Please write summary notes on the following topics and their allocated journal articles/readings. Each
summary must consist of 275 words and make clear references to the readings.
TOPIC 1:The Political Economy Analysis
Read and Summarise:
� Robert W. McChesney, �Chapter 14: The Political Economy of International
Communications�, The Political Economy of Mass Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging
Dilemmas, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008, pp. 305-37.
� David McKnight, �Rupert Murdoch�s News Corporation�, Historical Journal of Film, Radio
and Television 30.3 (2010): 303-312.
TOPIC 2: New and Old Media
Read and Summarise:
� Graham Meikle & Sherman Young, �Regulation, Policy and Convergent Media�, Media
Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012,
pp. 172-195.
� Chris Anderson, �The Long Tail�, Wired 12.10 (2004): n.p.
� Josh Rosner, �Can WikiLeaks Save Journalism and Democracy?� Global Media Journal:
Australian Edition 5.1 (2011): n.p.
TOPIC 3: Alternative Medias
Read and Summarise:
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� Myke Bartlett, �The Pirates and The Tunnel�, Metro Magazine 167 (2011): 115-9.
� Chase Bowen Martin & Mark Deuze, �The Independent Production of Culture: A Digital
Games Case Study� Games and Culture 4.3 (July 2009): 276-295. Online
� Adam Harvey and Michael Janda, �Illegal Downloading �More Like Trespass than Theft��, ABC
News Online, 21 April, 2012: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04- 20/illegal-downloading-more-like-
trespass-than-theft/3963688
TOPIC 4: Media Crossroads – Where to Now?
Read and Summarise:
� Jim McNamara, �Remodeling Media: the Urgent Search for New Media Business
Models�, Media International Australia 137 (2010): 21-35.
� Jack Lule, �Conclusion: The Globalization of False Promises�, Globalization and Media:
Global Village of Babel, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011, pp. 141-08.
Media structures and practices
- The political economy analysis
The media is basically seen to be of much influence to the society and in every part of the
world and all the other aspects of life. A clear and comprehensive analysis in the political
economy of the media is provided by Robert McChesney in the field of both the economy and
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the political power. He examines the competition that helps create centralized global media
(McChesney 243).
There are resistances that helped to corporate the media of 1920’s and those of 1930’s
and the reformation of the media of today. Robert therefore presents how journalism has decayed
in the modern culture that is more commercialized and there is the intense arrival of the media
reform movement that is on the watch for the consumers and the democracy. A variety of
relevant topics are also addressed clearly and they include the journalism and the radio that help
the readers to understand the evolution and implication to the society at large (McChesney, 329).
The British novelist and the former MP, Jeffrey Archer has fictionalized Murdoch,
together with the rival newspapers of the time. Murdoch has also been portrayed in Selling Hitler
in 1991 mini-series and the Black and White film among others (McKnight 312).
Speculations have it that Murdoch has a basis in the 1997 movie of James Bond, the
Tomorrow Never Dies. The film writer states vividly that Elliot Carver was entirely inspired by
Murdoch’s rival. In the Fierce Creatures film of 1997, the character is also modeled after
Murdoch. In 1999, Murdoch’s parody was put in the chimp channel. Rupert Murdoch’s
comparison was also made in 2012 using a fictional character that is known as ‘Stanhope Feast’
(McKnight 308).
- New and old media
The book of Media Convergence puts focus on how the media that is used daily such as
iTunes, Facebook, and Google can be understood through convergence ideas. The book also
acknowledges the content of introduction and the Convergent Media of communication
industries and computing (Meikle, Young 180).
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The Long Tail theory tells that our economy and culture is drifting away. The production
cost is falling. The small markets that do not sell well will one day rival the ones in the markets
that are larger. In addition, the online retailers have the capability of stocking almost everything.
People have narrow interests and do not seem to notice it. The Long Tail has been quantified in
three different ways including the size, how the availability of niche changes the demand and the
types of tools that drive the shift (Anderson 175).
WikiLeaks can save the journalism and democracy as it publishes the secrets of the
governments. According to “Is WikiLeaks a Blessing or Curse for Democracy?, ” it has also
coined the scientific journalism where it works hand in hand with other media outlets to relay the
news to people and proving that the news is true. The scientific journalism allows readers to read
new stories and enables them to refer to the online materials for reference. Thus, one can come to
a conclusion of whether the story is true or if it was reported accurately (Rosner 76).
The presence of a strong media is vital in democracy. Any prevention attempt put on the
WikiLeaks from independently continuing with its operation or any threat imposed on those who
report and publish the documents that involve all media outlets, not only the WikiLeaks, has a
great impact and threat to the democracy and denies the press its freedom (Schoenfeld 33).
