Political Economy Essay -- Mass Media News Mediated Messages

Political Economy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Our society is strongly influenced by all sources of media. The media shows us what is going on in the world news, fashion and much more. The media is our connection to the world and what goes on all around us. The political economy approach looks at the influence that ownership control, advertising and audience spending has over the mass media and the mediated messages we receive on a daily basis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Political economy believes that everything about media products is created through structural features (ownership, advertising and audience spending). The industries and businesses that the media works for and out of are organized through the economic and political factors of our economy. Political economy stresses that private ownership has a major influence on the content and structure of the media.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are three viewpoints on ownership control Kevin Williams discusses in Understanding Media Theory. First, Marxist political economy believes that there is a direct link between ownership and control. An owner determines who, what facts and what ideas the public actually sees. Second, Structuralists say it is impossible to have a direct relationship between ownership and control. Structuralists believe that an owner is not physically able to keep up with the operations of mediated messages made on a daily basis. There are too many messages made for an owner to look over and ok before production. Instead Structuralists believe to have alloc...