Note to ComS 169 Students!

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Note to ComS 169 Students!

• For Tuesday, March 15
• I will be giving the genre groups a chance to
  meet during the first part of class. Dont be
  late and dont take this as an excuse to wander
  in 20 minutes after class starts! You should be
  to the point where you can start drafting
  outlines of your presentations. I will be
  available for consultations!

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Production Context Criticism

• Prof. Nick Burnett
• ComS 169
• Television Criticism

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Production Context AssumptionsLevels of Analysis

• Macro levelownership and programming trends
• Concentration in the media industry
• Pressures to cross promote
• The disappearance of westerns, variety shows
• Micro levelpressures on television workers
• Getting produced, casting decisions, racial and
  ethnic issues
• Mid-rangecase studies of organizational dynamics
  
• Studio pressures, production companies

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Perspectives for Production Context Criticism

• Dominant perspectives
• Political/economic perspectivetheories of
  capitalism (often looks at allocative control)
• Organizational/industrial relations
  perspectivetheories of industrial society (often
  looks at operational control)

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Production Context Assumptions

• Two strategies to understand context
• Actional analysishow do people gain compliance,
  and strategies in gatekeeping, tends to look at
  individual influence
• Structural analysisconstraints in political and
  economic environments that determine limitsactor
  wages, sponsorship issues, regulatory studies
  (FCC), more likely to see decisions as the result
  of institutional influences

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Political Economy Critical Perspective

• Marxist influencehow does the structure of
  television support the interests of economic and
  political elites?
• Actional analysishow do corporate strategies
  effect broader control for elites?
• Structural analysiswhat are the larger societal
  effects on ideology and markets?

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Industrial Relations Critical Perspective

• Organizational sociology focusing on the social
  organization of television work
• Central issuespower, autonomy,
  bureaucratization, professional norms, and
  creativity
• Actional analysisorganizational constraints and
  tensions between managers and creative personnel
• Structural analysisworkers response to the
  consumer marketplace

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Dimmick and Coit9 Systems of Influence on TVA
Different Approach to Production Context Criticism

• Supra-national/Pan-National influence (media
  imperialism and information flow)
• Societal Level Influence (govt. licensing,
  regulatory issues, sex/violence on TV)
• Industry Level and Inter-organizational Influence
  (relations among networks and affiliates/program
  suppliersownership and concentration issues
• Supra-organizational influencecorporate and
  media synergiescross promotion

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Dimmick and Coit, continued

• Community and market influencescommunity
  pressure groups, boycotts
• Interorganizational influencesorg. structures,
  polices, goals, actor and writer unions
• Formal or informal group influencesoften studied
  with interviews or ethnographic observations
• Dyadic communication influencespersonal
  relationships and TV production, Bochco
• Intra-individual or cognitive level
  influences(sounds like auteur)

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NATPE Experience

• Size
• Dollars
• At conference publications
• Promotion from within (Pitch camp)
• Some examples of programming
• Cooking is a Drag
• Atomic City
• Redneck Hunting