http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOIrXGd51jE
Its called "Disney Templates Fail"
Whoever made this video is very observant. I recommend you check it out.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wolverine Work Print
Being a film nerd I really enjoyed seeing my first work print, and watching for all the visible ropes and incomplete special effects. The missing elements were not even that distracting, which I feel proves that the trend with films today to insert as many explosions and special effects as possible is completely unnecessary. This was the first X Men film I could actually sit through from beginning to end.
This event might also hint to a change in the future of film. I know I watch a great deal of my films online these days, and the amount of downloads this film has received in a short period of time shows that films might benefit from online releases coinciding with theatrical releases. I know if I enjoy a film on my small computer screen, I would go to see in theaters. But going to the movies is so expensive these days I don't often waste my money unless I am sure I will enjoy the experience. And lets face it, there haven't been a significant amount of GREAT movies released in the last few years.... I can probably count them on one hand.
Media Audit: Disney
"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse" (Jackson, 1993). This quote brings to light just how far The Walt Disney Company has come since 1923. From producing animated shorts, to becoming one of the largest media corporations in the world, Disney exemplifies what innovation and diversification can accomplish in todays capitalist markets. Mickey Mouse paved the way for the growth of a corporate giant. This paper will examine the theoretical framework of auditing mediascapes perspective, and the specific implementation of an institutional audit to the case study of Disney to examine media concentration and implications of the market model.
The theoretical framework for this analysis, auditing mediascapes perspective, is adapted from the political economy of communication. In The Political Economy of Communication Mosco defines this concept as “examining social relations, particularly the power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution, and consumption of resources,” and a more general interest in the “processes of control and survival in social life” (Mosco, 1996). Political economy originated in the eighteenth century “partly to explain, justify and support the acceleration of capitalism. It rejected as inefficient and unproductive policies that required strong state support” (Mosco, 1996). Political economy of communication conducts historical analysis in order to study communication transformations, social totality, moral philosophy and social praxis. These four characteristics broaden the meaning of political economy to implement it through various approaches in studying communication (Mosco, 1996).
The core premise of communications transformations is that changes in conditions of human existence are intertwined with the evolution of capitalism, the dominant political rationality of our time. This includes changes within the national and global mediascapes, such as the implementation of television sets and satellite communication and how they both related to and affected social life. Social totality is the study of the social world in its entirety. Today academics is separated into compartments; those interested in social class study sociology, those interested in government study political science. What social totality calls for is a pre-disciplinary intellectual tradition which combines disciplines and breaks down borders between them in order to capture the various aspects of communication transformations. Social totality can include studies of audience, content, techniques, infrastructure, industries, policy and laws, media practices and communication education. Moral philosophy are the general guidelines of how we should act in a nation state, it is a worldview that privileges protection of democratic values. Political philosophy narrows this focus to more specific questions about how we relate to one another within political society. Finally, social praxis opens possibilities for applying academic studies of media democratization into organized structures for more humane, democratic and egalitarian mediascapes (Mosco, 1996; Ngare, 2008).
The two strategies of auditing mediascape perspective are: to hold liberal democratic governments accountable, and to invoke a participatory tenet of communicative democratic theory. A quote from Mouffe’s Democratic Politics Today brings light to the first strategy, “Indeed, once we acknowledge that what constitutes modern democracy is the assertion that all human beings are free and equal, it becomes clear that it is not possible to find more radical principles for organizing society” (Mouffe, 1992). The very premises on which liberal democratic governments function are problematic. While they value equality, they also value state neutrality, but in order for people to be “equal” in all respects some form of government redistribution would be needed. Government redistribution would then infringe on the value of individual freedom, as people should be entitled to keep the money they own. This illustrates why Mouffe finds these principles “radical” in terms of organizing society. If government is structured on these values than they should cultivate equality through institutions such as education and employment and they should ensure citizens freedom of speech and other such liberties. One example of this will be discussed with Disney and the Copyright Extension Act of 1998.
The second strategy, involves invoking participatory communicative democratic theory. A basic function of citizenship is participation. Citizens need access to information to remain informed and vote accordingly, and have the right to freedom of speech and equality to voice their concerns Liberal democratic theory legitimates society’s deliberation venues, such as courts and public hearings, while communicative democratic theory suggests alternative venues of deliberation. McChesney suggests that in our media centric society, we need a democratic press, controlled by the public, in the public interest. Media contributes to unequal class relations, the view of the upper class are represented and reinforced to a greater extent than the lower class. With media concentration, fewer voices are being heard and popular taste is becoming uniform. As McChesney states, “If your not at the table, your not part of the deal” (McChesney, 2007). A truly democratic communication system requires an outlet for the public to influence views expressed in culture so as not to be confined to the views of a handful of powerful corporations.
