COMN 1000 Winter Term Exam Study Guides3.amazonaws.com/prealliance_oneclass_sample/voZKbnxLqE.pdf · purposes of the system ... claim that it confers too much power on dominant owners

COMN 1000 Winter Term Exam Study Guide

BBG: 1958 Broadcast act B/A and new

regulator: Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG). CBC becomes “competitior” to private sectorBranch plants:

• factories set up in Canada to produce parts of the products and finish in Canada – branch plants in Canada (westing house in Canada). part of the manufacturing takes place in Canada but not all, creates jobs as well. as they grow in Canada, they can make their own products hoping to import to other countries. So no longer subordinate

Bill C-58:1976 parliament passes Bill C-58, amendment to the Income Tax Act to stop border broadcasters (Also benefits to magazines and newspapers). If you are an advertiser, you cannot advertise in america and deduct it from taxes, has to be a canadian owned advertising company to keep the money in Canada; broadcast act is Canadian owned due to ownership regulations by govt; 80% of newspaper income come from outside source, never had to put ownership regulations bcuz of BILL C-58; KEY to keep advertising in Canada). 1976 parliament passes Bill C-58, amendment to the Income Tax Act to stop border broadcasters (also benefits to magazines and newspapers)

Broadcasting act: SHADE: 1932, the govt of Canada introduced the first broadcasting act. Revised as each technology was introduced. It sets out objectives for Canadian broadcasting generally and for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) specifically. It specifies the composition of the CBC’s board of govenors, the creation of the broadcasting regulatory agency Canadas broadcasting act assigns social responsibilities to all licence-holders, including minimum Canadian-content regulations and special additional responsibilities for the public sector.1932 = radio, 1936 = cbc, 1958 = TV, 1968 = Cable, 1991= satellite, 1990’s = DTH satellite, 2000’s = internet1958 Broadcast Act B/A and new regulator: Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG). CBC becomes “competitior” to private sectormid 1980’s: tech change and increasing demands from interest groups means new B/Aso in 1991, new broadcasting act (see gSL 219-221) Section 3 and it sets out the aims and purposes of the systembut then in the early 1990s system under attack from “death stars” (video)to meet threats of mid – 1990s satellite broadcasting, CRTC:licensed more pay-tv and Canadian satellite broadcasters for both cable and satellite distributorsallowed increased concentration of ownership and crossmedia ownership (allow private sector to buiold economies of scale)backed off on regulation (become more flexible e.g 150% Canadian content for Canadian drama

CBC financing: CBC mandate and responsibilities:


Characteristics of Canadian context: Characterisitics of the Canadian state: because of large size of canada and small population, difficult to wring profits from business in canada and govt often had to step in to encourage private investment. E.g CPR (Canadian pacific railway) was issued government payments and subsidies to encourage the building of the transcontinental railways. Similarily bell telephone was given a monopoly on long-distance telephone serve in canada to exploit economies of scale. both federal and provincial govts frequently underook these activities themelves, in the form of Crown or government owned corporations. i.e canadas second national railroad, served to bolster service to some areas, not served by CPR, government owned + first satellite company – Telesat Canada. Canadas first transcontinental airline- air canada – crown corporation - and first national broadcaster – CBC. because of unique features of Canadian state, government taken strong hand in shaping economy. Federal level -> motivated by strong nationalist sentiment. distinctive characteristics of Canadian State that have shaped the development of its communication system: vastness of the country and small size of its population and Canada’s regionalism. Geographic/demographic facts pressed canada to incest in expensive national transmission systems to keep in touch. Country of regional cultures. ‘confederation’ eacj region needed to generate its own info such that regions particularities might be reflected to a whole, helped bring country together. Canada is also a nation of 2 official languages; French and English. Also have freedom of language choice. Bilingual govt services and broadcasting channels = testament to the right of any canadian to work/live wherever they wish. BILANGUAL COUNTRYCommon carrier: (p 215)

Telecommunications services provided to all members of the public at equitable rates; a common carrier is in the business of providing carriage services rather than content

(forms of) concentration of ownership: concentration of ownership? One company or a small number of companies, control a large portion of an industry. FORMS:

