mediacrit.com » Media Economics

Manipulating the Public Agenda: Why ACORN Was in the News, and What the News Got Wrong

Christopher Martin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:18:58 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE A study by Christopher R. Martin, Ph.D. and Peter Dreier, Ph.D. Using the controversy over ACORN as a case study, this report illustrates the way the media help set the agenda for public debate, and frame the way that debate is shaped. It describes how “opinion entrepreneurs” (primarily business and conservative groups and individuals) [...]

CD Blues: Music Industry in Upheaval

Christopher Martin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:01:33 +0000

The industryâ€™s frustration must have escalated even higher when the Grammy Award-winning British alternative rock group Radiohead decided to give away their 2007 album â€œIn Rainbowsâ€ on the Internet for whatever price fans wished to pay, including nothing at all.

No Time to be Neutral on Net Neutrality

Christopher Martin — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:06:45 +0000

But now major telephone companies and cable companies, which control 98 percent of broadband access in the U.S. (through DSL and cable modem service), would like to dismiss net neutrality give faster connections and greater priority to clients willing to pay higher rates.

Newspaper Circulation Up! (For Free Papers)

Christopher Martin — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:36:10 +0000

The big story about the mainstream newspaper industry in the 2000s has been the decline of circulation and revenue for the print version, and the slow but promising growth of online editions. But in one segment of the newspaper industryâ€”free newspapersâ€”circulation is actually up, way up.

The Shame of the Media

Christopher Martin — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 05:45:55 +0000

Murdochâ€™s conglomerate has once again gone shameless with a book and Fox broadcast special called If I Did It. Developed by Judith Regan, the former National Enquirer writer who has her own ReganBooks imprint at HarperCollins, If I Did It delivers the acidic reflux of the O.J. Simpson case. You remember O.J. Simpson...

What Went Wrong with Copyright

Christopher Martin — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 23:13:14 +0000

Corporate owners have millions of dollars to gain by keeping their properties out of the public domain. Disney, a major lobbyist for the 1998 extension, would have lost its copyright to Mickey Mouse in 2004, but now will continue to earn millions on its movies, t-shirts, and Mickey Mouse watches through 2024. Warner/Chappell Music, which owns the copyright to the popular â€œHappy Birthday to Youâ€ song, will keep generating money on the song through 2030.

Hey, Look at Me, My Space, My Face

Christopher Martin — Wed, 17 May 2006 06:17:17 +0000

Facebook feels a bit like an old-style high school yearbook, where you write an amusing little note in all of your friendsâ€™ books at the end of the year. On Facebook, though, you can post amusing little notes to your friendsâ€™ pages every day, or even several times a day.

Google and Competitors Do Evil: Collaborating on China’s Great Firewall

Christopher Martin — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 20:29:30 +0000

Yet, if evil is censoring information to appease Chinese authorities, then evil has already been done. Earlier this year, Google admitted to creating a new search engine for the China market, Google.cn, that filters out offending sites, including many relating to Tibetan independence, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Falun Gong religion, and even BBC News.

A New Golden Age of Wireless

Christopher Martin — Mon, 23 May 2005 05:18:31 +0000

Wired magazine may have to change its name, because the future of the Internet â€“ or at least the point where users connect to it â€“ is increasingly wireless. The reason is Wi-Fi, a standard for short-distance wireless networking, enabling users of notebook computers and other devices to connect to the Internet in cafes, hotels, airports, and parks.

Lost Localism: Remembering Iowa’s Broadcast Pioneers

Christopher Martin — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 05:29:49 +0000

Iowans often lament that the state has never been at the forefront of national affairs. But, in the case of broadcasting, Iowa was firmly in the midst of the development of radio and TV broadcasting. Even the term broadcasting derives from the agricultural term for dispersing seed widely.