EOTO Key Post - Media Consolodation

 

Justice William J Brennan jr.

"Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials." - Justice Brennan on NY Times v. Sullivan in 1964

The Sherman Antitrust Act was approved July 2nd, 1890. This was the first legislation against monopolies. The government's National Archives website describes a trust as "an arrangement by which stockholders in several companies transfer their shares to a single set of trustees." Stockholders are incentivized to do this because they are then entitled to a share of the combined companies which will yield much higher payouts.The obvious issue with this is that a small group of people are controlling an entire market. This leads to a lack of competition which would usually bring prices down and employee's wages up.

While it was originally used in the Gilded Age against people like Rockefeller and Carnegie, ti is still used today. In the late 1990's, this act was used against Microsoft accusing them of monopolistic business practices.

An interesting application of this act is with media consolidation. Helen Johnson, a student at Vassar College, writes that in 1983, there were 50 dominant media companies. Today, there are 6: Comcast, NewCorp, Disney, ViaCom, AT&T, and CBS. These corporations alone account for 90% of media consumed in America.

If one companies owns all of the smaller companies that sell jackets, they can do two things; up-charge the price per jacket, and make it low quality. Everyone needs a jacket so people will buy it and they'll have to got to this one company. The same idea applies to media consumption as opposed to goods and services. When a media company doesn't have enough competition, they can put in as little effort as they want. Almost everybody needs to be updated on the news and they have limited options on how to do that so the business is guaranteed. I believe this to be a contributor to the modern fake news issue.

These modern media businesses completely destroy the marketplace of ideas theory. The theory was developed in 1919 and argues that a free form of expression ultimately leads to truth. Only when our ideas are challenged can we know their strength. Without open expression, the ideas of the few in power will never be challenged. 

In the end, we are the only ones who get hurt as the consumers. It is way too easy for these companies to skew their news and create false narratives. To truly enjoy freedom, one must also have the freedom to seek and share ideas as he pleases. I'm not sure that the business practices of these companies today ensure that. I believe the Sherman Antitrust Act will be used frequently in the years to come.

Diffusion of Innovations

 

The Diffusion of Innovations is a theory of technological advancement that can be applied to many modern methods of communication. 

To look at Netflix as an example starting in 2007, the only people to transition from DVDs to streaming would have been the small percentage called the innovators. 

The early adopters wave came in 2010 when Netflix signed a $1 billion deal to stream films from Lionsgate, Paramount, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. These customers already owned a subscription, but began to see the value of streaming now that fan favorites are available.

Over the next several years, Netflix continued to sign deals with many different production and media agencies acquiring more movies and TV shows that their subscribers have access to. By 2014, Netflix had rights to Adult Swim, TNT, Starz, Sony, Star Wars, and had launched many of its own original series. With all of these developments, the early majority joined Netflix because it was the hub of streaming content.

The tipping point is the success of the Netflix originals in 2017, specifically 13 Reasons Why, Bandersnatch, Black Mirror, and Stranger Things. Today, Netflix has 2,796 orginal shows and movies, according to IMDB. By 2017, there were competitors like Hulu and HBOMax, but Netflix acquired that late majority by making shows that everybody watched only available on Netflix. I remember in 2017 when everybody was talking about these shows and very few people didn't know what we were talking about.

The laggards joined in 2020 during quarantine when there was nothing else to do so they might as well have access to entertainment. By 2021, Netflix hit 209 million subscribers, up by 13% since 2020.

EOTO Presentation Reflection

One thing I learned from the EOTO presentations is that Youtube sold to Google in 2006 because of litigation costs. I grew up watching Youtube, so I knew that the copyright issue was prevalent. Google already owned Youtube when I started watching, so I never considered the copyright issue to be that detrimental to the business. It makes sense, however, that they took the $1.65 billion offer and got to avoid all of the legal trouble that followed. 

Another modern form of communication that I learned about was Netflix. I knew that Netflix started as mailing DVD's, but I didn't realize how early they began streaming services. I binged my first Netflix show in 2013 when I was 12 years old. Netflix began offering streaming in 2007. They had already been streaming movies and TV shows for 6 years at that point. It's incredible the influence streaming has had on our generation.

One historical form of communication that I learned about was the Printing Press, or rather, the inventor. The Printing Press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1453. He died in 1468 before seeing the true success of his invention. Then, in 1517, Martin Luther used Gutenberg's press to print his 95 Theses which essentially started Protestantism. So, thanks to Gutenberg, people began reading the bible on their own and thinking for themselves.

The Progressive Era

The issue with dissenting opinions is one of culture and not law necessarily. The Government has created the opportunity for a marketplace of ideas, and it is our responsibility to maintain it. 

That is what the ideal would look like. In reality, the Government is intervening unconstitutionally and has been since our founding. Starting with the Aliens and Sedition act and all the way up to the Twitter Files, the Government is always trying to skew public opinion in its favor. 

Of course the Government wants public support, but the whole point of our system is that the people control the Government, not the other way around. So, when websites like The American Conservative and voicing their opinions against the Government, their articles will not be circulated as much on the internet. 

The effect of this on our modern political culture has been sad. By only seeing one view, many people think it is ridiculous to think something else. When it comes to war, it is especially important to have all sides heard because this comes back and effects every citizen, physically or economically. We are not internally free if there is not an accessible marketplace of ideas. In 2023, this marketplace should be the most accessible its every been, but it seems the opposite is true.

8 Values of Free Expression

The 8 values of free expression are all necessary to have the freedom we enjoy internally. Of these 8, the two most important to me are the Marketplace of Ideas by John Milton and Stable Change by Benedict Spinoza.

The Marketplace of ideas is a theory that basically demonstrates the importance of an open space to share ideas, factual or not. This idea is fairly intuitive, but Milton specifically commented on the theory that when all ideas are shared, the truth will beat out the lies. 

Rutgers University professor Alvin Goldman summarizes Milton's ideas by saying that this marketplace can operate similarly to the economy. When the Government is removed from the economy, the competition will drive lower prices and better products. Just with ideas, when the Government does not limit any speech, the competitive nature will force only the truth to prevail.

To me, this idea is the foundation of every intellectual advancement we have every made. Consider, how would progress be possible if we cannot learn from others? 

The biggest counterargument to this is rooted in the modern use of social media and how easy it is to post false information. For the most part, however, we are a self correcting community who will point out when something is not adding up. For that reason, I am still confident in this theory.

The Stable Change theory is the idea that angry or alienated citizens need to be able to speak their opinions rather than resort to violence. 

Benedict Spinoza

Being exiled from the Jewish community at age 23, Benedict Spinoza was always considering the issue of
conflicting thought.

Justin Steinberg, student research assistant for Stanford University, wrote about Spinoza's political philosophy. He understood this theory to be one that fights for "freedom of thought and expression and the subordination of religion to the state." 

All this means is that our personal thoughts have to come first. Then, we need to be able to express those thoughts as we wish. Then, if there is an issue, the government can issue subsequent consequences. In a world where your government doesn't allow you to express dissenting opinion, oppressed groups would have no choice but to resort to violence to enact change.

Without either of these two ideas, we would not have civilized society.