Chain or horizontal ownership: company controls a string of companies in same business but in different locations … (newspapers, radio stations, tv stations, chapters/indigos)vertical integration: copany controls companies that supply and or consume each others products… (e.gs mcdonalds’s/cattle ranches; newspapers/pulp mills; cable companies/speciality channels; film production/distribution)cross-ownership: companies in more than one medium (sometimes same city/market) e.g shaw, CTV, globe mediaconglomerates…. Holdings in seeminly unrelated activies (e.g dept stores, sports teams, newspapers(

conglomerate: holdings in seemingly unrelated activities (e.g dept stores, sports teams, newspapers) (private ownership)


Conglomerate ownership is characterized by large companies with a number of subsidiary firms in related/unrelated businesses. Advantages of scale. Shareholder risk is reduced because conglomerate is not dependent for its profits on any one industry. Convergence is the name given to the economic strategy media congomerates emply in an attempt to create synergies among their media properties. One of Canada most converged conglomerates in Quebcor Inc. owns 20 daily newspapers, 34 non dailies, magazines, shopping guides. Also in the businesses of television, telecommunications and cable distribution, new media, publishing, retailingrefers to the process by which one company in a field buys up other companies in the same field. E.g when one newspaper or newspaper chain buys other newspapers, the press industry is undergoing conglomeration. The process is characterized by fewer owners and larger corporations. Supporters of conglomeration claim that it is a desireable business practice that’s protects jobs and brings stability to the marketplace. Opponent s claim that it confers too much power on dominant owners who can shape our knowledge of events to suit their interests

copyright act: the copyright act is ignored as retailers and distributors import books even when the territorial rights belong to a Canadian-based publisher. Each copy bought through parallel importation is one less purchased from the Canadian rights-holder, reducing the utility of Canadian copyright

copyright: the exclusive right to reproduce a work requiring intellectual labour; this right belongs to the author and its constitutes; 1) a property right, which may be assigned to others and 2) a moral right, which may not be assigned but may be waived

CP: Canadian pacificCRBC: Canadian Radio Broadcasting CommissionCRTC: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications CommissionCrown corporation: businesses owned by federal or provincial govts, but operating at arms length from govt as individual corporationsCultural imperialism: the ways in which one culture imposes ideas and values on another culture, with the effect of undermining the cultural values of the recipient; media and cultural products are a primary vehicle for such imposition

Shade: the process whereby the cultural artifacts of a politically and economically dominant power – usually the US – enter into another country and eventually dominate it, thereby spreading the cultural, political, and other values of the dominant power, to the inclusion of indigenous values and voices


• Cultural sovereignty: do we get what we want or just what we are offered. Consumers decide what will be sold to them somehow. In terms of media, no one asks u what u want to see, just offer u stuff. Don’t ask what kind of cars, groceries, films etc u want to see. Predetermined set/range of products. If u want to see a Canadian move really reflect Canadian perspectives, impossible, because range of products predetermined before because they only offer you products that they think they can make money off and will be profitable. E.g reality tv shows: no one wanted amateur actors competing to do things for money. over last 15-20 years, only so many tv shows available; ctv, global, cbc, cbs, abc, nbc. Particular range of programming people would watch at that time. Fragmentation of audience: less money available to each tv networks available for programming, thus reality tv shows cheaper to produce than these networks. Rate of advertising did not increase as fragmentation of channels, now increased range of mediums, thus advertising fell. Much cheaper to get amateur actors then high end actors, thus reality tv much cheaper to produce. Thus had to change marketing traditions. If show isn’t watched, show will be off the air, consumer sovereignty is highly constrained.

• Digital divide: refers to the fact that socioeconomic factors, including income and education levels , geographical location, gender, age, influence participation in the new media environment. As a result, richer people and countries have greater access to and make greater use of , new media and the internet than do poorer people and countries, a situation that has led to the creation of the categories of the “information rich” and the “information poor”. “Digital divide” also refers to the view held by many that digital technologies not only confer benefits but also contribute to social inequalities. E.g not everyone has equal access to digital technology and even among those who do, not everyone is equally competent in using it.

iNFO TECH IMPACTS AND ISSUES (4 on exam)Commodification of info: creates “digital divide”Two groups of info poor (cant afford it);i) here at home (rural, low income, poor/ no web access)ii) in “developing” areas/countries (e.g countries in Africa, south east asia)• more generally: “the right to know or the right to information, makes possible all other rights” (UNESCO)Unemployment and deskilling• been a shift from fulltime to partime work; from skilled industrial jobs to low skilled service jobs; often implemented in “prescriptive” manner. Disturbing trends.Privacy• I/T threatens in several ways: i) unsolicited marketing; ii) health and credit records; ii) law enforcement/state surveillance; iv) workplace monitoring• at the heart of issue is "self-determination”. The more info other have about you, the more your choices are constrainedSovereignty and representation• because of the economies of scale involved, is a growing reliance on foeign, mainly American data bases and data services. Raises two issues:i) Canadian vulnerable to trade sanctions and bankruptcies, therby undermines ability to control livlihoods


