transfer on the Internet.

STOP&REVIEW 1. List four examples of the convergence phenomenon. 2. What is meant by the term information society? 3. What are three conventional mass media? 4. What is the difference between analog and digital? 5. Name areas in which communication regulations are shifting.

12 PART 1 | MEDIA AND THE INFORMATION AGE

a digital divide that creates a new underclass of citizens who do not enjoy equal access to the latest technology and the growing array of public services available online (See Media and Culture, A New Balance of Power?, above)? CHANGING MEDIA THROUGHOUT HISTORY Although the changes in the media, and the changes in society that accompany them, may sometimes appear to be radically new and different, the media and society have always adapted to one another. In this section we examine how the role of the media has evolved as society developed—and vice versa—from the dawn of human civilization (see Figure 1.3, page 13) through agricultural, industrial, and information societies (Bell, 1973; Dizard, 1997; Sloan, 2005).

The digital divide is the gap in Internet usage between rich and poor, Anglos and minorities.

MEDIA&CULTURE

Just how powerful are the media? Do they affect the very underpinnings of the social order, such as who holds power in society and how they keep it? The new media can put us all at the mercy of “digital robber barons” like Steve Jobs of Apple who rule them to enrich themselves at our expense. Their dominance reduces the diversity of content and raises the cost of information. For example, Apple maintains control over the applications (“apps” for short) that are allowed on its iPhone. Innovative apps developed by entrepreneurs that might save consumers money on music and phone costs, but that would diminish the profits from Apple’s iTunes or from the cell phone business operated by their partner AT&T, are not allowed. Meanwhile, old media interests like Disney and Time Warner sue peer-to-peer ﬁ le sharing services on the Internet like LimeWire to protect their property rights. We might well ask, Is the information society just a new way for the rich to get richer? Or, do the new media consign the poor to continuing poverty? The digital divide describes the gap in Internet access between whites and minorities, rich and poor (NTIA, 2002). As the Internet grows into an important source of employment, education, and p olitical participation, that digital divide could

translate into widening class division and social upheaval. Equal opportunity in the information economy already lags for both minorities and women, who are underrepresented in both the most visible (that is, on-camera) and most powerful (that is, senior executive) positions in the media. And although the gap in Internet access for women has closed, women are still excluded from a male-dominated computer culture, which denies them access to the most powerful and rewarding careers in the information society (AAUW, 2000). The issue is global. The nations of the world are divided between those with access to advanced communication technology and those without it. Or, could the new media be a catalyst for a shift away from traditional ruling classes? An alliance of social movements against the excesses of global corporations orchestrates demonstrations via the Internet. Blogs raise issues that are ignored by the mainstream press. The diverse and lively communities of the Internet may contribute to the fragmentation of culture and power—for many, identity is deﬁ ned as much by the Internet communities in which we participate as by the countries we live in or the color of our skin, characteristics that are invisible on the Internet.

A NEW BALANCE OF POWER?

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