The Republic of Mass Culture - Essay Example

As Baughman explains through an in-depth historical analysis, this strategy was used vis--vis each new mass medium. The television, however, proved. As a survival strategy, however, this was simply not sufficient. Print journalism and radio could hardly compete with television but what they did do was define the mass media market itself and proceed to identify the different segments and sub-segments wherein, following which they engaged in the identification of their target audience and the design of content to meet the tastes of the target segments.

The mass media evolved into an industry that relied on market studies and marketing in order, not just to survive but, to prosper and grow. The mass media industry began to borrow and implement the tools and strategies traditionally associated with other industries. Hence, marketing and PR departments evolved. Even as regards newspapers whose primary purpose is to report the news, irrespective of whether the public will find it enjoyable and interesting, or not, the content was influenced by marketing research.

As Baughman argues, "market forces, or, more accurately, a perception of the market"1 shaped the content of mass media and influenced the evolution of novel trends therein. As he explains the extent to which the mass media made the transition from an information communications medium, whose content was primarily determined by developing news and events, to an almost wholly entertainment-based channel of popular communication, whose content is determined by market studies, Baughman presents a controversial thesis.