POLITICAL ECONOMY

Usefulness of the political economy of the media approach

Usefulness of the political economy of the media approach

Introduction

The political economy approach is definitely a useful tool for explaining how the media works, but it is extremely debatable as to whether it is the only or even the most suitable method of doing so. As Alan McKee states;

“…there is no such thing as 'objective' knowledge. We know that every methodology is partial, producing particular and quite limited kinds of information.”

The assorted media texts that are produced by the recording industry don't fall easily into set categories, and often appear through other mediums like television, internet, and the printed press. The idea that a political economy approach is the only way to look at the recording industry may have some merit in it, considering the way that the particular industry is heavily immersed in corporate structures and government regulations. However once one starts looking deeper at independent labels, D.I.Y. practises within the music community, and the support network of community radio and such, the approach breaks down.

The political economy approach stems from the late eighteenth century, witnessing the rise of industrial capitalism and of the concept of the nation-state. Like textual analysis and cultural studies, political economy is inherently Marxist in its ideals, focusing on power distribution between the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The approach is empirical in the way that it uses the simple communication model, but it also contains some theoretical aspects.

There are three key dimensions to the political economy approach; the first examines how the different economic structures of the media, together with governmental policies and regulations influence the content of the media. The second key dimension examines the aforementioned power structure and how media content enforces, challenges and influences existing class and social relations, while the third is the 'prescriptive mission' of the political economy approach: The assumption that public good is not served by an untrammelled free market, that controls have to be in place.

In relation to the recording industry, the political economy approach looks at how the products and texts from the industry (everything from the CDs to advertising to legal rulings related to intellectual property) that reaches us as consumers are formed by government controls, ownership patterns, advertising, and the complex patterns of distribution and consumption. It is important to realise that the political economy approach doesn't acknowledge that readers of texts make their own meaning in the same way cultural studies does (and in this respect it might be argued that cultural studies puts too much weight in audiences' views when pertaining to industry), rather it utilises the U.S. scientific tradition of communication, where the meaning is static and unchangeable.

Political economy's strength is that it deals not only with the big players in media, say for example Rupert Murdoch, but also a variety of smaller institutions as well as factors such as time and money constraints, and the need for profit and even the structure of various ...