ii) information is not value neutral (re: imported education; studies, reports etc)Conclusion:• some ICT has potential for increasing public access to info, but primarily developed in pursuit of private economic gains• "benefits" of the technology could not have been realized without changes public policies such as copyright legislation, trade regulation, labour law, and telecommunications regulation• consequently, ICT not autonomous or an inevitable force in society but a complex social form

Digitalization: refers to the process, applicable to any medium, whereby the content of that medium is converted into computer-readable format and can be manipulated and transmitted electronically this allows the content of formerly seperate media – newsprint, radio sound, television images, hypertext links – to exist side by side on the internet in a way that previous impossible. Digital media also posses greater storage capacity and higher transmission speeds and permit infinite nondegraded reproduction of the original content. They tend also to be more user-friendly and to heighten the opportunity for the individual creation, manipulation, storage and transmission of content. In doing so, digitization has raised questions about copyright control and the ownership of intellectual property that have pitted individuals against corporations.

modern mass and new media are a set of technological configurations that bring us info and entertainment in a variety of forms. Print-> newspapers, magazines, journals, books, mass/quality paperbacks, hardcovers, textbooks, school books, etc!Tv-> public, community, educational, commercial tv Radio-> delivered broadcast, cable, internet and satellite by diverse array of stationsFilms/non-theoretical filmsRecordings-> vinyl, audio cassettes, cds, mp3s, dvds ercWith ongoing digitalization of info and different forms of media convergence, current technological configurations are in a state of flux

• Effects research: (1930’s - ); looked direct media effect on audience members (S>R) aka. Hypodermic needle model; transportation model. Never proved anything: communication is much more complicated and interpret in different ways, must look at broader social complex to understand what ppl make of social perspectives, about larger social history of receiver. It still persists today in media and violence. Media & what ppl think. Downplay agency in media.


Still persists through perspective today. E.g 1) media and violence (esp. children/teenagers): we live in a violent world, violence against women, spanking/beating, road rage, television promotes; sports. 2) agenda setting perspective: (less direct) the media doesn’t tell us what to think but tells us what to think about. E.g crime, broadcasts crime but we don’t understand why crime is. 3) gerbners cultivation analysis (media “cultivate” or promote particular perspectives). The more ppl saw violence on media, the more they thought the world was a violent place. Promotes particular attitudes. All 3 draw straight line between what goes on in the media and what goes on in peoples head. Downplay agency.

• Economy of scale: Efficiencies in costs that can b achieved via repition of some aspects of the production and distribution processes. E.g the reduction of the per-unit cost of printing 10000 copiees of a book once the presses had been set up, opposed to printing 1000 copies. goods are more expensive of US in Canada= ECONOMIES OF SCALE!!!* population of US is larger in Canada, the more products you make the less it costs. E.g stoves = 10, 000, 000 , for tech, assembly line, workers, building etc for factory to produce. Even if labour is 5.00, electricity is 1.00, the technology is 5.00, so 11.00 for the cost of the stove. Yet for first stove = 10, 000, 011, yet make a million stoves, each costs for 10, 000 000, each costs $10! Plus more to make more.Fourth estate: The media; refers to the role of the news media play in the governing of a democratic society, originated with journalists struggle to gain access to the proceedings of the British parliament in the late 19th C; watching over the powerful institutions in society.Gatekeeping: ***Gate keeping: news reporter/editor acts as gate keeper on world of events and audiences and open or close to certain events: certain logics in how some are seen to be seen as news and some aren’t. (gatekeeper: news editor= what is important and not) Mr. gates = news editor very important need certain values. Because world is so complex, news producers choose whats important (gate keeping)Free flow of information: the doctrine that advocates the rights of producers to sell info to anyone anywhere and controversially, the right of any individual to choose to receive any info from any sourceGeostationary satellites:

An orbit situated directly over the equator in which objects (satellites) rotating around the earth remain in a fixed location relative to the earth

