Good Evening Citizens of the World,

Tonight I would like to present the issue of social responsibility in the media. Specifically in television. I, like many others, watch TV every so often and I enjoy it. The other day I noticed, after watching Battlestar Galactica, that I have been reflecting upon topics that are presented in the show ranging from genocide to biracial tensions to martial law to religious tensions. During the show I find myself thinking about what I would have done in that situation, how I would have handled it. I certainly would not have allowed the circle of peers to enact vengeful murders on people that maybe deserved it. I certainly would not have endorsed suicide bombings. I, as President of the Colonies would have done the exact same thing as Mary McDonnell's character because she is incredibly cool..and kinda hot. I know how not to commit treason. I know how not to think I am an alien species. Unfortunately, in most situations that I will face in my life, I will not have a chance to employ my new skills.

With that in mind I would like to zoom out and remind everyone about a little bit of child development. One prominent theory in child development is the concept of modeling. A child will watch someone do something and imitate that behavior. This includes both technical skills and social skills. Here's an example: A family is in a restaurant and there is a discrepancy about the bill. The parent reacts to this by yelling and being very angry about it. The child observes the whole things happen. Later that week the child is in the lunchroom at school and yells at a staff person for not serving him the correct thing. A social tactic he had obviously learned from his parent.

It is no question that children are watching more and more tv these days. With reason too! There are so many high quality, interactive, artsy, educational programs out there its unbelievable. Oh wait, that was a dream. Let me rephrase, there are so many masturbatory, dopamine extracting shows out there it's no wonder kids are glued to the tube. In our culture, it is more and more often that a child will grow up with fewer real life role models. Their parents are working more, they live in more separated places, they are eating more and playing less. TV is the babysitter. The more I learn about child development the more and more amazed I am with how powerful and adaptive the brain is, especially when it is young. More importantly than how much TV kids watch, young kids and adolescence alike, is how much it influences them. How much a person is influenced by the media is dependent on how much that person identifies with what they are absorbing.

Before I rant more I want to clarify a term I am going to use: Big Media. Big Media refers to the oligopoly of corporations that have complete control over all aspects of media including but not limited to news, entertainment (music, movies, shitty magazines), and information (Internet, books, etc.). I will admit that I am in now way an expert in communication studies or media culture, but I do know that all of media (with the exception being some independent tubes of the Internet and local newspapers and things) is owned and controlled by an oligopoly of companies that, believe it or not, was founded by immigrants such as Adolph Zukor(Hungary,founder of Paramount), Samuel Goldwyn (Warsaw , founder of MGM--on a side note, Zukor and Goldwyn were brother's in law. Goldwyn helped Zukor start paramount but disputes led to his leave and eventual creation of MGM), Carl Laemmle (Germany, Universal Studios), and Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner (Poland, obviously founders of Warner Bros.) These companies, which if you have seen any movies ever produce the majority of mainstream films. Here is a breakdown of who owns what:

Media Group <- Subsidiary of or high majority of ownership by

Dreamworks, MTV Films <- Paramount
New Line Cinemas <- Warner Bros.
--------------------------------
Paramount <- Viacom
MGM <- Sony
Warner Bros. <- Time Warner Inc.
Universal <- NBC Universal
--------------------------------
NBC Universal - General Electric

And pulling from the example I started with
Battlestar Galactica is a joint venture between Sky One and The Sci Fi Channel
Sky One <- News Corp (see below)
Sci Fi Channel <- NBC Universal

So there you have it folks. Some of the biggest players in Big Media (The others being Disney, News Corp. (owners of myspace; CEO is Rupert Murdoch), and CBS. If you are interested see stopbigmedia.com or check out Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig)

The point of all this is that what I watch, read, and listen to is controlled by a boardroom of old white men who are interested in the preservation of their companies and their company's image. Now I know people will say, "what about shareholders and their input or watching independent channels" or whatever crazy activist way of trying to take down big media they might be advocating to which I would respond yeah, it exists and it might work in some places, but it never gets rid of the fact that what is on the television and in the movies is completely controlled by a boardroom of old white guys...that either have lower ratings or receive a letter from a concerned viewer. Through an exhausting chain of people, a tv show or movie will be created, carrying whatever ideas and themes it may, that inevitably contains emotionally provocative material to entice viewers to watch it. "If you focus on the meanings, you might miss the selling points and nobody will watch it." So why think too much about what message you are selling until you get it sold? Because after it is sold it is too late. You can not erase something a person has seen or heard or thought about without extensive help from either an awesome rogue militia group or the government (different story)....or if you are the thought police.

All in all, those who have the power to influence the masses are also the ones who should be held responsible for the quality and content of the messages they are selling. In times when people are most influenced by the messages they hear from friends, family and other sources (...media!), also taking into account that people learn and imitate more of what they identify with and that the goal of media is to create things that people will buy and consume (things they identify with) it is vital that those messages present and reinforce behaviors and ideas that are socially constructive.

Thank you, and have a good evening.


BiteCite me
Wikipedia
stopbigmedia.com
FEILITZEN, CECILIA V., LINNE, OLGA. (1975). IDENTIFYING WITH TELEVISION CHARACTERS. Journal of Communication, 25(4), 51.