Theories of Media and the Economy, Research Paper Example

I. Theories of Media and the Economy

• A survey of economic and other approaches to the economics of media
• How has the media evolved over time?

How does the technology available in each time period influence this evolution?

Hypothesis: The type of media available in each time period is restricted to the type of technology available; people’s preferences are therefore limited to what is available. Popular media will be affordable and readily accessible.

How do the needs of each time period influence affect this change?

Hypothesis: Time periods with more economic difficulty will opt for less expensive forms of media like newspapers; time periods with economic stability will experience greater advances in technology, fostering its evolution.

Do political events alter the kinds of media people prefer and if so, how?

Hypothesis: Political events will create a greater want for media because people want to remain informed about important happenings.

• Although people have remained interested in media and technology throughout, time, it is difficult to determine why; this analysis will attempt to answer this question by taking a historical prospective and evaluating media as a consequence of wants, needs, economics, and politics.
• This topic is interesting because the answer will help us understand the continuing evolution of the media and technology and help us predict the changes we might expect to see in the future.
• This topic is manageable because it uses historical events to conduct a study of economics and technology.

II. Communist Media versus Democratic Media

• An analysis of the different types of media and technology that are used in communist governments to bring messages to the people compared to the kinds used in democratic governments.
  1. What is the primary purpose of media in communist governments?
  2. What is the primary purpose of media in democratic governments?
  3. What kinds of technology do each type of government prefer?
  4. How does each government send messages to their citizens? What kinds of messages do they send?

• This topic is interesting because it will analyze the use of media and technology to communicate political messages to civilians by comparing and contrasting to unique forms of government.
• This topic is manageable because historical information will be used as references.

III. Marketing the Chia Pet

• The Chia Pet was a popular novelty item in the late 80’s and 90’s and continues to be sold today.

What marketing and technological advances have allowed sales of the Chia Pet to continue to be successful?

Hypothesis: Television advertisements have made the Chia Pet seem like an ideal gift or household item for everyone.

What marketing and technological advances have allowed the Chia Pet to become popular in the first place?

Hypothesis: Television has been used primarily to market the product and is responsible for its success.

What audience does the Chia Pet target in its advertisements?

Hypothesis: All age groups are targeted even though it appears that the Chia Pet is a children’s toy.

• This is an interesting topic because it allows us to determine the influence that media and technological advances have on a specific product and use this information to determine how advertisements in the media target the audience.
• This is a manageable topic because past advertisements can be used for references in this analysis.