In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements in
Media Transformation, Research, Historical Events, and Technological Development
Even before the 1980s, different media platforms thrived to disseminate information to the masses such as newspapers in circulation since the early 1990s, radio, and film among others. Nonetheless, during the early 1990s, there was little interest in studying media and its impact on people. Most scholars then dismissed the media as useless even after World War II when people demanded information about current events then (Douglas, 2008, p. 78). Other scholars who studied the media before highlighted the limited or less pronounced impact of media on people particularly when it comes to making decisions about politics and consumption.
Despite the limited interest in media, this changed years prior to the 1980s. Historians were one of the main scholars who focused on studying media and emphasizing its importance in society. “Many historians became committed to studying America’s past from the bottom up and had witnessed first-hand the enormous impact of the mass media on the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, attitudes towards women” (Douglas, 2008, p. 78) among others. Due to the observed impact of mass media on societal events, particularly important ones that affect interpersonal relationships and interactions in the community, scholars took interest in studying media.
Early studies about mass media revealed its significant impact on people’s actions and behavior, which is why scholars focused on studying media practices, thereby, contributing to the development of media as a practice, strategy, and platform in communications. McLuhan’s (1964) research on media, “Understanding Media”, became one of the foundations of media studies. McLuhan (1964) established the basic concepts that constituted media studies, consequently influencing how media evolved and developed over the years. McLuhan’s (1964) most famous thesis is that “the medium is the message”, which means that the mode of communicating information is more important than the content of the message (Douglas, 2008, p. 78).
Upon digesting McLuhan’s (1964) thesis, however, many scholars expressed their disagreement and argued that media and communications were more than the medium. Moreover, other scholars argued that understanding media means exploring all the other factors that contribute to the dissemination of information and communication. Discontent or disagreement over existing theories and concepts pertaining to the media is one of the main factors that contributed to media transformation during the 1980s. Since many challenged previous scholarly work about the media, particularly that published by McLuhan (1964), other scholars sought to expand studies about it.
Succeeding scholarly work about media since the 1980s focused not only on different mediums of communication as suggested by McLuhan (1964) but also other aspects of media and communication such as the message or content and the impact of media consumption on human actions and behavior. According to Douglas (2008, p. 80), scholarly discussions and research about media focused primarily on three main theses – the influence of media institutions and content disseminated publicly to society and cultural development, the power of the audience in influencing or shaping the content of messages communication or disseminated through the media as well as their power to resist these messages, and the type or quality of content spread through the media.
At this point, it is important to establish the link or relationship between research and media transformation. Media transformed since the 1980s in part due to increasing interest in media research during that time. Many scholars began studying media due to inadequate research about it, limited research studies on media such as that introduced by McLuhan, greater interest about the media’s relation to historical events in society, and the increasing impact of media on society. “With the advantage of historical hindsight, scholars in the 1980s started thinking more critically about the real ideological achievement of the 1950s” (Douglas, 2008, p. 80).
Overall, scholarly research about media significantly contributed to media transformation such that studies brought to light the impact of media on society. Historical researchers particularly introduced the influence of media, such that they related how media and communications brought about political and societal change (Douglas 2008, p. 80). Research studies presented numerous information about media that transformed how people viewed and used media.
The Civil Rights Movement was one of the major events in American society, which was partly brought about by media. According to scholars and historians that studied the impact or influence of media on the Civil Rights Movement, “the media gave the [Civil Rights Movement] extensive, favorable coverage, which resulted in mobilized public opinion and policy makers” (Larson, 2006, p. 153). During this time, media then transformed into a platform for political and social change (Romano & Raiford, 2006, p. 138).
Historians and scholars would then argue that media transformation occurred alongside major historical movements and events in the past such that media served the purpose of major players during this time. The media served as a platform for propaganda to initiate men into the army and to promote America’s interests during the Vietnam War. Similarly, anti-war movements also used the media to express their protests against the United State government’s intervention in the Vietnam War (Anderson, 2004, p. 65). Media content about the war then influenced the views and opinions of the masses.