Globalization: refers to the process in which formerly separate, discrete or local phenomena are brought into contact with one another and with new groups of people. This contact generates the idea that the world is a single place. Supporters of globalization claim that it liberates populations from loval or particularistic rules, generates wealth, makes possible the movement of the people and ideas and contributes to the development of human rights by putting all people in touch with all other people. Critics of globalization claim that it flattens out cultural differences, spreads a single culture (usually American) to all areas of the world, and strengthens capitalism and unequal property relations.

as we have seen, the form and direction of tech. development and application is the product of decisions by industry and policy makers


e.g in canada, globalization and the info society created by:NAFTA, WTO, CRTC and policies like copyrightSimilarily, job losses, cutbacks in health care and education part of same restructuring given info tech is social form and its development is the product of decisions by govt and industry, the question is how it is being implemented? (Holistic or prescriptive)

Government ownership:Holistic/prescriptive technologies: what relationships does it have with larger social forms or practices

Other perspectivesbook outlines several common perspectives…i. “Instrumentalism”: tech as value neutral tool (e.g cup, plane, car)ii. "technological determinism:”: technology determines social direction and form (e.g

like innis Oral form of comm = time bias; literate form = space bias. Info tech yields info society). (similar to substantivism) (e.g sateliite start globalization. Tech reinforces social forms)

iii. “Technological imperative:” Tech development doesn’t determine direction but leads or points the way

they tend to abstract tech from social context and “reify” technological developmentleads toiv. “ constructivism” or the idea that tech is given form by a larger set of social forcesand one morev. franklins holistic vs prescriptive. Technology as a power relation“holistic” favors individual creativity and autonomy (worker controlled, control how

to make the item the way they please)"prescriptive" favors a broader set of inst. Or org. goals at the expense of indicidual

autonomy (tasks set for workers are prescribed or given to them) (crafts person vs. assembly line worker) (chair is all the same)

reason for implementing assembly line to create profit for factory owners – not empower workers

hence, the assemnly line is a relation of power in that it “prescribes” relationships between: I ) what people do; and ii) between the owners and the workers. The way it is constructed prefigures or prescribes these relationships….

Charlie chapman movie: Q: is the factory/assembly line holistic or prescriptive?a: definitely outside the control of the workers; taskare prescribed or set down before

hand. Also the the tech is a particular relation of power serving the owner of the plant.

at a larger level, also serves the capitalist system and the domination of one group (capitalists) over another group (workers)

in summary: we have seen several different perspectives on technology; i) as social form (constructivism); ii) technological determinism/imperative; iii) tech as relation of power (holistic vs prespcriptive)


Harold Innis (time/space bias): Harold Innis and marshall mcluhan were the first scholars to have serious attentions to the idea of the ways in which people communicate might actually shape a society/culture. Innis (1950) claimed that oral communication tends to maintain cultural practices through time, while written communication favors the establishment and maintenance of social relations through space. Innis argued that each communication medium had particular bias:

Oral communication emphasized rather close knit society and preservation of outlooks, values and understanding over long periods of time. Have time bias

Written communication emphasized basic social control across space (e.g roman law across the entirety of the empire) Space bias. Mcluhan took up innis’s ideas and extended to modern period

Information economy:Media imperialism:Mandate:Monopoly: exclusive control over the supply of a particular product for a specified market; a market in which consumers have a single source for a product or serviceNWICO: (New world information and communication order) During the 1970s the movement of the non-aligned nations (NAM), which compromised over 90 member nations, questioned the rise of commercial transnational media systems (TNCs) in terms of 1) the global economic imbalance between the north and the sourth; 2) the western monopoly of global news services with their content focusd mainly on developed countries; and 3) the dominance of news and entertainment programming that, because it reflected often0alien western values, was deemed imperialist. These issues culminated in the call for a NWICO. In 1976 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) convened the MacBride Commission to study global communication issues and develop solutions for ameliorating the North-South divide. Its final report, Many Voices, devoted to eliminating the media imbalances between countries; protecting th rights of journalists; reducing commercialism in the media; use of the media to aid oppressed peoples; and recognition of the freedom of the press and freedom of infoOligopoly:Public vs private ownership:

Central difference between the public and private forms of ownership relates to the question of return on investment

If private enterprises are interested primarily in a financial return… public enterprises seek other kinds of return: cultural development, industrial development, job creation, national identity formation etc

Public ownership is devoted to providing communication as some kind of public service based upon public goals: to enable citizenship, to foster a sense of community on regional and national scales, to promote regional and national cultures

