Murdock (1978) Blindspots about Western Marxism: A Reply to Dallas Smythe

110 – smythe is interested in the underlying dynamics of the media industry

111 – however he underscores the fact that ideologies teach the audience to consume products and reproduce capitalist tendencies

111 – Murdock argues that Smythe’s audience commodity economics serves well to create a “full understanding of the role of the mass media in capitalist societies.”  But he oversells his side and neglects the ideologic.

Three Blindspots:

1.       He underestimates the centrality of the state – particularly of Euopean markets and focuses solely on advanced capitalist societies in North America.  It’s not only economic, but also cultural. (112-112)

2.       Media ideology is largely ignored by Smythe – Murdock argues (113) that media industires aren’t interested in selling products, but rather selling the social order system.  And what about non-commerical media?  Smythe’s serious oversight – media is not only integrated into the economic base, but is also part of the ideological superstructure.  Media systems play a double role in reproducing capitalist production. 113 Murdock wants to integrate the two together – CS and PE!

3.       Smythe reduces media system operations as smooth and unproblematic – but what about Marx and the presence of struggle?  Between state and private industry?  Class struggle?

He then goes to answer Smythe’s question about how western Marxists (academics) became focused on ideology and culture.  Basic answer: Propaganda from war years.  Ideology was a key weapon in manufacturing the consent by governing powers.

I AGREE WITH MURDOCK THAT THESE TWO APPROACHES DON’T TRUMP ONE ANOTHER, BUT COMPLEMENT ONE ANOTHER.  IDEOLOGIES OF THE PROGRAMMING, REPRODUCING CAPITALISM IN THE APPS, ETC ARE IMPORTANT TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A CONSUMPTION HUNGRY AUDIENCE COMMODITY.

Andrejevic (2008) Television Without Pity

25 – mass audiences becoming visible through technology

26 – two forms of audience participation – viewers attempt to make the show more interesting to themselves & serve in the role of production assistant in providing feedback to show staff

28 – Interactivity – “allows the viewers to take on the work of finding ways to make a show more interesting.”

29 – Message boards and fan forums have provided the transition to interactive tv viewing

(Terranova, 2000, p. 33 – “free labor” – relationship between online economy and social work processes)

30 Andrejevic sees free labor as a characteristic of an interactive consumer-viewer – devoting time and energy to participating in a media economy

Such efforts produces valuable feedback and info to industry professionals

33 – idea of shared control bridges production-consumption divide

34- active viewer – individual responsibility and self activation (nobody is telling them to do it) – “free choice” to take on the duty of improving a show

35 – the marketing of the digital economy is self-expression and empowerment

36-7 – even when the industry doesn’t pay attention, there is still the attraction of receiving recognition of others and being responded to

37 – democratization (celebratory) and exploitation (caution)

Jenkins (2006) Convergence Culture

3 – convergence – flow of content across multiple media platforms

Circulation dependent upon consumers’ active participation

4 – collective intelligence – coined by Pierre Levy, consumption as a collective process.  It’s an alternative source of media power because we all know a little of something and now we can put it together.  Right now it’s recreational, but might soon be more serious – like politics

18 – Convergence can be corporate (top-down) or consumer (bottom-up).  They co-exist.  Convergence reshapes the relationship between producers and consumers (19)

23 – Not 100% Habermas – Digital Divide – not just access, but mastery of skill to participate***

61-62 – Affective Economics -  from the Industry side to seek a ROI – return on investment.  It seeks to quantify desire.  It seeks to understand the emotional underpinnings of consumer decision making as a driving force behind viewing and purchasing decisions. – “mold consumer desires to shape purchasing decision”.  Jenkins sees this as fans having greater control over the content of programming.  But he admits to the caveat: “to be desired by the networks is to have your tastes commodified.” (p. 62)  This commodity for Jenkins gives fan groups greater cultural visibility, but he also recognizes the exploitation factor.

p. 63 – affective economics has both positive and negative implications (Jenkins)  However, the power that Jenkins celebrates for fans to challenge corporate decisions I think is far outweighed by the negative labor exploitation.

64 - *** “Affective economics sees active audiences as potentially valuable if they can be courted and won over by advertisers.”

133 - ***Distinction between Interactibvity and Participation****

Interactivity – is constrained by technology and how we use it (ex. Television and tivo).  Participation is shaped by cultural and social rules – less under the control of media producers and more under the control of media consumers! (like talking in a movie theater – some cultures accept it over others)