This week we discussed some of chapter 3 from the textbook as well as additional readings online. Chapter three went on to talk a little bit more about mandates. Mandates are what shape the operations of media industries. The three primary questions that come into play when talking about mandates are: who pays for the media? Whom does it serve? What determines success?
We went over commercial media, public media, and government media and answered the questions above for each category. I liked learning about this because it helps to clarify the types of media that exist. All to often people talk about “the media”, which is an extremely broad term. This chapter breaks down different aspects of different types of media and explains how they are different. I appreciated learning about this because I can apply it to the real world when I consume media, and can now tell if it is commercial, public, or government media.
Another aspect that we learned about that I found interesting is the idea of the commodity audience. This is the idea that we are being bought and sold to advisors as if we are a product. The ads being shown to us are based on our interests that are gathered from Google searches and social media. It’s a little creepy to know that we are all in niche’s that determine what people want to sell to us, but extremely profitable for those sending out the ads.
I also enjoyed reading about Star Wars, and the fandoms that exist because of such great movies. Convergence plays a huge roll in the explosion of films and the growth of fan-bases.
entertainment media 