These strategies can be used to determine if their is a democratic deficit, a notion that many scholars suggest is the reality of current democratic societies. Democratic deficits occur when citizens do not get the information they need to make informed decisions, as well as not getting the opportunity to engage in discussions about issues (Aucoin, 2003). Hackett and Carroll discuss this situation in great detail in Beyond the Media’s Democratic Deficit? They write that media have failed to actualize democratic values such as, participation, equality, representative diversity, and civic engagement. In addition, they are becoming in themselves threats to democracy. “Media are not only failing to furnish citizens with ready access to relevant civic information . . . they are failing to help constitute a democratic public sphere” (Hackett & Carroll, 2006).
We can examine these aspects of modern society and communication by analyzing institutions through the phenomenon of spatialization to determine how such concentration, leading to power and influence in society, has emerged on a case by case basis. This essay uses Disney as the institution and tracks aspects of spatialization from the companies conception to modern day, but first a basic understanding of institutional audit is necessary for such an analysis.
The Institutional Audit has two research objectives. The first is “To account for media concentration in terms of horizontal and vertical integration” (Ngare, 2008), derived from Vincent Mosco’s concept of spatialization as discussed in his book The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking the Renewal. Spatialization was introduced by Henri Lefebvre (1979) “to denote the process of overcoming the constraints of space and time in social life.” Marx commented on the tendency of capitalism to “annihilate space with time.” This refers to the growing power of capital to improve the means of transportation and communication across the globe. This notion was later taken up by political economists such as Harold Innis (1972). Modern political economists have amended the Marxian view, and rather than annihilating space, they say capital transforms it (Mosco, 1996).
Political economy of communication uses spatialization to observe growth and concentration of corporations within the communication industry. Concentration can be examined vertically and horizontally. Vertical concentration involves one media firm purchasing another within the three stages of media business: production, distribution, and exhibition. This can occur in either direction, forward integration would involve moving further up the business process, while backward integration would expand the firm downward in the business process. Larry Collette discusses the concentration processes of Disney and Time Warner, which are among the top six media corporations in the world. He says, “Disney’s expansion occurred as “content in search of outlet,” while Time Warner was “outlets in search of content.” (Collette, 1998). Meaning that while Disney created original material they could benefit from forward integration by purchasing distribution and exhibition channels for their products. Time Warner, on the other hand, could benefit from backward integration as they had exhibition channels and no production.
Horizontal concentration occurs when one media firm buys another media firm not directly related their operations, known as cross-media ownership; or when a media firm buys a firm outside of the media industry, known as conglomeration. Within horizontal concentration is the notion of synergy, the promotion of media products in different platforms in order to generate maximum profits (Ngare, 2008). These platforms are also known as windows. Windows involve the marketing of a film or television show before, during and after its release. They are organized around different forms of exhibition and distribution, and each window would have a different release date. For example, when Disney release a film such as Finding Nemo, They may first release ancillary products as they advertise the films, these would include general merchandise like toys and clothing; then release the film in theaters; followed by a video game; a soundtrack; pay-for-view release; DVD release; and can then reuse the content on The Disney Channel, they may also create a ride in one of their amusement parks. The more holdings a company possesses the more potential windows they have for making profits adapted from a single product. Each window results in lower and lower investments, when a content reaches the company’s own television channel, there is very little cost associated with broadcasting it (Collette, 1998).
The second objective of the Institutional Audit is, “To asses implications of the market model in national and global mediascapes,” as discussed by McChesney in The Market Uber Alles (Ngare, 2008). The assumption that the competitive market is the best possible system for regulation keeps citizens from opposing media’s current structure. The notion being, it is the best possible system to give people what they want, and if they don’t like the product they won’t purchase it. Under these assumptions government should not regulate the media because any attempt to do so will interfere with the ability of market regulation.
McChesney points to the flaws in this view. If the market it is not economically competitive market regulation will not occur, as it will not be responsive to the audience preference. He describes the media market as being an monopolistic/oligopolistic market rather than a competitive one. Firms have become concentrated through vertical and horizontal integration. These company’s have so many holdings, new and small companies cannot compete. With less competition comes less diversification of media content, thus democratic notions of a free press become compromised (McChesney, 2004).
