Week 5: News,
Profits, and Capitalism
- Podcast/radio program, "This American Life," telling the story of the effects of a local TV station's sensationalist coverage.
- Bennett, Ch. 7, pp. 220-254
According to Bennett, what was the principle effect of on the news of Viacom's purchase of CBS? What was the effect of the emphasis on ratings of the economic coverage of CNBC in the 1990s? According to Bennett, how was the makeover of the Boca Raton News different from the editorial policies of the Wichita Eagle, and what does this illustrate about a potential effect of different economic strategies in the news business?
Why did Jay Harris resign as editor of the San Jose Mercury News? What is the difference between ratings and share in TV? What has happened to the ratings of news in the last two decades? What is the difference between demographic diversity and political or perspectival diversity? What, according to Bennett, was the effect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996? According to Bennett, what five trends in journalism are encouraged by current economic structures? What are the principle problems of these trends, according to Bennett?
What are economies of scale? Why are they important to the news business? What is the difference between monopoly and oligopoly? What are the characteristic patterns of business development in corporate media? Why is uncertainty in media businesses important, and what do such businesses do about it? What is market power? What is synergy? Vertical integration?
- Schudson, Ch. 6, "News in the Marketplace," pp. 117-133.
Schudson argues that the profit motive is "at the heart of the commercial newspaper" but also that the profit motive "can work in mysterious ways" and that it is not the only motive in the news business. What different ways can the profit motive and journalism interact? What is "market driven censorship"? What is the significance of the Los Angeles Times' 1999 special section on the Staples Center sports arena? What things sometimes protect journalism from market-driven censorship? What is the importance of reader loyalty? pressure from advertisers? Why is journalism both vulnerable to pressure from advertisers but also in some cases protected from such pressure by high profits? What has been the relationship in China between censorship by the Communist Party and increasing commercialism in the media?
Hourly exam #1: Feb. 15th