"Rich Media"
November 1999

What’s new this month is growing interest in Rich Media Poor Democracy, written by critical cultural scholar Robert McChesney and just published by the University of Illinois Press. What makes this important book of interest to readers of Introduction to Mass Communication is its more detailed discussion of the forces that are reshaping mass communications. Professor McChesney identifies convergence, audience fragmentation, conglomeration, and internationalization as reshaping not only the media industries, but their relationship with their audiences in ways that are not particularly beneficial for our participatory democracy. But he adds an additional force, hypercommercialization. McChesney argues that the financial burdens assumed by corporations as they acquiring numerous or other large media outlets must be recouped somehow. Selling more advertising on existing and new media and identifying additional ways to combine content and commercials are the two most common strategies. McChesney explained, “Concentrated media control permits the largest media firms to increasingly commercialize their output with less and less fear of consumer reprisal” (p. 34-35). You can see the increase in commercialization of the media you use on a daily basis. For example, the increased number of commercial minutes in a typical broadcast or cable show is evident to most viewers. The American Association of Advertising Agencies reported that in 1998 there were 15 minutes and 44 seconds of advertising in an average network television prime-time hour, a 25 second increase from the previous year. The ABC television network averaged 16 minutes and 27 seconds of advertising per hour and cable channels MTV averaged 18 minutes 42 seconds an hour, TBS 17 minutes and 58 seconds, and E! 17 minutes and 48 seconds. The sheer growth in the amount of advertising is one troublesome aspect of hypercommercialization for McChesney and many other observers, but even more so is the increased mixing of commercial and noncommercial media content. For example, Columbia Journalism Review recently revealed that television station WDSI, a Fox News television station in Chattanooga, Tennessee informed advertisers in June, 1999 that it would produce a series of three “positive news segments” about their companies, airing them on its morning, mid-day, and 10 o’clock news programs. In addition, the station would throw in several promotional spots for advertisers to ensure that viewers tuned in to the “news” featuring the “positive news segments,” all for only $ 15,000. The Wall Street Journal reported that MTV explicitly informs advertisers that it provides editorial coverage and promotional tie-ins only to those movie studios that purchase large amounts of advertising on MTV. Many radio stations now accept payment from record companies to play their songs, an activity once illegal and called payola, but now quite acceptable as long as the “sponsorship” is acknowledged on the air. McChesney sees hypercommercialization wreaking great damage to the integrity of the media themselves and bringing disservice to their audiences. But defenders of hypercommercialization argue that it is simply the economic reality of today’s telecommunications world. Decide for yourselves, but do yourself the additional favor of reading Rich Media Poor Democracy, of which consumer advocate Ralph Nader said, it “is more than a prolonged wake-up call; it shames those who do nothing and motivates those who a re trying to build a more democratic media that reflects the all-important noncommercial values which forge a just society.” Be forewarned though, Professor McChesney writes from a progressive point of view. But to his credit, he spends many pages discussing how both liberals and conservatives are becoming dissatisfied with media’s role in our democracy and where they share common ground.

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