The Rich Media Industry is a collaboration
of media production companies, advertising agencies and you!.
No longer does the power rest with the big bucks.
Consumer Media
With the launch of video sharing sites, and cameras in mobile
phones, the power of the media has rapidly moved to the individual.
No longer are television news reports the first media to report
on major world events. Websites get there hours ahead, and
its consumer video that leads the way of real time reporting.
But will this last?
The Media industry is in turmoil as lines on copyright are
becoming increasingly blurred and censorship - well, just
look at YouTubes decision not to pre-screen videos containing
clips of movie production IP.
Lawyers and political agencies alike are just as blurry -
not knowing quite how such copyright infringement can be enforced,
and what legislature now best fits the cause of litigation.
Understanding the Rich Media Industry and the impact of the
changing media power base to the consumer.
If a key indicator of the health of a democracy is the state
of its journalism, the United States is in deep trouble. In
Rich Media, Poor Democracy, Robert McChesney lays the blame
for this state of affairs squarely at the doors of the corporate
boardrooms of big media, which far from delivering on their
promises of more choice and more diversity, have organized
a system characterized by a lack of competition, homogenization
of opinion and formulaic programming.
Through numerous examples, McChesney, and media scholar,
Mark Crispin Miller, demonstrate how journalism has been compromised
by the corporate bosses of conglomerates such as Disney, Sony,
Viacom, News Corp, and AOL Time Warner to produce a system
of news that is high on sensationalism and low on information.
They suggest that unless citizen activism can reclaim the
commons, this new corporate system will be characterized by
a rich media and an ever impoverished, poor democracy.