McChesney also discusses Janet Wasko’s assessment of Hollywood as a “three tier society.” The first-tier encompasses large media corporations such as; Time Warner, Viacom, News Corporation, Sony, General Electric and Disney. The second-tier are firms that dominate one or two media sectors. Third-tier media firms make up the thousands of small-scale media firms which first and second-tier firms will purchase if profitable (Ngare, 2008). An example of a second-tier firm is Pixar Animation. They were at the forefront of computer animation, but to compete in the monopolistic market they partnered with Disney to take advantage of their various media platforms and brand name. “In short, it has to give Disney a piece of the action to ensure its economic survival in the conglomerate jungle” (McChesney, 2004).
Janet Wasko discusses Disney in relation to political economy of communication in her book Understanding Disney. She says to fully understand Disney as a cultural phenomenon we must understand the corporation, how it is manufactured and marketed. She writes that economic factors set limits and exert pressures on the commodities that are produced. Disney is a business that must get citizens to consume its products to produce profit for its shareholders.
Walt Disney first created the animation company Laugh-O-Gram with fellow animator, Urb Iwerks on May 22, 1922. Within a year this company went bankrupt and Walt moved to Hollywood. With funds from his brother Roy, he founded Walt Disney studios on October 16, 1923. Disney released the first feature length animation in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. With the success of this animation Walt Disney moved his operations to a much larger facility, a $3 million dollar studio, with 20 separate buildings for different stages of the animation process. The result of this new studio was an assembly line process of animation production, a more industrial process of manufacturing (Jackson, 1993).
In addition to releasing the first feature length animation, Disney was at the forefront of technological advancements in animation, advancements that would eventually be adopted as norm. Steamboat Willie (1928) was the first animation to implement synchronized sound. Disney studios created the process of a story boarding, Disney developed the first use of technicolor animation, as well as a multi-plane camera which gave the animations greater depth and more realism, a feature Disney strived for. Janet Wasko writes in Understanding Disney that he had an “unerring appreciation of technical developments and how to use them for profit” (Wasko, 2001). These various developments helped shape the entire animation industry and set the standards for other companies to follow.
In the 1940s some of Disney’s employees were beginning to resent the company and Walt Disney. Regardless of who produced an idea or animation “Walt Disney” was the only name to appear in the credits. Animators wanted more credit and compensation for the work they produced. This issue is still debated today in relation to intellectual property rights, as the hard work of employees tends to benefit the company more than the individual (Wasko, 2001).
By the 1950s television had become a popular medium, with 90% of American homes having a television set by 1960. Disney began making Christmas specials, such as One hour in Wonderland broadcast in 1950 on NBC. In October 1954, Disney began airing its first television show Disneyland on ABC. Disney was the first studio executive to make a deal with a television network to produce an original series. The show provided Disney with a vehicle for cross promotion of his various other projects, such as feature films. In addition, they could recycle old material from films to provide content for the television show (Collette, 1998). Wasko writes that Disney recognized the potential value in promoting and diversifying the film business. Disneyland theme park opened in Anaheim, California in 1955, with ABC as 35% owner. The Disney company did not fully support Walt’s idea for a theme park, so he created a separate company which he called Walt Disney Inc. (later to become WED Enterprises), to run the park while not putting company funds in jeopardy. The television show provided a vehicle to promote the park to a large audience.
While Disney was at the forefront of producing animation, they wanted to move into the realm of distribution as well. They created Buena Vista Distribution as a vehicle for distributing their own material. This exemplifies forward integration, and vertical concentration. Disney also developed a process of rereleasing popular feature films every few years, which produced greater profits with little investment. This still occurs today with digitally remastered films, box-sets, and collectors addition DVDs.
Walt Disney died on December 15, 1965. His brother Roy ran the company for the next six years opening Walt Disney World in Florida in 1971, but he passed away later that year. At this time former vice-president Donn Tatum became chairman and Card Walker, who was in marketing, became president. During this period Disney had ceased to be the innovative company it was during Walt’s lifetime. Expansion and diversification had slowed, and new technologies had not been produced in the studio for some time. Other film companies had begun to diversify and enter various other media outlets. In 1983 Disney again began diversifying. They launched the Disney Channel for children, and later that year they created Touchstone Pictures an adult-orientated film label. Most analysts claimed this slowing of Disney’s diversification was an attempt for them to sit on their existing assets. Under this management, in 1983, Disney was almost victim to a takeover. Management was quickly changed and the company restructured (Wasko, 2001).
