Analysis of Constitutive Choices that Affect Media Development - Literature review Example

Analysis of Constitutive Choices that Affect Media Development Introduction Understanding how different types of media have been shaped is a critical aspect in making wise decisions concerning the modern consumption of the media. Different authors have explored this issue and presented different concepts of the media development. The American media is one that can be analyzed intensively because of the available literature on its development. Paul Starr is one of the authors who have focused on describing the different factors that shaped the development of the American media in the period after between the American Revolution and the 2nd World War. Vaidhyanathan Siva has also described “The Googlization of Everything” in his famous texts baring the same title. However, Vaidhyanathan has focused on the development of the internet and the role of Google in understanding the impact of the internet. This paper will seek to analyze the constitutive choices discussed by Starr and how they apply to the development of the internet. In a Paul Starr’s book titled “The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications, ” he offers an extensive explanation of his argument that the American media was shaped by the political decisions made by different leaders in the period between the American Revolution and the conclusion of the World War II. The political decisions he mentions are referred to as “Constitutive Choices” throughout his texts. He uses the phrase constitutive choices to denote the numerous specific decisions that American leaders were compelled to make by ongoing critical moments. In order to make the reader understand the constitutive choices, Starr presents a comparison of the African and the European media which were shaped by different actors. According to Starr, the American media underwent four different waves of institutional development. Notably, the first one was the revolution and its aftermath while the emergence of the technological networks formed the second one (Starr 85). The third one was the emerging need for developing policies that would govern technological networks (Starr 100). The rising of the mass media defined the fourth wave. Constitutive Choices Explained One of the constitutive choices that the American leaders made was allowing the media to inform citizens in order to ensure that they had the capacity to vote wisely and vet their leaders. This choice was made after the American Revolution, which altered the existing relationship between the media and the American state. In a bid to promote this choice, a national postal service was introduced. In the years that followed, political parties would rely on the media in a bid to convey their messages to the people. This transformed the ownership of many newspapers placing them under partial ownership of party leaders. Notably, the state did not introduce any form of censorship even as political parties took charge of the press. An additional constitutive choice was made in the 1840’s after the emergence of the telegraph. The US allowed both the telegraph and the telephone to be developed using private capital a decision made by politicians (Starr 157). According to the first amendments concerning the media, politicians disallowed the government from presenting any interference to the media. However, it did not place any limitations on private to private corporations. Moreover, centralization of the media served as another constitutive choice which established a national network that worked closely with the Associated Press. Notably, the American government allowed the private corporations and the investment of private capital in developing different types of media, a factor that presented a unique American media. It was only in 1912 when the federal government sought to regulate the media by requiring the radio stations to have licenses. All these constitutive choices made over the years led to the development of media defined by the integration of capitalism and democracy. However, there was surging worries that the capitalist interest would surpass the democratic ones. Vaidhyanathan’s Views on his Book “Googlization of Everything” Vaidhyanathan explores the emergence of Google as a leading company that has served to define what is available in the web for many people across the globe. Since Google has proved to be a giant company in the internet sector, it has gained the space and power to control many aspects of people’s lives (Vaidhyanathan 18). Google has worked towards ensuring a wide variety of information available for the many internet users hitting the web search daily. The position of Google had blinded many people into thinking that all it does is constructive. However, Siva reveals that depending on how people use Google, it can either cause good or harm. According to Vaidhyanathan’s views, many people have expressed faith in Google because of the role it plays in putting information together for the internet users. However, there is a cause of concern that should motivate people to change their view on how they use Google. Vaidhyanathan makes the revelation that as internet users benefit from the information made available by Google, Google also indulges in a process of obtaining data from all the internet users and analyzing the interest, fears, aspirations and dreams (Vaidhyanathan 14). Google then uses the information gained from such data to inform advertisers who eventually place different advertisements targeting different segments of internet users. This is the reason why people should be worried about how they use the internet (Vaidhyanathan 83). Vaidhyanathan also explores the emerging surveillance as one of the issues that users of Google should continuously worry about. The company indulges in a universal surveillance that helps it understand the preferences of people and use such information to attract advertisers. This makes it evident that Google knows much more about people than the people understand about the company. Over the years, Google has made choices intended to increase its business front that has affected people differently (Vaidhyanathan 87). Analysis of the Constitutive Choices that are Likely to Determine the Internet Development The concept of establishing a virtual connectivity using the internet emerged in 1969. In the 1980’s, the internet had become a common aspect of the public, but was limited to the use of emails and texts based forms. Notably, in that decade, internet remained non-commercial. However, in the 1990’s, commercialization of the internet would take root altering what the internet would become. The internet has served to develop a virtual public sphere where different opinions exist (Starr 349). However, many people have expressed their concerns about whether the internet will serve to promote democracy. One of the analysts relies of Starr’s constitutive choices to explain the fate of the internet. According to Starr, constitutive choices were critical in the development of the American media. These choices are likely to affect the internet development. However, the internet exhibits a different structure because it lacks a central point of control, but its increasing influence on the people has revealed its potential to surpass other top-down communication systems. Many of the models developed to explain the development of the media do not apply to the internet because of its different structure and mechanisms. However, there is a likelihood that political choices can still have a measure of control on what the internet will become. The example of China is a classic example of constitutive choices defining internet development. Political leaders have passed the censorship act which different companies including Google must comply. This makes censorship Acts potential barriers to democracy exhibited by the internet (Starr 363). On the other hand, surveillance system such as the efforts made by the American government to spy on internet data is a critical constitutive choice that determines what the internet system will be like. Within the American society, there is a continued fear that the existing surveillance will alter the shape of the internet and its pertinent uses. Conclusion Without doubt, constitutive choices that were defined by Paul Starr served to shape the American media in the period between the American Revolution and the conclusion of the World War II. Decisions made by the political leaders exert impact on the use of the media. These decisions are made during critical times and serve to define the media development. According to Vaidhyanathan’s views, internet development is likely to be shaped by similar constitutive choices. State censorship and the concerted efforts towards surveillance are some of the outstanding constitutive choices with the potential of affecting the internet development. Work Cited Starr, Paul. The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications. s.l.: DIANE Publishing, 2006. Print. Vaidhyanathan, Siva. The Googlization of Everything: (and Why We Should Worry). Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Print. Read More