Page 51 - Cultural Studies and Political Economy

40 Chapter One

company, Western Union; in other words, freedoms enjoyed by press sys-
tems included, for a time, the freedom to engage in monopolistic business
practices.
Second, the freedom to publish, affirmed by the First Amendment, is a
right possessed by owners of the press to publish what they wish, and pari
passu to exclude viewpoints and spokespersons as the owners see fit. 188 Con-
sequently, Innis correctly observed that the First Amendment fostered “a nar-
rowing of the range from which material is distributed and a widening of the
range of reception, so that large numbers receive, but are unable to make any
direct response.” 189 And again, reminiscent of Horkheimer and Adorno, Innis
declared, “Those on the receiving end of material from a mechanized central
system are precluded from participation in healthy, vigorous, and vital dis-
cussion.” 190 Hence, in shoring up the rights of the powerful, the First Amend-
ment, at least relatively, reduced the rights of the general public.
Third, the enormous growth in the press combined with press freedom,
meant that increasingly newspaper production enjoyed large economies of
scale, further serving to reduce the number of smaller, independent voices and
simultaneously inducing the larger presses to seek out the lowest common de-
nominator among readers. 191 As Innis explained, “Hearst resorted to new de-
vices to increase circulation, ranging from larger headlines to sensationalism
in the Spanish-American war, large salaries to attract staff from Pulitzer, fea-
tures, and comic strips.” 192 Since Innis’ time, a new word has been coined—
infotainment—marking the ubiquity of practices analogous to those be-
moaned by Innis over half a century ago.
Fourth, to increase circulation, and thereby the utility of newspapers to ad-
vertisers, prices to charged readers were lowered, with advertising making up
the shortfall. This meant in turn that advertisers began exerting significant
(monopolistic) control over editorial content. Muckraking in the financial
field disappeared, according to Innis, as advertisers were concerned, rather,
“with constant emphasis on prosperity.” 193 Indeed, for Innis, “advertising be-
came monopolistic in relation to a monopolistic press and imposed its influ-
ence on political, social and economic life,” resulting in “maladjustments”
which Innis associated first with the boom of the nineteen twenties, followed
by the depression of the thirties. 194
Fifth, through copyright, “news became a vendible commodity,” 195 as
newspapers attained the freedom to “own” the news. The establishment of a
property right in the news strengthened the Associated Press’ news monopoly
and constrained the free flow of information and ideas.
Sixth, the press became a vehicle for molding public opinion through de-
vious, even subliminal means. “Success in the industrialized newspaper,” In-
nis wrote, “depends on constant repetition, inconspicuous infiltration, in-