This has been the history of Disney as an innovative company, in terms of the technologies they produced, their business structure, and diversification efforts. Today Disney has become among the top six media conglomerates in the world, with annual revenues over $27 billion. Disney has a wide range of companies that span the globe. Disney has various “teaming arrangements,” which are interactions between firms that do not involve a merger (Mosco, 1996). Disney has joint ventures with McDonalds, which provides children with toys of upcoming Disney characters in their Happy Meals; as well as an official airline, Delta; official car rental company, National Car Rental; and the Bank of America, whom Disney has been working with since 1930, is the official bank of Disney.
In 1995, Disney shocked the world when it purchased Capital Cities/ ABC. Again implementing forward integration, this time towards exhibition. It was a $19 billion dollar takeover, which temporarily placed Disney as the largest media company in the world. The move greatly enhanced Disney’s position, restoring it to some of the glory it experienced in the early years. Prior to this merger Disney was having trouble getting its programs on television at desirable times. The purchase of ABC enabled Disney to reach larger primetime audiences (McPhail, 2001).
The move to the new studio in the 1930s had resulted in a great deal of debt for the Disney company. In 1938 Disney became a publicly traded company. Until this point it had been privately owned. They issued 155,000 shares of preferred stock and 600,000 shares of common stock. providing much needed funds, but changing ownership control. Dominant Disney shareholders as of 2000 were the Bass Brothers, now known as Keystone Inc. As of 1985 they owned 25% of Disney stock. While not sitting on the board of directors, their influence on Disney cannot be ignored. They encourage the Capital Cities/ ABC takeover. Warren Buffet who had major investments in ABC became an influential shareholder at this time. He is largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Roy Disney Jr. remained the third largest shareholder in the company, as well as being Vice Chairman. A new edition to this influential group of shareholders is Steve Jobs of Apple as a result of the Pixar- Disney partnership. In addition, Disney holds shares in various other media outlets. They own 38% of A&E Television Networks, 38% of The History Channel, 50% of Lifetime, and 34% of E! Entertainment (Wasko, 2001; McPhail, 2006). These relationships can demonstrate networks of class power, which includes overlapping dictatorship of corporate boards. All of the current members of the board of directors are also involved in other major companies. Through the board of directors Disney is directly linked to Nike, Apple, Starbucks, FedEx, KFC, Pizza Hut, A&W, Taco Bell, and Procter & Gamble (The Walt Disney Company).
Disney purchased the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1994 to produce theatre productions of their animations, such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. These performances have also been presented at the Disney theme parks. Disney also has various music businesses, Buena Vista Music Group, Hollywood Records, Mammoth Records, and Lyric Street Records. Disney has been involved in licensing its characters for merchandise since the 1930s with Mickey Mouse and supporting characters. By 1934 Mickey Mouse was the most popular licensed character in the world, earning Disney $600,000 a year. Other film companies did not begin to realize the potential of merchandising until the 1970s. Disney’s merchandising efforts reached revenues of $14 billion worldwide in 1994, involving 3000 companies and over 14,000 Disney products. Disney also operates a large number of official Disney retail stores worldwide, as well as a large number of publications. In 1988, they published over 120 different magazines and comics, in 16 countries (Wasko, 2001; Jackson 1993).
Disney, in addition to California and Florida locations, also operates theme parks in Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong. They run the Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, and Adventures by Disney along with a large number of resorts. They also have sport affiliations. They control ESPN, the sports channel which was founded in 1979 and is owned 80% by ABC. After their successful film The Mighty Ducks, Disney purchased the rights to their own hockey team, which became known as the Anaheim Might Ducks, in an innovative cross-promotional effort (McPhail, 2006).
In relation to globalization, Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, may be among the most recognizable characters worldwide. In addition to Buena Vista Distribution, Disney’s original distribution company, they now operate Buena Vista International, ranked the world’s top international distributor of the 1990s. Touchstone and Miramax, two other film labels within Disney, also distribute films internationally. In addition to international release of films, Disney merchandise also operates cross-boarders. One controversial merchandise deal was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when they signed an agreement with Disney to license Mountie merchandise worldwide. Critics in Canada are often wary of our proximity to the U.S. and what they consider cultural invasion of U.S. corporations. In addition, the Disney theme parks outside of the U.S. have been met with controversy, especially the Paris location, where protestors egged Disney executives when they announced plans for the park in 1992. In addition, Disney operates numerous multinational corporations to exploit international opportunities such as cheaper labour and operational costs (Wasko, 2001).
