Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Media Democracy: Open_Notes 1

remote control - how remote are we from our televisions? - we are being told that technology will bring choice, bring control to the viewer, bring democratic access to information - none of that is implied in the technology itself - that is not technology, that is politics - people are primarily "receivers" of information from various media - "interactive TV" - implied control and choice given to the consumer from the producer - full-service networks - TV, Internet (consumerism).

spectrum (corporate control of the public airwaves) - media monopolies - satellites - ownership and control of communications - military and defence systems reserve a major part of the spectrum - now opening up to commercial use, ie. global positioning system - privatization of the public airwaves - private interest vs. public good - communication services (ie. direct-TV)- their version of the future - channel selections, etc. - public TV debate; funding? - government is the only entity that can express the collective, public desire beyond merchandising - when people talk about they don't want the intrusion of government, they are really saying we don't want the intrusion of public affairs into our ability to sell goods and services - disengagement from the public interest for private interest, advantage.

as speech flows to music (the tune society dances to) - control of the message, editors - opinion maker, taker, breaker - media - is it information, communication, knowledge, image, entertainment, power, a paper tiger? - public access TV - every citizen is a reporter - bringing people to the citizenry - make it, don't just watch it - a democratic media - a small piece of the media pie - people need media that informs, empowers, engages them in the democratic process - tells them of the conflicts in society and the solutions - tells them how to get involved - "it's hard not to listen to TV, it has spent so much more time raising us than you" (-Bart Simpson to Homer).
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