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Critical Political Economy
A critical political economy can be defined as a theory that identifies a socially critical approach that focuses primarily on the relation between the economic structure and dynamics of media industries and the ideological content of media (McQuail, 000, p. 8). McQuail (000, p. 8) adds that it directs attention to the empirical of the structure of ownership and control of media and the way media market forces operate. The argument that political economy is concerned with the macro-questions of media ownership and control is further supported by Boyd-Barrett and Newbold (15, p. 186), who state that Vincent Mosco defines political economy as 'the study of social relations, particularly power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution and consumption of resources including communication resources, but in its more ambitious form, it is the study of control and survival of social life'.
Golding and Murdock (11, p. 18) defines critical political economy along the same line, stating that while mainstream economics sees the 'economy' as a separate and specialised domain, critical political economy is interested in the interplay between economic organisation and political, social and cultural life.
News Industries
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Ownership
From the definitions above, political economy can be summarized as the study of natural laws governing the production and the distribution of wealth in order to create an apt social equilibrium. In short, it can be considered that a political economy approach is mainly for the greater good of the people, or as derived to be so by the powers that be. It explores questions of who owns and who controls the institution of economy, society and culture. In other words, whilst media analysis would study the media text itself in order to determine its content and/or possible meanings, a political economy approach to studying the media would be more interested in looking how economic and political forces frame the mass media.
A political economy approach on news industries focuses mainly on patterns of media ownership and the behaviour of news institutions in relatively liberal versus relatively repressive states (Schudson, 00, p. 4). Ownership of news industries, be it government/state ownership or private ownership, will empower them with the ability to determine what can or cannot be printed. This is why news and the press has become a highly manipulative tool that can influence public opinion on various political positions.
According to Schudson (00, p. 5), some scholars write as if corporate ownership and commercial organisations compromises the democratic promise of public communication but there is evidence to suggest that a total domination by the state, is the worst-case scenario. Waisbord, as quoted by Schudson, concurs and highlights the case of Latin America where government officials benefited more from state-controlled media than did the public. Strong control, censorship and manipulation of the mass media during authoritarian and democratic regimes have deeply discredited statist models.
In this respect, a critical political economy approach tries to form a balance between political ideologies and economic gains. Schudson (00, p. 5) exemplifies this by stating that despite the commercialisation of the popular press there are parties that are willing to compromise. Although commercialisation has resulted in a proliferation of sensational entertainment-oriented tabloids that compete with the established press for advertising revenue, media outlets such as newspapers and broadcasted news remain political organs, by catering to the owner's (the government for example) propaganda needs, but then try to "establish a common ground with the people" by covering popular topics.
However, Schudson (00, p. 5) quotes Zhao who gives the example of China, in which the government realises that the audience for commercial media has grown rapidly at the expense of traditional Party organs. In response, the government decided to air programs that focus on the plight of the people. The program "Focus" has raised critical issues and also conducted investigations of corruption in businesses and government. However, the department that produces it aims to make all journalists to share the same perspective and refrain from airing any segment that could induce political instability. Based on this, some quarters may argue that critical political economy will stifle freedom of expression and subjugate diverse views, thus calling for a more liberal approach. Nevertheless, it would seem that it is only right to apply the liberal political economy approach in this respect. However, a critical political economy approach would underline inequalities that would arise in a liberal market and therefore the need for public intervention. In this case, it is the state who controls media in order for people to take a skewed view of what is deemed to be right. Golding and Murdock (11, p. 5) states that information subsidised include the "entirely healthy distribution of essential information with which to explain and facilitate public policy".
Concentration of Media News Industries
Increasingly, as the media moguls behind the transnational corporations come into power, they fully utilise their control by influencing their news outlets. Franklin (17, pp. 8-) argues that this can be achieved in two ways, reflecting on their concerns with both economic and political matters. Firstly, the owners' economic and financial clout creates the broad context in which a particular news channel operates and secondly, these proprietors may intervene directly to influence the editorial content of their newspapers or programs especially when a particular story threatens their own business or political interests.
The increasing concentration of control and influence in the hands of a few large companies has become quite the norm in recent times. Rising costs, declining revenue and a changing pattern of demand has somewhat forced the process of concentration onto media (Golding and Murdock, 17, p. 07). In the print media, concentration of ownership has long been the trend. Just after World War II, four out of five U.S. newspapers were independently owned. By 18, only one in five was not the property of a chain. In 181, 0 corporations controlled most of the nations 11,000 magazines. Only seven years later, the number shrank to three corporations (McManus, 16).
McManus (16) asks questions on whether the concentration of media ownership a problem, or, more specifically, an ethical problem. On the surface, the creation of media giants may seem to have more to do with business considerations than it does with morality. But media concentration and its effect on the information you need to run your life are worth considering from an ethical point of view, especially as such deals proliferate.
