WEEK 2 : The Political Economy of Film and Television: Production and Consumption

In this week’s lecture, we learnt about the political economy of Film and Television, specifically the fact that media texts are cultural commodities and bring in a lot of money for the companies and Government. We also learnt about the other ways that media companies make a profit before making the product, such as funding and advertising.

In the set reading by Ien Ang, they talk about the way in which media companies make their money before and after the product is released. They say that ‘principle of the making programmes is for profit and the use of television channels for advertising.’[1] (Ien Ang 1991) This statement shows us that the main way in which media companies earn money, especially television, is through making many programmes for profit and to include advertising, such as product placement, to ensure that they are funding their project and earning a profit on top. Ang then goes on to say that ‘the paradigms of audience-as-public and audience-as-market are thus only relatively conflicting.’[2] (Ien Ang 1991) Here I believe them to be making a statement that the audience can only be either the public or the market as there must be a defining line that puts the audience in the category that media texts are made because of them or for them.

My own reading links to the idea of money through advertising, however in the US, in a way that ‘Broadcasting has nothing to do with the consumerist hedonism of (America) commercial television – it is a very dignified serious business’[3] (Murdock & Golding 2016) meaning that most of American television is produced for commercial gain, by earning money from advertisements and so on, and is not purely made for the audience’s entertainment anymore.

In the second reading set it is mentioned that ‘media organisations compete for audiences, sales and other revenue streams.’[4] (Long & Wall 2012:173) This shows us that media is such a competitive because there is usually one audience for a certain film to be watched, so producers would try their hardest to make sure that theirs is the best to watch and therefore earn the most profit through other elements as well. The second reading also mentions that ‘’non repeat purchase’ of media products leads to a high degree of uncertainty in media production.’[5] (Long & Wall 2012:176) This statement emphasises to us that when a media text is produced it is very difficult to tell how it is going to do, therefore making it a risk to release.

[1] Chapter 2 ("Audience-as-market and audience-as-public") in Ang, Ien (1991) Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge.

[2] Chapter 2 ("Audience-as-market and audience-as-public") in Ang, Ien (1991) Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge.

[3] Graham Murdock, Peter Golding. Political economy and media production: a reply to Dwyer. Media, Culture & Society Vol 38, Issue 5, pp. 763 – 769. (2016)

[4] Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Political Economy of the Media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp. 172-185

[5] Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Political Economy of the Media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp. 172-185