The Times, They Are A Changin'

As a student of media conglomerates from within the College of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, I'm as concerned as anyone regarding the state of consolidation within the scope of traditional media. When only seven corporations control almost every newspaper, book publisher, radio station, television channel, movie production, magazine publication, and music label, one can easily interpret this as an assault on free speech. These mega-corporations have diversified their holdings across all media just enough to circumvent any anti-trust regulation, and yet they determine to a large extent what you watch, read, or hear. But they are facing an unprecedented attack by the Internet and, more than most industries, are experiencing upheaval among their ranks because of this electronic marketplace of ideas.

Newspaper circulation has been on the decline for twenty years, first because of changes in the population, and later because of the vast amount of news available on the Internet. Seven major newspapers have now filed for bankruptcy protection and more are on the way. Accelerating the demise are the cutbacks being executed within newsrooms; as revenues fall, so does reporting quality and coverage. Certainly, newspapers have turned to the Internet as a salvation, but instead of competing with a few other dailies on the news stand, they are now facing literally millions of sources for news and information. Given their anachronistic status within the modern world, I take great pleasure in reading about Rupert Murdoch's grand plans to open the world's largest printing plant outside of London. I'm sure that history will look kindly upon this move, as it did with Napoleon at Waterloo.

No one reads books in bound form any more. This is only the mildest of exaggerations - two years ago, there were 1.2 million different titles published in the United States, and less than 400 of them sold more than 100,000 copies. Every traditional book publisher is now operating under the Hollywood "blockbuster" model - secure a name-brand author, and publish only work that can be read by a sixth-grader. You see, reading skills have plummeted such that America is a dumbed-down country capable of taking the English language, now with over 1,000,000 words, and reducing it to a puerile compendium of colloquialisms, a minimalist street-wise lexicon for communicating base needs at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy. For those who are still interested in reading more than a Twitter post, Google is scanning books into their database as fast as the light bars can move across the page, and even textbook companies are being forced into producing eBooks, which sell for a fraction of a bound or paperback version. Amazon's Kindle is also reshaping the landscape for digesting novellas, novels, and tomes. All of this spells trouble for the traditional book publishing industry model, and opportunity for new writers to become seen through the many avenues of self-publication that are available. Book publishers are approaching marginalization as marketing services only; the last line to cross are the brick-and-mortar stores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble. See, book publishers don't have very good record at recognizing valuable content - Gone With the Wind was rejected 38 times, Ray Bradbury was rejected 736 times, Harry Potter was rejected 16 times; all told, publishers have rejected now-famous works by authors such as Stephen King, John Le Carre, Joseph Heller, Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov, and even Anne Frank. Little Anne Frank was rejected with the words, "The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level." They deserve whatever demise the Internet has in store for them.

Radio is now available on the Internet, and in the case of Pandora, each song is customized for your listening pleasure by isolating a "music genome" from the style or artist of your choice. If you haven't tried this, you must do it now - and be prepared to be amazed. Talk radio still has its adherents, but if the media empires are reducing to catering to "dittoheads," and brain-damaged shock-jock enthusiasts, then they will have hit rock bottom. You're only as respected as the customers you serve.

With 500 channels, modern television services are largely, but still only partially controlled by media giants, with each conglomerate owning a number of channels of either broadcast or cable-delivered. A&E Television Networks (AETN) is a joint venture of the Hearst Corporation, ABC/Disney and NBC whereas the Discovery Channel (including TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Health, Science Channel, Planet Green, Discovery Kids, and the Military Channel) is an independent venture. And, as Comcast is discovering, subscribers are dropping cable service in favor of free TV shows on the Internet. In response, the largest cable company in America is launching fee-based Internet delivery of television programming. This will have an interesting effect - as more customers switch and become accustomed to using the Internet for their viewing pleasure, the door will open for more independent productions to reach eyes and ears. We will get more choice with less intrusive advertising and at the same time, the bony grip of the media conglomerates on our skulls will be weakened.

With the advent of digital editing on a Mac using Final Cut Pro and distribution of the finished product on the Internet using services such as Netflix Instant View, there are more movies available for viewing than any time in history. Independent filmmakers still have to work the ropes at Cannes and Sundance, but we are rapidly approaching a time when even this will be unnecessary. Using YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, new films will be able to generate a cult following overnight, which can lead to mass market exposure through the word-of-mouth-at-the-speed-of-light presented by the Internet. The big studios are still needed for big-budget extravaganzas, but outstanding human drama doesn't require their oversight or money. Some of the best films of our time were independent productions whereas the major studios have been known to occasionally make a kind of movie affectionately known as a "flop or bomb." And some of those movies actually killed the studios that made them. All in all, the indie film community is thriving and we are better because of it.

The health of magazines can be measured by monitoring the number of advertising pages sold. And the latest data doesn't bode well for the glossy-cover crowd. Considering that there are 7,200 different magazines available to the general consumer, and 389 new titles appeared just this year, it seems that the publishers are doubling down on a dwindling market. Of the top 25 magazines by circulation, only AARP increased subscribership - yet another clear indication of the aging of America along with a barometer of magazine desirability. Once again, the Internet gives each person the information they want, when they want it and for the price they are willing to pay, and with minimal advertising intrusion. Why wait for a magazine when I can read reviews about a product, service, technique, or newsbite, check YouTube for someone using it, download the manual from the manufacturer, and post my own reviews when it doesn't work for me.

The music industry still has a stranglehold on musicians and listeners, but cracks are starting to appear in their bastion. First, MP3 downloads have collapsed revenues, and while I don't condone theft of any form, it allowed a company like Apple to negotiate a pay-by-the-song model for the iTunes Music Store, something the industry had rejected for decades as infringing on their right to sell CDs with 2 good songs and 11 pieces of trash. Second, with the iTunes Music Store in place, individual artists can now self-produce and distribute, and provided that they handle or outsource marketing and PR chores, they don't have to share with a major label who forces them to record two or three albums a year for five years or they get their asses sued off. In effect, because Distribution is Digital, the big record labels are nothing more than marketing agencies for artists, and if those artists find other sources for marketing services, the labels will become defunct. Given the sleazy way the music industry has acted toward their artists and their customers, this would be a fitting end.

I think we should set aside our fears of media consolidation and instead become active participants in using the Internet to bring them down.