Disney was influential in the Copyright Extension Act of 1998. Intellectual property had been an issue for Disney since the 1930s among some of its animators. Disney lobbied Congress directly and the bill was passed, extending copyright properties from 75 years to 95. This had important implications for Disney as, under the original law, Mickey Mouse was going to become public property in 2003. This is an example of state-media relations and demonstrates the weight of corporations to influence policy. While public property can have beneficial outcomes for the society as a whole, corporations exercise their power to maintain ownership of their products to further increase and maintain their billion dollar revenues.
Criticisms of Disney arise from its influence on other cultures, its power structures, monopolization of the market, representation of minority groups within the media, and exploitation of lower cost labour. These are criticisms that are associated with virtually all modern corporations. The media industry is now controlled by a small group of very large and diversified corporations. Due to the diversification of these companies into such a variety of different fields, their dominance of the market and culture is not likely to change in the near future without some form of societal change to remedy our current problems. The history of Disney provided within this essay, has demonstrated just a fraction of how large these corporations are and how far their influences extend. McPhail writes, “US multimedia empires, along with their extensive advertising networks, project and encourage US tastes, values, morals, history, culture and language around the world” (McPhail, 2006).
The extent to which concentration continues to occur is adding both to the monopolization of the market, as well contributing to the democratic deficit. As was demonstrated within this paper, Disney’s various innovations to animation and business structure were eventually adopted by their competitors. In addition, ownership within the market has become concentrated. Today content across firms has become very similar, there is less differential between the various film companies techniques and opinions.
This essay has attempted to provide a basic outline of auditing media perspective and the institutional audit. It has demonstrated various examples of vertical and horizontal concentration throughout the history of The Walt Disney Company, as well as drawing on observations of dominant shareholders, teaming arrangements, networks of class power, internationalization and state-media relations. Disney has been an innovative company both in its business processes and influence on popular culture. It helped to shape the structure of modern media corporations and Mickey Mouse is perhaps the most recognizable media character across the globe. For better or worse Disney has grown into one of the most influential media corporations on the planet, and “it all started with a mouse.”
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References
Aucoin, Peter and Lori Turnbull (2003). “The Democratic Deficit: Paul Martin and Parliamentary Reform.” Canadian Public Administration. 46(4): 427-449.
Collette, Larry (1998). “The wages of synergy: Integration into broadcast by Warner Brothers, Disney and Paramount.” Ed. B. R. Litman, The motion picture mega-industry. 122-143.
Hackett, R. & Carroll, W. (2006). “Beyond the Media’s Democratic Deficit.” In Remaking Media: The struggle to democratize public communication. New York: Routledge.
Jackson, K.L. (1993). “Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography.” London: Greenwood Press.
McChesney, Robert (2007). “The Rise and Fall of the Political Economy of Communication.” In Communication Revolution: Critical Junctures and the Future of Media. New York: New Press. 37-98.
McChesney, Robert (2004). “The Market of Uber Alles.” In The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century. New York: Monthly Review. 175-191.
McPhail, T. (2006). “American Multimedia Giants.” Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders and Trends. (2nd ed.). MA: Blackwell.
Mosco, V. (1996). “The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal.” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mouffe, C. (1992). “Dimensions of Radical Democracy: Pluralism, Citizenship, Community.” New York: Vesso.
Ngare, Joseph (2008) Institutional Audit Lecture. Carleton University.
The Walt Disney Company (2008). Accessed November 29, 2008. http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/overview.html
Case Studies of Media Concentration and Social Responsibility Theory
Thesis Statement and Research Problematic
The Social Responsibility Theory suggestes that in the U.S. anyone with something to say has a right to use the media, and that the media should serve as a watchdog over government, as well as remaining free from pressures of special interests. However, many theorists have argued that there is considerable deviance between the rationale and actual practice. Due to influences of concentration of media ownership and economic agendas, the media are no longer functioning according to the Social Responsibility Theory, in fact, a majority of the criteria outlined by this theory are now being taken up by the citizens outside of the press. This essay will explore how citizens use methods of collaborative documentary and blogs to fulfill the responsibilities suggested by the Social Responsibility Theory in the absence of the press fulfilling their social responsibilities.
Theoretical Background and Literature Review
Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm are authors of the book Four Theories of the Press; they outline six tasks ascribed to the press under the Social Responsibility Theory; (1) serving the political system by providing information, discussion and debate on public affairs; (2) enlightening the public so as to make it capable of self-government; (3) serving as watchdog against the government; (4) servicing the economic system through the medium of advertising; (5) providing entertainment; and (6) maintaining its own financial self-sufficiency so as to remain free from pressure of special interests (Siebert, Peterson, Schramm, 1963).