Private ownership is devoted to providing communication for profit


The idea of public service is to emply the mass media for social goals. This can mean the provision of universal and equitable service to all Canadians, as in the telecommunication, postal, radio, and television industries. Also foregrounding the educational component of communication, which informs all cultural policy to some extent. Or it can mean ensuring a cnaadian voice in film, radio, tv, publishing and popular music, where there has been/remains a clear risk of being drownedout by American voices. Communication as a public service is inclusive, addressing audiences as citizens rather than as consumers and asserting the citizens’ rights to communicate and to be informed

In Canada, public service often meant national service – ie. Communication in the service of nation-building.

in the broadcasting sector this has meant the subordination of other social and cultural goals to national economic and political interests, specifically ‘ the project of maintaining “Canada” as an entitiy distinct from the US and united against the periodic threat of disintegration posed by quebec’. Also meant the concentration of film, radio, television services in central Canada, creating a hierarchical distinction between the ‘national’ preoccupations of Ontario and quebec and the ‘regional’ concerns of the other provinces and territories

the central ethic of the public corporation is connected to the democratic ideal. It is to provide a public service to both the users of the service and to the population as a whole.

Private enterprise operates on user-pay basis The users of of public service do not pay the full cost of providing that service.

The costs are shared by all taxpayersE.g pay the admission fee, but doesn’t recover full cost of operating the venue,

purchasing and mainting the collection contained in the venue. the remaining costs come from fed govt tax revenues, tax money collected from every Canadian, most of whom have never/unlikely to visit the venue. The rational for such a cost structure is the need to promote national culture and the conviction that a strict user-pay system would not meet this objective.

Canada post: we all share in the costs of maintaining a basic and essential communications service. Canada post charges us the same rate for the same stamp whether is mailed across the street or across Canada. The rationale for this cost structure is the need to provde equitable mail service to all Canadian whether they live in concentrate urban centres or remote nother communities

Private-sector ownership assumes two basic forms. The ownership of a company can be closely held, either by an individual or by small group. Or the ownership of a company can be widely held by a large group of shareholders, who buy and sell their interest in the company through the stock market. A company will form a board of directors answerable to its shareholders

The general ethic of the private or commercial media outlet is survival and growth in a marketplace driven by profit.

Commercial corporations are organized for the purpose of earning returns for their owners, based on their ability to find a market for a product or service and their ability to meet and expand that market.


If publicly owned media have an obligation to serve all canadains, private media serve only those who constitute their target market- those audiences most attractive to advertisers

in radio broadcasting, this can mean a re-positioning in the market, either through the intro of new program segments or through a complete change in format. A book publisher might decide to get out of business of publishing petry or fiction and focus on how-to books or celebrity biographies. Communications company can move into another industry altogether, whether in sphere of communications or not

within a private sector exists variety of ownership structures. The single enterprise is a business form in which owners confine themselves to one

business with no connections to other companies. It is a single, independent firm that usually operates on a small scale. E.g among magazines, community weekly newspapers, small-town radio stations but single enterprises are ferer as chains both large and small force them out of business

chain ownership, common form of media organization in Canada, is the linking or horizontal integration, of a number of companies in the same business – typically newspapers, radio stations, or television stations – occupying different markets. Chains are usually geographically dispersed, but sometimes members of the chain will occupy the same location and aim for distinct audiences. Member companies in chain may have agreements to buy, sell services from eachother. Postmedia newspapers share editorial content among member appers and have own wire service. Chains often consolidate admin resources, so that accounting, marketing sercices, or departments responsible for technological innovation will be able to serve all memebers in the chain. Television networks are also chains; CTV has affiliate stations in 8 provinces, co-ordinating programming through Toronto headquarters. Such sharing of resources offers chain operations cost advantages over single enterprises. Chain ownership offeres advantages of reducing competition and creates economies of scale

vertical integration is the concentration of firms within a specific business that ectends a company’s control over the entire process of production. A vertically integrated company will have subsidiary companies involved in every aspect of an industry. E.g is the commercial film industry, in which holywood companies not only own production studio and distribution companies but have subsidiaries involved in theatrical exhibition, television, and video/dvd rental to ensure their films reach audiences and generate revenues. Vertically integrated company ensures itself of resource supplies and sales markets, and minimizes other uncertainties, such as competition, related to the circuit of productionPrivate enterprise is seen as having two social benefits:To stimulate the provision of affordable goods and services for which consumers have expressed a need/desire through purchasing decisionsBecase advertising subsidizes the media, consumers are able to receive either free (radio) or at minimal cost (daily newspapers).

