How Can the Political Economy of Communication Help Us Understand the Internet? By Robert McChesney

The article is part of a chapter in McChesney’s book, titled Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet against Democracy. Published in March 2013, it is one of McChesney’s most recent books. One of the main insights from the book is corporate capitalism which often resembles monopolies that dominate the political economy. This domination weakens credible journalism and creates an antidemocratic force. The book offers a critique of the commercialism of the internet. Through his book, McChesney encourages readers to take action and reclaim the democratizing potential of the digital revolution. The book is meant for people doing research in the field of communication and journalism, or anyone that is really interested in the interaction between capitalism, democracy and the digital revolution.         

     

Robert McChesney is currently a Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. He obtained his PhD from University of Washington in 1989. Before Illinois, he was a Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1988 to 1998. His research focuses mainly on political economy of communication, 20^th century media history, international communication, media and communication policy, and media and social change. In 2002, he co-founded Free Press, a national media reform organization. He was also the president of Free Press until 2008 and remains on its Board of Directors until today. Between 2002 and 2012, he hosted a weekly radio program every Saturday afternoon called “Media Matters” on NPR affiliate WILL-AM.

The article discusses about a subfield of political economy, known as political economy of communication (PEC) that may provide a useful context to deal with the key issues of digital revolution.  According to McChesney, the PEC has 2 general lines of inquiry. First, it exposes the institutions and parties that are involved in a media or communication system, including the government. Second, it emphasizes the role of government policies in building media systems.

McChesney believes that PEC is guided by the notion of public sphere, which shows the importance of a media system independent of both the government and dominant institutions. McChesney claims that the government has the capability to change policies in the media system, but they only do that during critical junctures. In fact, he argued that we are currently facing another critical juncture for communication due to the digital revolution and diminishing popularity of traditional journalism.

The article explores communication technology’s role in the political economy of communication. Once a communication regime is put in place, technologies help establish the status quo and it becomes difficult to replace them unless there is another technological revolution. In addition to communication technologies, the article gives insights into the commercial media system and how the companies’ profit maximizing goals impact the society. It also discusses how the line between media producers and consumers has blurred along with the growing internet access. McChesney added that copyrights remain an important issue as large media companies continue to be dominant in the PEC. Furthermore, the article describes the development of professional journalism and the problems that it faces throughout its years of development. The author closed the chapter by stressing the importance of policy making and how vital it is for us to participate in making sure that good and fair policy is being produced.