Big Media, Big Money: Cultural Texts and Political Economics

Big Media, Big Money is a lively and scathing critique of the contemporary communications industry. With close readings of recent news events, Bettig and Hall look critically at the effects of "media merger mania" on the structure and content of the movie, music, and book publishing industries. They further explore challenges posed by the Internet and the effects of copyright control, as well as growing corporate influence in the newsroom and the classroom. The authors conclude that current interconnections among media, big business, government, and education reflect capitalism's trend of concentration of wealth and power--posing a serious threat to democratic communications.