Radio spectrum: Royal commission: high-level inquiries established by government to investigate problems and recommend solutions


• Sign/signifier/signified: A sign is anything with meaning: a word, image, sound, painting. Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of semiotics (science of signs), suggests signs are composed of 2 elements: the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the thing that we see, hear or feel: image on the screen, sounds, small bumps on a paper. The signified is the idea or mental concept we draw from those signifiers: the ideas in a blog, music, words in a book. The process of signification is a process of making meaning. the study of sign and sign systems

• Signifier | Signified

• Sign


Synergies:Convergence (different types): “convergence”: bringing together of text, voice, data, video and sound into single medium (e.g radio, newspapers, tv, telephones onto web). Made to make distribution of info much faster: new economy, new society: global village.

Bringing together once separate comm tech such as telephone, broadcasting,l computers, sound, voice recording into one technological platform such as the internet. The key to this technological platform is the digitization of media content such that it can be translated into a common format. Seen as part of “information highway”: web of computers, fibre optic cable, satellites, databases, etc. which is producing an “information revolution” (supposed “global village”)But media have developed separately and in Canada are dominated by foreign mainly American producersDifferent industries of media, developed and action, each grew up individually. How we interact and developed: much of history of candian media is govt trying to establish … to promote growth of Canadian communications. Successful in developing means of communication as has most developed communications in the world, yet least content that represents the country. Concern of culture

Technological determinism: technology determines social direction and form (e.g like innis Oral form of comm = time bias; literate form = space bias. Info tech yields info society). (similar to substantivism) (e.g sateliite start globalization. Tech reinforces social forms)

e.g of technological determinism: if technological development can do something, society will take full advantage of this technological capacity and will be shaped fundamentally by the apparatuse.g technological determinism argue that landing a man on the moon changed society funadamentally: it was seen as the begininning of the colonization of space by humanity. Also the internet was presumed to democratize the world than ever beforeanalysts and general public accept tech to the point that they fully believe that the projections about the future of society based on technological capacitydeterminism fails to consider that the technology does not drop out of the clear blue sky. Rather it is derived from specific efforts to solve problems or find oppurtunities. It also ignores the role of state and institutional control over the industrialized application of tech (e.g internet used for dictatorship/terrorism as for democracy)

• technological determinism holds that technology operates according to an inexorable logic inherent in the technology itself. Tech here is seen as apart of the natural ecolution of a better world and that the effects of tech are imposed by the tech itself, rather than through human decisions anout how it is employed

o e.g of determinist thinking in the trends towards miniaturization and mobility: mobile phone you carry today will be inevitably replaced by one smaller or light that allowes you to do more with it.


o determinist perspective, human control over the exact direction of technological development is minimal; the tech has a life of its own

•Technological imperative: Tech development doesn’t determine direction but leads or points the way

they tend to abstract tech from social context and “reify” technological developmentin Canada, these technologies given form by political and economic forces:

1. govt regulation: encouraged the growth of markets and industry (e.g telecoms and broadcast markets)

2. private investment: branchplants, and technology transfer… (e.g Westinghouse, General Electric, RCA)

3. at a much broader level, consumer society (post ww2)the development of these technologies was a product of a complex arrat of interdependent social forces – a “social form”. Same for newspaper, photography, film

Telefilm: 1967: Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC) established “to foster and promote the development of a feature film industry”1969-1974: 119 films (68 English, 51 French) 9% screen time in Quebec, almost nothing in the rest of Canada1974: Capital Cost allowance (100% tax deduction)1974- 1978: over 300 more films produced, but few distribution1983: CFDC converted to Telefilm

• Canadian Feature Film:o historically less than 5% of films Canadian, less than 3% of box office

revenueo Because: Structure of industry. o Cineplex-Galaxy hold bulk of screens in Anglophone Canada and have

exclusive deals with US distributors – mainly motion Pictures Association Canada – to ensure steady flow of US product to Canadian screens (“block” booking)

o "Distribution Gag” maintained in serveral ways:i. pressure to block bookingii. U.S dist. Vertically integrated with production companiesiii. US dist. Buy “north american” irghts to films (If film is not one

of their, and not expected to be big US draw, they are not interested in distributing

iv. Big marketing campaigns that flow over border in form of ads, entertainment programs, reviews etc build audiences

Theories of the press: Wire service:


chain ownership, common form of media organization in Canada, is the linking or horizontal integration, of a number of companies in the same business – typically newspapers, radio stations, or television stations – occupying different markets. Chains are usually geographically dispersed, but sometimes members of the chain will occupy the same location and aim for distinct audiences. Member companies in chain may have agreements to buy, sell services from eachother. Postmedia newspapers share editorial content among member appers and have own wire service. Chains often consolidate admin resources, so that accounting, marketing sercices, or departments responsible for technological innovation will be able to serve all memebers in the chain.

