Who’s in Authority Here? – Media Hegemonies
Who’s in authority? In this blog I want to take the opportunity to try and dissect what Media Hegemonies are and their role in our society. Over the past 3 months since I began my Mass Communication course I never understood the deep role media has in our lives and how it is the most popular, secretive, and segmented aspect in our lives. ”Hegemony tends to more often refer to the power of a single group in a society to essentially lead and dictate the other groups of the society.” (Ellis-Christensen 2004) Time Warner Incorporated is a company that are considered global leaders in media, business and entertainment. Time Warner Inc. has ownership over a lot of sub companies that are known in the media realm. Time Warner Inc. owns many cable, film, television, print, music, online, sports, retail and even have partnerships.
Here is a map I created to show the way Media Hegemony works.
Cross Media Ownership is a major factor in the formation of our culture. Cross Media is where one Company is in control, and delegates the actions of the company’s under its’ ownership. They all have the same job and abilities but who ever has the more interactive, and creative approach will gain the most attention. In Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity, Lawrence Lessig spoke about a theory that Walt Disney used “In all of these cases, Disney (or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity form the culture around him, mixed that creativity, with his own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into the soul of his culture. Rip, mix and burn.” (Lessig 24) Lessig’s ’rip, mix, and burn’ theory has an extreme relation to Media Hegemony/Cross Media Owner ship. These dominating companies must know what the people want, and I found that their approach is very much like the ‘rip, mix, burn’ theory. They have to analyze the culture surrounding and rip it, mix their new spin and creativity, and distribute and burn it into the public. The companies under the control are told what to display to the public. Whenever we get news it is just facts that are distributed in a way they want to be heard, and sadly this plays into the continuation of receiving fake news. In Toxic Sludge is Good for You, Stauber and Rampton understand, and enforce how a democracy is supposed to operate “Democracies function best without invisible Men” ( Stauber, Rampton 16). Media has so many layers that are unknown to the public and it could be true that the media is slowly killing our culture, only for the simple reason of disclosing deserving information.
Take a look at this video I posted sourced from YouTube, it will give visual understanding of the rip, mix, and burn theory and how Media Hegemonies work.
“YouTube – How to Explain Cultural Hegemony.” YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. 19 Nov. 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nryceuxiCLY>.
Media Giants: Who owns what? July 2004. Think & Ask. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.thinkandask.com/news/mediagiants.html>.
Ellis-Christensen, Tricia. What is Hegemony? 2003. WiseGEEK. 16 Nov. 2009 .
Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2005. 24.
Stauber, John C., and Sheldon Rampton. Toxic sludge is good for you lies, damn lies, and the public relations industry. Monroe, ME: Common Courage P, 1995.