Based on the foregoing discussion, media has transformed and evolved since the 1980s due to the increased interest in this practice, particularly because of its influence on human behavior, actions, views, and preferences. Since media has a massive influence on people, scholars sought to study various aspects of media such as media platforms, content, and the responses of the audience.
In part, outcomes of research similarly greatly influenced media transformation. Furthermore, various events, particularly in the history of American society shaped media, particularly the function of various media platforms and its impact on the masses. For specific events in history, the media has played varied roles, thereby, allowing individuals or groups to accomplish their goals and objectives. Most of these goals and objectives have similarly shaped and brought about cultural, economic, political, and societal changes in society.
Technology is another factor that contributed to the expansion and transformation of media. During the industrial revolution, the invention of the printing press led to the development of newspapers as a major media platform (Einav, 2014, p. 1). Consequently, continuous technological development also drove and influenced media transformation and expansion since the 1980s. Infrastructure development, for instance, allowed media access to a greater population. Advances in telecommunications also allowed media to spread or disseminate information in a speedy manner. Other inventions such as the computer and the Internet also transformed media, particularly making it powerful, because of its ability to reach a wider audience (Napoli, 2013).
The Political Economies of Media and Communications
The abovementioned examples of media’s influence on history illustrates aspects of the political economy of media and communications. The political economy in relation to media essentially relates politics and media economics as two separate practices that affect or influence one another. Essentially, the political economy of media and communications as a tradition “combines the analysis of politics and economics of the media questioning in particular the development of capitalism as it relates to other societal concerns” (Couvering, 2012, p. 183).
Hence, political economies bring forth the important role of media in economic development. “For the most part, the emphasis of media economics is on microeconomic issues and focuses primarily on producers and consumers in media markets” (Wasko, Murdoch, & Sousa, 2011).
Consequently, focus and emphasis on political economies in media transformed and shaped the media’s role in economic growth and development. Since then, the media was seen as a tool that would facilitate economic growth and development, particularly in influencing the actions, behavior, and preferences of consumers. As a result, media focused less on the medium or platform but on the content.
American society then shifted or transformed into a knowledge economy that largely depended on the knowledge, creativity, and ideas of people not only in developing appealing products or goods and services, but also in discovering ways to utilize and manipulate the media to influence the people – consumers – towards a goal or objective aimed for by businesses or organizations.
Considering the abovementioned definition and application of political economies, we may then assess to determine whether the expansion and transformation of media helps as to determine if it provides people real choice or more of the same. As formerly noted, political economy in media studies as a tradition focuses on the impact of media on consumer behavior. For this reason, we may assume that the expansion and transformation of media has made it possible for businesses, organizations, and groups to influence culture and behavior, thus leaving people with no real choice, particularly when it comes to consumer decisions. Political economy as a tradition has transformed media into a tool that manipulates people through images and information into patronizing a particular brand, for instance. Hence, the power of the media and its influence leaves people with no choice. Nonetheless, there are other interest groups that expose the flaws of media content, particularly in relation to consumerism. For this reason, through awareness in the media, people or the audience may also learn to resist the messages and influence of these messages on them. Overall, having a real choice depends on the knowledge and awareness of people, which may be influenced by media. The content communicated through media platforms could either influence consumers or inform them about the pitfalls of media in political economies, such as advertising and promotions.
Bibliography
Anderson, D. L. 2004. The Columbia guide to the Vietnam War. Columbia University Press.
Couvering, E. V. 2012. In Jin and Winseck’s The Political Economies of media: The transformation of the global media industries. A&C Black.
Douglas, S. 2008. “Mass media: From 1945 to the present.” In Agnew and Rosenzweig’s A Companion to Post-1945 America. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Einav, G. 2014. The new world of transitioned media: Digital realignment and industry transformation. New York, NY: Springer.
Larson, S. G. 2006. Media & minorities: The politics of race in news and entertainment. Rowman & Littlefield.
Napoli, P. M. 2013. Audience evolution: New technologies and the transformation of media audiences. Columbia University Press.
Romano, R. C. & Raiford, L. 2006. The Civil Rights Movement in American memory. University of Georgia Press.
Wasko, J., Murdock, G. & Sousa, H. 2011. The handbook of political economy of communications. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
