Week #2: Mass Media & Entertainment

Chapter One:

My question is if media is such a dominant part and focus of our daily lives as evident from the Ball State University study, how do we separate ourselves from it and yet still feel connected to society?

My observation is that it's interesting to know the corporate structures of major media outlets since like other industries it appears as though the landscape is always changing and smaller companies continue to get bought up by the large corporations. With that said I'm wondering if the quality of broadcasting and other media platforms will turn out poor products because they are primarily driven by turning a profit.

Chapter Fourteen:

My question is why hasn't primetime television programming become more segmented into different genres like radio stations have and try to appeal less to the mass/populist audiences but rather more niche segments of society?

One observation I found interesting in this chapter was the fact that even though sporting events broadcast on television attract huge audiences the networks usually lose money since they've been unsuccessful in generating enough advertsing dollars to offset the licensing fees that have been negoitiated by the sports leagues. Thus the networks' goal has been to attract viewers through airing sporting events on television calling them loss leaders. The broadcastings aren't showing profits so they are sold at a loss and the primary goal is to attract customers.
January 18, 2009 1:35 PM