In Four Theories of the Press, Peterson writes, “To the extent that the press recognizes its responsibilities and makes them the basis of operational policies, [it] will satisfy the needs of society. To the extent that the press does not assume its responsibilities, some other agency must see that the essential functions of mass communications are carried out” (Siebert et al.). This paper will suggest that several of these responsibilities are not being carried out by the press, and although not being taken up by any particular agency as the previous quote describes, these responsibilities are being carried out by individuals and groups of citizens through the use of blogs and collaborative documentaries. Following World War II various books published by the Commission on Freedom of the Press, placed great importance on the social responsibility of the press and the idea of “a free and responsible press;” during the twentieth century within the United States this notion developed that the press had a social responsibility, and because if this it became the only industry protected by the Bill of Rights (Siebert et al.).
J. Herbert Altschull argued against the categories outlined in Four Theories of the Press, he maintains that the four theories are no longer relevant and an independent press cannot exist because the media are agents of those who hold the economic, political and social power within the system (Severin, 2000). Because the media are so closely tied to those in power, they function more to maintain the status quo and represent the upper class than to serve in the interest of the public or to question the system. Lazarsfeld and Merton similarly point out that because media are supported by corporate businesses within the economic system, the media in turn supports that system. They state that the media “fail to raise essential questions about the structure of society,” and that a commercially sponsored media provide little basis for the critical appraisal of society (Lazarsfeld and Merton, 2000).
John C. Nerone wrote in Last Rights: Revisiting Four Theories of the Press, “The press driven by capital cannot be expected to provide a thorough critique of the economic system or to offer alternatives because it is not free from control or domination by capital. Naturally, from its very beginning, the capital-driven press did not have as its aim to be a watchdog over the system of which it is a part. Watchdogs do not bite their owners” (Nerone, 1995). Nerone also writes of how the press’ social responsibility under this theory also includes providing citizens with the raw materials they need to govern themselves and have a proper democratic society, but he says that by placing this responsibility on the press the theory is actually helping to reinforce the status quo, as ‘monopoly media seem like the voice of the people, even as they keep the people silent and stupid (Nerone, 1995).
Methodology
Of the six criteria outlined by Social Responsibility Theory, only two are still unarguably being carried out, that is media as entertainment and media as servicing the economic system through the medium of advertising. The other criteria, which are more “socially responsible” are lacking in many cases of mainstream media. The functions of serving the political system by providing information, discussion and debate on public affairs; and enlightening the public so as to make it capable of self-government are lacking because news papers and broadcast news often have a political leaning to left or right, and in some cases represent one side more favorably than the other. This is an issue Fox News has had considerable attention drawn to from outside of the press by individuals working together to show the public they can not receive their information from just this source, as this will leave them lacking in all the information necessary to be capable of self-governing (Outfoxed, 2004). As has been discussed by theorists opposing Four Theories of the Press the media are no longer serving as watchdog against the government as they are now a part of that system and often represent similar views. The last function, maintaining its own financial self-sufficiency so as to remain free from pressure of special interests is not occurring in many instances because the press in fact do have special interests, being owned by much larger corporations a medium is unlikely to report stories that have a negative impact on the corporation or its sponsors. As Altschull has concluded, “the content of news media always reflects the interests of those who finance the press,” and “On all press systems the media are agents of the people who exercise the political and economic power” (Severin, 2000).
The corporations known as “The Big Six” own an overwhelming amount of the mass media, these companies include General Electric, TimeWarner, Walt Disney, News Corp., CBS and Viacom (Freepress, 2008). According to the organization Free Press, the media “inform our ideas, values and beliefs. They shape our understanding of the world. Media are also essential to our democracy. We depend upon the news and information we get from the media to make informed decisions and to hold our government and corporate leaders accountable” (FreePress, 2008). For democracy to properly function the public needs to be informed, and they require access to diverse sources of news so as to make their own informed decisions and opinions based on all of the facts and all sides of every story and argument.
Media concentration is placing too much power in the hands of a small group of individuals. The big six corporations are worth billions of dollars and have access to such a large group of people it is almost impossible for marginal and alternative media to compete or be heard. The mainstream media seek primarily to make profits and are not concerned with social responsibility as a main priority. Because the owners of these media are upper class citizens they have no desire to question and oppose the system of which they are a part. In order to receive the alternative views needed to be an informed citizen, individuals can rely on no one news source, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find opposing view points in the media as fewer disseminating voices are being heard.
