Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times

Some argue that any effort to limit capitalist domination of media is an underhanded backdoor effort to eliminate capitalism. It is true that for those who are socialists or who are critical of capitalism, having a commercial media system is problematic; the track record is that such a system will not have much enthusiasm for hard-edged social criticism, especially from the Left. But even those who believe in the legitimacy of capitalism need not believe that media should be the sole province of capitalists. Indeed, they should not, if they value democracy. Market economies can survive, arguably even prosper, without having U.S.-style commercial media systems. The real question is whether democracy can survive as anything more than a fig leaf covering concentrated private power. As for the argument that new digital technologies render regulation-!J meaning regulation that might impede private interests, not regulation that assists them-obsolete, it does not even pass rudimentary analysis. Merely being able to launch a Web site is wonderful and it has opened up the media system, but what is striking is how little effect it has had on the commercial media system so far. Not a single new commercially viable media content concern has been introduced on the Internet. The power of the market trumps the magic of the technology. If we want the Internet to spawn a new generation of viable media content providers, we cannot look to the market to produce that outcome. It will require explicit policies to generate such an outcome. Moreover, however one might want the Internet to develop, policy decisions will go a long way in pointing it in its ultimate direction. Global trade agreements, intellectual property laws and regulations, traditional media subsidies and regulations, and the like will be decisive in ,determining the future of the Internet. As with media writ large, the question is not whether we want regulation, but what type of regulation we want. It is worth noting as an addendum, that the Internet itself is a tremendous testament to public sector policymaking and cooperative economic and social activity. The Internet would never have developed if left to the market. The same is true of many other innovations in communication. in short, the public sector has a cornerstone role in communication, and fundamental interests to protect. This also suggests that the positive economic benefits from devel~ oping the media-information sector can, shou.ld, and do come from signifi~t public sector involvement. 20