Advertisers
We have established that owners have a large say in the content of the news and current affairs industry. The advertisers also largely determine the critical political economy of the industry. This is because advertisers are the ultimate program funders and their demands for a suitable program environment for selling goods take increasing effect under competitive conditions. Undoubtedly, the most controversial aspect of the relationship between advertisers and news agencies is the suggestion that advertisers might influence editorial content (Franklin, 17, p. 4).
Advertisers do not want programs critical of or threatening to business or whose unconventional ideas disturb large constituencies (Herman and McChesney, 17, p. 140). Herman and McChesney (17, p. 7) gives further proof that there is a correlation between content and tobacco advertising, whereby news and media institutions lessen their willingness to permit discussion of the health effects of smoking. Based on this, it is clear that advertisers have a say in manipulating news and information content, albeit in a discrete manner.
Sovereignty of Consumption
The liberal political economy looks at communications goods just like any other. According to this view, the best way to ensure adequate distribution and production of the general commodities people want is through the market and this applies as well to cultural goods (Golding and Murdock, 11, p. 8). In a way, supporters of liberal political economy believe that there is more to understanding the media than just what the "powers-that-be" wants the public sphere to know.
Golding and Murdock (11, p. 8) adds that in an attempt to contest the apparent simplistic determinism of a view which sees audiences as the passive dupes of all powerful media, some writers have asserted the sovereignty of viewers and readers, to impose their own meanings and interpretations on material which is polysemic in nature. For example, a textual analysis would give a more comprehensive meaning towards news that are broadcasted or printed. According to McKee (17, 001, p. 140), textual analysis would allow one to "make an educated guess at some of the most likely interpretations" that can be made out of the text. In the case of a critical political economy, it only gives a macro view from a singular dimension that does not take into considerations other reason or reasons as to why news is featured in a particular way.
But then again, consumer sovereignty is in any total sense clearly impossible nobody has access to a complete range of cultural goods as and when they might wish, without restriction. The task of political economy, then, is to examine the barriers which limit freedom. It construes such barriers being of two kinds, material and cultural.
Material in this sense means the commodification of media such as news, whereby the privatisation and taxation plays a key role in adding a economic value to cultural goods. Golding and Murdock (11, p. ) state that while many cultural materials are available as public goods, they are for from taxation as a common resource. For political economists, a shift in the provision and distribution of cultural goods from public services to private commodities signals a substantial change in the opportunity for different groups in the population to have access to them. This will create a form of economic imbalance which would lead to an unequal distribution of vital information through news broadcasts because some people cannot have access to them. Golding and Murdock call this an "artificial scarcity", and it is for this reason the political economy of cultural consumption has to be especially concerned with material inequalities.
Conclusion
A critical political economy can indeed explain to a certain degree, how the media work today. It is undoubtedly so that whoever owns the media controls the media, and thus the content of media such as news and current affairs can be slanted towards the political and ideological views of the owner. In this case, it is the state or privatised conglomerates who exercise power over media. Advertisers also have a say in the content of news and information as they play a vital role in providing these industries with the necessary funds they need in order to survive.
The escalating trend of privately owned media has also led to a concentration of media whereby one company can have a stake in different media such as the press, television and radio. This hinders the diversification of content whereby consumers are only allowed to see one view of a current news topic.
However, a critical political economy approach does indeed provide an equal distribution of the ability to access news and information. A liberal political economy approach would create gaps into who has access based on income disparity. The critical approach tries to rectify this by ensuring equality in cultural materials.
In conclusion, news organisations and media systems in general tend to reflect the patterns of the overall political economy in any country. A critical political economy does indeed explain how the media work today, but one needs to look at other approaches as well in order to form a better understanding of media.
Word Count 10 words
References
Boyd-Barrett, O., and Newbold, C., (15), Approaches to Media A Reader, Edward Arnold, London.
Franklin, B., (17) Newszak and News Media, Edward Arnold, London.
Golding, P., and Murdock, G., (11), "Culture, Communications and Political Economy", Mass Media and Society, Edward Arnold, London, pp. 15-.
Golding, P., and Murdock., G., (17), "For A Political Economy of Mass Communications", The Socialist Register, The Merlin Press, London., pp. 07-.
Herman, E., and McChesney, R.W., (17), The Global Media The New Missionaries of Corporate Capitalism, Cassell, London.
McKee, A., (001), "A Beginner's Guide to Textual Analysis", Metro Magazine, No. 17/18, pp. 18-1.
McManus, J.H., (16), "Merger Mania in the Media Can We Still Get All the News We Need?", http//www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v7n1/mediacon.html, Accessed 17th May 00.
McQuail, D., (000), McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, Sage Publications, Oxford.
Schudson, M., (00), "The News Media as Political Institutions", Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., No. 5, pp. 4-6.
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