Monday, 28 May 2012

Consumer Television Society

Even before the advent of television media has greatly reflected what the consumer seems to demand. Initially upon creation of such innovations as the Gutenberg Press in 1436 were designed specifically for the purpose of   Bible production. However, as printing became more easily accessible by distributors with the emergence of things such as the steam-driven rotary press in the mid-19th century, the idea of demographics started to emerge and evolve. Aiming for groups such as middle-class women and working-class men became a standard for news circulation.

Upon the emergence of cinema the circulation of news became much more accessible in America and distribution was much cheaper as they would typically broadcast the news before or after a main feature. Although some newspaper moguls had difficulty in the increasingly technologically orientated age across the seas, in Britain the businesses flourished for a great many more decades owing to the BBC's monopoly on radio and television broadcasting, any British channel aside from their's not emerging until 1955 and until the 1970's any sort of non-BBC radio broadcast was illegal.

All this said, it wasn't until the late 50's and early 60's that television use actually came into its stride, so newspapers were still able to subsist for a while (even today they're in use across the world, just not as effective as a singular source of income). Newspapers such as the Daily Mirror widely ignored the prominence of this medium as they had a 12 million circulation and 8 million sales. They were not observant of demographics such as the baby boomers of 1948-49, and as such could not maintain the circulation they had. Television, especially ITV owing to its commercial style and importing of American TV, was very attractive to the boomers. An emphasis was placed on key demographics with disposable incomes. Teenagers and house-wives were also useful for means of marketing. An explosion happened of "cultural" media, such as particular records, films, specific programmes broadcast by both the BBC and ITV and similar entertainment. In some views the development of television and the rise in its popularity saw the end, or at least the transformation, of the Age of Enlightenment. This is because TV is seen to have the effects of "dumbing down" the populace, which is a view that could be subscribed to, as it could be argued that greater control on the information disseminated exists. However the counter argument can be that if this were the case then live programming would not be used and everything would be pre-recorded. However, it has resulted in such demographics as the "lowest common denominator", which the idea of dumbing down can be ascribed to.

Although television has taken the greatest forefront in news distribution, papers still have a modicum of relevance and almost act as a secondary regulatory body for television, recent issues of trust with the BBC being a key example, and going further back, the war waged by Mary Whitehouse.

Moguls of today such as Rupert Murdoch have latched on to the idea of television and newspapers being a lucrative business and have gained an empire through creating daily supplements and TV channels such as the Sun and SKY which were "Born of the age we live in", aiming less for middle class or the college/university-educated, but specifically aiming for Joe-Average, working class white males who have gone straight from O-level/CSE/GCSEs into work. This has also been done through exploiting gaps in the market created by the regulatory standards put in place on the less commercial stations and newspapers.

Finally the power television holds in connection with political campaigns is quite vast in that they have ensured that politics has a means of getting through to greater masses. Campaigns are fought as much on television as they are through pamphleteering and the like. Party political broadcasts are a frequent sight during election times. It is a powerful tool. However it is a double-edged sword as it also risks recrimination and public humiliation if the politicians are embroiled in any form of scandal.

Overall, both newspapers, radio and television are effective tools and, despite the rises and falls in popularity, have seen through decades, or even centuries of development and advancement. Whether any of them will become completely obsolete is hard to say. All that is certain is that it will likely be a long time before any of them completely die out.

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