How media control people today?

2013

Tanner Mirrlees A critical cultural materialist introduction to the study of global entertainment media. In Global Entertainment Media, Tanner Mirrlees undertakes an analysis of the ownership, production, distribution, marketing, exhibition and consumption of global films and television shows, with an eye to political economy and cultural studies. Among other topics, Mirrlees examines: Paradigms of global entertainment media such as cultural imperialism and cultural globalization. The business of entertainment media: the structure of capitalist culture/creative industries (financers, producers, distributors and exhibitors) and trends in the global political economy of entertainment media. The "governance" of global entertainment media: state and inter-state media and cultural policies and regulations that govern the production, distribution and exhibition of entertainment media and enable or impede its cross-border flow. The new international division of cultural labor (NICL): the cross-border production of entertainment by cultural workers in asymmetrically interdependent media capitals, and economic and cultural concerns surrounding runaway productions and co-productions. The economic motivations and textual design features of globally popular entertainment forms such as blockbuster event films, TV formats, glocalized lifestyle brands and synergistic media. The cross-cultural reception and effects of TV shows and films. The World Wide Web, digitization and convergence culture. "Mirrlees explains in clear and lively language how the most popular and ubiquitous movies, TV formats, and brands are made and consumed―and he also explains why this matters. In a world where media continue to increase their hold on resources and their place in our lives, Global Entertainment Media is a must-read for media activists and students of culture." ―John McCullough, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Film, York University "Comprehensive and tactically plain-spoken, Dr. Mirrlees’s cultural-economic study maps out the complex networks of production, consumption, and regulation that structure today’s culture industry, and offers a key for unlocking its meanings and functions in a neoliberal age dominated by neo-imperial corporations. In the process, this teachable text provides a primer―ideal for undergraduates―on key ‘macro’ concepts in media and cultural studies, like discourse, globalization, intellectual property, and postcolonialism." ―Mark A. McCutcheon, Assistant Professor of Literary Studies, Athabasca University "Mirrlees presents a meticulously well researched, original, and insightful overview of an expansive field. Global Entertainment Media surveys a complex and ever-changing global media landscape, navigating the terrain with great clarity and authority. Mirrlees’s methodological approach, his deft theoretical analysis, and his wide-ranging and up-to-date use of examples and case studies make this a foundational work that brings global media studies scholarship firmly into the twenty-first century." ―Ian Reilly, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University

The current study examines how the horror-based AMC television series The Walking Dead portrays religion in terms of a reframing of the role, if any, of faith in a higher power, and the portrayal of the faithful. The religiousthemed discourse of this highly successful story about survivors of a zombie apocalypse as presented through dialogic and visual imagery serves as the text analyzed here; specifically, related episodes set in churches at two separate points in the series that combine to offer a metaphor of "structure" used to disassemble and reconstruct the role of religion. These episodes interlace religious themes to develop an overarching message that forms a representative anecdote of replacement in which the notion of "faith" becomes redefined.

For the last two decade there have been significant changes in traditional news reporting in Turkey. Especially with the developments in the new communication technologies boundaries between journalism and entertainment, and between public affairs and pop culture, became difficult to discern. Journalism and politics mostly combined with entertainment. In this context, a new term, infotainment which is used in order to explain the change in the new communication era and understanding of information flow has emerged. When the current literature about infotainment examined scholars generally argue the negative effects of infotainment to democracy and Journalism. They argue that infotainment as an overall trend, paying less attention to politics, economics and society compared to sports, entertainment and scandals and therefore it is used as a refer to a decrease in journalistic principles. However they ignore that infotainment can also draw depoliticized society’s attention to the politics, social problems and reality since humor is memorable persuasive and can influence political attitudes. Main aim and objectives of this study is to assert that, usage of entertaining content, satiric news reporting or in general satiric infotainment, can take the attention of depoliticized society. Online satiric infotainment is rising gradually. Turkish website Zaytung (www.zaytung.com), is an important example of satiric infotainment in Turkey. Therefore, this study takes Zaytung as a case study and uses the content analysis method in order to examine this website’s information flow as an example of satiric infotainment.

1999

TV Living presents the surprising results of the largest survey of television viewing habits ever completed. For five years, 500 people kept a diary of their television viewing, their lives, and the relationship between the two. The results upset and confirmed commonly held beliefs about audiences, such as: television is not a masculine domain, the elderly audience has diverse tastes, and people regulate how much violence, sex, or bad language they watch.

“Unboxing television in contemporary Indonesia” highlights how media content, especially within television, is produced and consumed in Indonesia. The main aim is to question the logic behind TV production and to highlight how the audience shows varying degrees of autonomy in overcoming the dominance – and ignorance – of media producers.

2009

This work is dedicated to Jimmy for keeping me on task by asking me "shouldn't you graduate first?" each time my attention would stray.