Citizens unsatisfied with the current media situation are finding ways to express their points of view to the public, ensuring that alternative voices are out there. Anyone with internet access has a location to express their point of view and discover alternative ways of thinking. People are also working together to produce documentaries that draw attention to failure of the media to report all sides of an issue and to express the side that would otherwise go unreported. This essay will explore case studies where citizens express alternative views through the use of internet and blogs, as well as three collaborative documentaries; This is What Democracy Looks Like (2000), Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (2004).
Case Studies
The Internet:
For democracy to function properly people must be aware of issues in society, if people feel the media are not adequately serving this function they will find means at their disposal to raise discussion about issues they feel are important. This is why lobby groups form and internet forums arise about issues of concern to the public. People will use whatever means at their disposal to raise awareness and bring about change to issues they feel are important. In the new technological world, the internet is perhaps the most available means for the public to raise awareness of problems and discuss various issues in society. Personal web pages, blogs, ezines, or discussion forums such as Facebook provide a platform for people to discuss and question the world around them. Angelo Fernando has claimed that citizen powered journalism has stepped in to fill the void of the national media (Fernando, 2008).
Citizen journalism by means of the internet has been critiqued as being untrustworthy and not real journalism, but in the contemporary situation of the press, where a handful of companies own a majority of the media and means of communication, citizen journalism is necessary for individuals to find alternative points of view. Individuals simply need to regard everything they read or view, mainstream or online, with a critical eye. The Online Journalism Review outlines some internet platforms where citizens are expressing alternative views, these include: audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, and personal blogs); independent news and information Websites (for example Workingforchange.com and the Drudge Report); ull-fledged participatory news sites (such as Indymedia); collaborative and contributory media sites (such as Evrerything2); and personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio.com or YouTube in some cases). (Lasica, 2003)
Collaborative Documentaries:
Collaborative documentaries are another important method whereby people can raise discussions of important issues. In a majority of documentaries there is an outside reporter discussing an issue on behalf of a group they are not a member of, much like journalistic news reporting. Collaborative documentary is a method where a group of people can speak for themselves about an issue, providing an alternative view from mainstream media. Journalists’ use of “official” sources often leaves the group affected by a situation in the position of “the other,” unable to speak for themselves (Ruby, 2000).
A few particularly interesting examples of collaborative documentary are This is What Democracy Looks Like (2000) and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993); each of these films depict an event that was highly publicized by the media, but take an opposing stance to the “official” representation of the event. Both films use footage to show how the issue was covered by the press, while also showing their side of the story by working with the people directly involved and representing the event from the opposite point of view of the press.
This is What Democracy Looks Like consists of a compilation of footage provided by protestors during the 1999 World Trade Organization Summit in Seattle. The film shows how the media portrayed the protestors as criminals and spoke highly of the police; while the film shows a great deal of footage of peaceful protestors being gassed and beaten by the police, an extreme opposition to the details provided by the media. This shows a potential problem in the media’s desire to represent news from the position of “official” sources, as this approach leaves out alternative points of view out of many events. In this case of this protest, the views of the protestors involved were not fully reported, but rather the media focused on the position of the police and only represented their side of the story. This depicts a situation where the press did not raise appropriate questions about the event as the Social Responsibility Theory would suggest to be their role. In this instance the press did not serve as a watchdog on the government, but the citizens involved took on this role by making a documentary that showed wrongful actions of the police and the media in covering the event. Obviously, if the media only rely on police statements of what was occurring in Seattle the police will defend their actions against the protestors by making the protesters seem violent.
The news footage that is shown in the documentary shows the media reaffirming the police point of view by stating that the protestors were violent and the police were “showing great restraint” in their actions towards them. But footage displayed within the documentary shows peoples right to freedom of speech being taken away from them. The police began making all of the city of Seattle a no-protest-zone, and used tear gas on people who were sitting on the ground in the form of a human-chain. This all seems like very excessive force on the protestors, and does not show “great restraint” as the news footage described.