- Alternative media
There is a close look that has been taken by Bartlett concerning the issue of piracy. This
criterion meets some producers from Australia that have accepted the contemporary media
realities and, therefore, use this to their advantage with the approach of distributing the films
(Bartlett 117).
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The games industry globally has increased distance and alienation. This has been done
between the consumers, producers, and the product itself. Independent games industries do
provide the structures, making them able to define their own success terms. Debate on whether
an individual has the pivot element in value creation or whole systems has come with
repercussions as the two differ and cannot be used in the success of cultural products (Deuze,
Martin 280).
A cultural production that is the future’s model lies in circumstances whereby a particular
individual tells his or her own stories that are unique, between self-funding and the ownership,
between work that is of collaboration with the user communities and in between the teams that
are leveraged and the individual development that are specialization powered (Deuze, Martin and
Allen 347).
Illegal downloading is considered as more of a trespassing crime than theft whereby one
has not been deprived of the use of the property as compared to stealing. People say that the
suing of the individual users of the internet would be the best option though it has not been put at
per but that is not the right solution as the best solution has to be providing the best content to
everyone so that pinching will not be possible. Suing would also be terrible to the industries and
it has not yet been into considerations as the studios do not want to spend millions on the
individual prosecutions (Harvey and Janda 113).
- Media crossroads – where to now?
Identifying the business models that are viable is one of the pressing and most
contentious issues that have a lot of concern to the media. Other issues are the collapsing of the
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televisions and radio because of the fragmentation from the audience and the reports that are
widespread that the current models of business are underpinning press (McNamara 28).
With the erection of the pay walls, the reader surveys and the industry analyses have
given a warning that the media users who are mostly contemporary will not be able to pay for the
content and the option of abandoning the traditional media would be the best choice. Other
models of business that are termed potential are being introduced in the business but are under
researched as well as under explored in the literature of the scholars (McNamara 33).
Jack Lule, in his book argues that the media’s central role is to have an understanding of
the global perspective (23). Globalization indeed could not have been present without the
existence of media. Media have helped in making the world to be like a global village and more
smaller as people of different nations and different cultures come into close contact (Deuze,
Martin and Allen 12).
There is combination of the media and globalization. This creates a world that is divided
into the ghettos and the communities that are gated, boundaries and borders, decay and beauty,
surfeit and suffering. The world is also not flat as it was predicted; neither is its playing fields
leveled. Referring to the biblical town, Babel, its global village was punished due to her vanity
whereby its citizens were seen scattered, the shaping of the destiny by strife and the confounded
language (Lule 146; Jacquette 14).
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Works cited
Anderson, Chris. “The Long Tail.” Wired Magazine 12(10):170–177 (October 2004); n.p.
Print.
Bartlett, Myke. The Pirates and ‘The Tunnel’. Metro Magazine: Media& Education
Magazine, No. 167, 2011: 114-119. Print.
Deuze, M & Martin, C. B, ‘The Independent Production of Culture: A Digital Games
Case Study’ Games and Culture 4.3 (2009): 276-295. Print.
Deuze, M., Martin, C., & Allen, C. (2007). The professional identity of game workers.
Convergence, 13, 335-353. Print.
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Harvey, A &Janda, M. ‘Illegal Downloading “More Like Trespass than Theft”’, ABC
News Online, 21 April, 2012. Web. 26 May. 2014.
Is WikiLeaks a Blessing or Curse for Democracy? (2010, July 27). Der Spiegel Online
(English edition). Web. 26 May 2014.
Jacquette, D. (2010). Journalistic Ethics as Truth-Telling in the Public Interest. In: Allan,
S. (2010). The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism. Abingdon, Oxon:
Routledge. Print.
Lule, J. ‘Conclusion: The Globalization of False Promises’, Globalization and Media:
Global Village of Babel, Lanham: Rowman& Littlefield Publishers, 2011, pp.
141-08. Print.
McNamara, Jim. Remodeling Media: The Urgent Search for New Media Business
Models [online]. Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, No.
137, Nov 2010: 20-35. Print.
Meikle, G & Young, S. ‘Regulation, Policy and Convergent Media’, Media Convergence:
Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp.
172-195. Print.
McChesney, Robert W. Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle
for the Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928.1935, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
- Print.
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McChesney, Robert W. ‘Chapter 14: The Political Economy of International
Communications’, The Political Economy of Mass Media: Enduring Issues,
Emerging Dilemmas, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008, pp. 305-37. Print.
McKnight, David. “Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation: A Media Institution with A
Mission,” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Sept 2010, Vol. 30
Issue 3, pp 303–316. Print.
Rosner, J. ‘Can WikiLeaks Save Journalism and Democracy?’ Global Media Journal:
Australian Edition 5.1 (2011); n.p. Print.
Schoenfeld, G. (2010, July 26). WikiLeaks vs. Democracy. National Review Online.
Web. 26 May. 2014.