Exam Questions:

Name and briefly describe three important issues that are associated with the new “information economy.” (6 marks)

Digital divide: refers to the fact that socioeconomic factors, including income and education levels , geographical location, gender, age, influence participation in the new media environment. As a result, richer people and countries have greater access to and make greater use of , new media and the internet than do poorer people and countries, a situation that has led to the creation of the categories of the “information rich” and the “information poor”. “Digital divide” also refers to the view held by many that digital technologies not only confer benefits but also contribute to social inequalities. E.g not everyone has equal access to digital technology and even among those who do, not everyone is equally competent in using it.

iNFO TECH IMPACTS AND ISSUES (4 on exam)Commodification of info: creates “digital divide”Two groups of info poor (cant afford it);iii) here at home (rural, low income, poor/ no web access)iv) in “developing” areas/countries (e.g countries in Africa, south east asia)• more generally: “the right to know or the right to information, makes possible all other rights” (UNESCO)Unemployment and deskilling• been a shift from fulltime to partime work; from skilled industrial jobs to low skilled service jobs; often implemented in “prescriptive” manner. Disturbing trends.Privacy• I/T threatens in several ways: i) unsolicited marketing; ii) health and credit records; ii) law enforcement/state surveillance; iv) workplace monitoring• at the heart of issue is "self-determination”. The more info other have about you, the more your choices are constrainedSovereignty and representation• because of the economies of scale involved, is a growing reliance on foeign, mainly American data bases and data services. Raises two issues:


i) Canadian vulnerable to trade sanctions and bankruptcies, therby undermines ability to control livlihoodsii) information is not value neutral (re: imported education; studies, reports etc)Conclusion:• some ICT has potential for increasing public access to info, but primarily developed in pursuit of private economic gains• "benefits" of the technology could not have been realized without changes public policies such as copyright legislation, trade regulation, labour law, and telecommunications regulation• consequently, ICT not autonomous or an inevitable force in society but a complex social form

What threat(s) does internet broadcasting present to the Canadian broadcasting system? (Be specific) (5 marks)

• presents challenges for traditional conceptions of comm tech, industries, in its starting assumptions, structure, the ways ppl are using it.

• Sheer size of internet today means a major shift in the way we must think about comm media

• Works- text, music, video, etc – are stored and transferred digitally, can be copied and distributed globally in an instant for almost no cost, traditional conceptions and intellectual property become problematic

• Impact of blogging on journalism. By attempting to distance themselves from blogging by appealing to ideals of quality, objectivity, journalistic ethics or by incorporating bloggers in their offerings.

• web isnt the same as the internet and dozens of other apps/services are used by millions daily. Traditional media formats such as telephone/video services appearing as internet based apps. However internet-based television content seems slowed by copyright and licensing ambiguities and internet telephony and COPI is becoming more widely used.

• offers millions of possibilities. the internet introduces a new level of decentralization of services and control, it is important to remember that a unified network is a tool that can at the same time facilitate an even greater concentration of databases, brands, discourses.

export of new technologies from one country to another is referreed to as technology transferthe problem of technology transfer is the tendency to reduce tech to ‘machines’/’devices’ and ignore the wider social/cultural contexts in playdirect causal correlations between the intro of tech into developing economies and chnages in social behavior cannot be easily identified. Combinations of tech with other changes can modify behavior. e.g rural/agricultural seting it is a net asset for more children, whereas in city they are a net expense. Hence birth control info with a change of circumstances may have an effect as urbanization gradually changes the orientation to size of family.


technical approaches to the intro of tech (skills training, explanation of the equipment) are limited in their effectiveness bcuz the socio-cultural element is missing in the ensemble.