The documentary Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance depicts the conflict that occurred in Oka, Quebec during the summer of 1990 between the Mohawk people on their reserve and the provincial police and federal military. The conflict in this situation arouse when the town of Oka decided to use the land on the Native reserve to build a golf course. In opposition to this the Mohawk people barricaded the road to prevent the construction of the golf course, this eventually resulted in a stand-off between the Mohawk people and the Canadian Military for several months time. The military would not allow press into the Native reserve so a majority of the representation of the event had to rely on the military and the local police as sources, while the Mohawk’s were unable to represent their side of the story. The film was made from inside the barricade where the press were not allowed, so is shot from the point-of-view of the native people. The film shows the Mohawk people as not wanting violence, but merely to protect their land. It represents the military as being in the wrong through the use of footage that shows unnecessary violence on the native people. The entire reserve was surrounded by military and tanks, no food, clothing or family were allowed to enter. One native man was beaten by a group of soldiers to the point he had to be taken to hospital, and he was not allowed to return to reserve once he had left. While the Mohawk people were described as savages by the press and the military, the effect of the film is to show the military as the savages (Pick, 1999). In the end everyone on the reserve surrendered and were loaded onto buses to be taken to police headquarters for questioning, but the golf course was never built, and most of the people were released, making the entire event seem very pointless on the part of the police and military whom could have left months earlier.
Another collaborative documentary is Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (Robert Greenwald, 2004). This film is slightly different than the other two examples as it is not speaking out for a marginalized group in society, it is a film critiquing the Fox News slogans of “Fair and Balanced” and “We Report, You Decide.” This film includes a great deal of stock footage of Fox News coverage as well as interview segments with former employees, activists and experts. The Outfoxed website describes the film as an “in-depth look as Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the publics right to know (Outfoxed, 2004). The film shows evidence that Fox News is among the least balanced and objective journalism, and how this is seeping into many of the large news corporations, hunting for facts can be time consuming and costly so news corporations are cutting costs and running simple stories whenever possible. This film also shows how mainstream media are not necessarily the best source for individuals to get their political information, as Fox for example is extremely Right Wing. The film shows a report by FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)conducted form June to December 2003, which concluded Fox had 5 times as many Republicans (83%) as Democrats (17%) speaking one on one during the program Special Report with Brit Hume, whereas if they were really “Fair and Balanced” these numbers would be much closer (Outfoxed, 2004).
The film includes a quote by former Fox News Anchor Jon Du Pre, “We weren't necessarily, as it was told to us, a news gathering organization so much as we were a proponent of a point-of-view” (Outfoxed, 2004). Everyday employees of Fox News receive a memo from headquarters in New York telling them what they should and should not discuss for the day. One short example of these types of memos read:
Fox Memo
Date: 4/28/2004 From: Moody
Let’s refer to the US marines we see in the foreground as “sharpshooters” not snipers, which carries a negative connotation.
This is an example of how the journalists who work for the corporation are controlled and told what to say and how to say it. The film also draws attention to the fact that when George W. Bush was elected president in 2000 it was Fox News which first announced the win. George Bush’s first cousin was the individual at Fox News responsible for the election analysis division, while most people decided that the final count, for the State of Florida was “too close to call,” Fox News went ahead and announced that it was a clear win for George W. Bush. Within minutes several major news stations started reporting Bush’s presidency, ABC, NBC, and CBS (Outfoxed, 2004).
This film is an interesting example as it not only offers alternative ideas, it offers alternative ways of thinking about the entire structure of the press, it raises questions about democracy, such as can we trust stations like Fox to give us balanced information to determine our political decisions and ideological ideas? This film goes so far as to speak out directly against a major news station, and suggests it is neither fair and balance, nor objective, but simply one point of view on selected issues.
Conclusion
Due to the failure of the media to cover the rationales as outlined in the Social Responsibility Theory, citizens in society are raising awareness and alternative views to important issues through the use of the internet and collaborative documentaries, which are only two of many methods employed by citizens to fulfill this role in society. Concentration of ownership due to the development of large media conglomerates has resulted in few opposing point of views. It is difficult for alternative voices to be heard in the mainstream over the voices of these few large corporations. The media are no longer raising debates about political issues, or serving as a watchdog over the government, they are no longer free of special interests, but instead are driven by special interests of the economic system they service. Primarily the citizens outside of the mainstream press are now fulfilling the social responsibilities which are crucial to a democratic society, only they are raising opposing views, alternative voices, causing debate on issues of importance and acting not only as watchdog over the government, but now operating as a watchdog over the press as well.
References
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Free Press (2008). Free Press: Reform Media, Transform Democracy. Retrieved March 29, 2008 from http://www.freepress.net
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Outfoxed. (2004). Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism. Retrieved March 23, 2008, from http://www.outfoxed.org
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