What do we mean when we say that a communications technology is a ‘social’ form? Provide examples of how two specific media technologies (e.g Raymond Williams) might be seen in this way. (5 marks)

technology = i) “thing”, ii) knowledge about what the thing does and iii) its place in a larger social process or contexthence, any particular "tool" (or artifact) can generally be seen as part of larger set of social processese.g overhead is "pedogogical tool" embodied in "practice of education" which is also given form by social circumstancesanother e.g: information and communication tech (ICT) as part of industrial societyRaymond Williams:The press for political and economic info; the photograph for community, family and personal life; the motion picture of curiosity and entertainment; telegraph and telephony for business info and some important personal messagessimple techniques became sophisticated technologies in the context of developing industrial society

telegraph: current in wire became method for signaling over distance, co-ordinating action between different centres.. (e.g goods to markets)it is the social context (industrial society) that gives the thing form and function. Hence: “technology as a social form” (same as overhead projector)as the industrial society changed, so did the telegraph…in Canada, these technologies given form by political and economic forces:

4. govt regulation: encouraged the growth of markets and industry (e.g telecoms and broadcast markets)5. private investment: branchplants, and technology transfer… (e.g Westinghouse, General Electric, RCA)6. at a much broader level, consumer society (post ww2)

the development of these technologies was a product of a complex arrat of interdependent social forces – a “social form”. Same for newspaper, photography, film

Other perspectivesbook outlines several common perspectives…vi. “Instrumentalism”: tech as value neutral tool (e.g cup, plane, car)vii. "technological determinism:”: technology determines social direction and form (e.g like innis Oral form of comm = time bias; literate form = space bias. Info tech yields info society). (similar to substantivism) (e.g sateliite start globalization. Tech reinforces social forms)


Describe the myth of “consumer sovereignty” in terms of the Canadian television market. In other words, describe how economic forces work to constrain both the range and content of media products in this venue (3 marks)

o Myth of consumer sovereignty; do we get what we want or just what we are offered. Consumers decide what will be sold to them somehow. In terms of media, no one asks u what u want to see, just offer u stuff. Don’t ask what kind of cars, groceries, films etc u want to see. Predetermined set/range of products. If u want to see a Canadian move really reflect Canadian perspectives, impossible, because range of products predetermined before because they only offer you products that they think they can make money off and will be profitable. E.g reality tv shows: no one wanted amateur actors competing to do things for money. over last 15-20 years, only so many tv shows available; ctv, global, cbc, cbs, abc, nbc. Particular range of programming people would watch at that time. Fragmentation of audience: less money available to each tv networks available for programming, thus reality tv shows cheaper to produce than these networks. Rate of advertising did not increase as fragmentation of channels, now increased range of mediums, thus advertising fell. Much cheaper to get amateur actors then high end actors, thus reality tv much cheaper to produce. Thus had to change marketing traditions. If show isn’t watched, show will be off the air, consumer sovereignty is highly constrained.

Globalization and the information society can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Discuss (6 marks)

o globalization process is describes as ‘a new communications geography’, questions conventional notions of community: peoples sense of how they belong to the national community has changed

becoming more and more difficult for govts to assume control of cultural production on behalf of their constituents

recently the accessibility of the internet, the inadequacies of both public/private forms of ownershop and the hypercommercialism that has accompanied globalization have combined to reinvigorate movements for media reform and the establishment of alternative media organizations

Define the term “technological determinism” and provide an example of this kind of thinking (3 marks)

o technological determinism holds that technology operates according to an inexorable logic inherent in the technology itself. Tech here is seen as apart of the natural ecolution of a better world and that the effects of tech are imposed by the tech itself, rather than through human decisions anout how it is employed


e.g of determinist thinking in the trends towards miniaturization and mobility: mobile phone you carry today will be inevitably replaced by one smaller or light that allowes you to do more with it.

determinist perspective, human control over the exact direction of technological development is minimal; the tech has a life of its own

What does the term “audience fragmentation” mean and why is it important? (4 marks)

Division of audiences into small groups due to the wide spectrum of media outlets. This is a situation that becomes increasingly baffling to advertisers as the specialization of publications and broadcast opportunities becomes even more diverse. In addition, the advent of cable television has made a vast number of television stations available to viewing audiences as well as confusing the geographic locations of viewers. For example: New York audiences can now watch programming of Atlanta, Philadelphia, or Boston stations, and Southern California receives programming from New York. This leaves a fragmented viewing audience in that consumers in California usually cannot avail themselves of services delivered in New York.

•Briefly describe some of the problems of foreign ownership in the context of media

companies (4 marks)•

http://www.answers.com/topic/media

http://www.answers.com/topic/cable-television

Documents

COMN 1000 Winter Term Exam Study Guides3.amazonaws.com/prealliance_oneclass_sample/voZKbnxLqE.pdf · purposes of the system ... claim that it confers too much power on dominant owners