D. Translate the following text from Russian into English

1. Notes

223. 
     I. Multiple Choice
     
224. 
     
     
225. 
     Choose the alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
     

226. 
     1. Throughout the 1990s, Microsoft was accused of being a _____.
     

227. 
     a. monopoly b. oligopoly c. limited competition d. unlimited competition
     
     
     
228. 
     2. What are two primary ways in which the media collects revenues?
     
229. 
     
     
230. 
     a. economic and monopolistic b. marketing strategies and regulatory practices c. advertising and marketing d. direct payment and indirect payment
     
231. 
     
     
232. 
     3. _____ refers to the practice of increasing production levels in order to reduce the cost of an item.
     

233. 
     a. Limited competition b. Economies of scale c. Indirect payment d. none of the above
     

234. 
     4. What is an economic situation in which just a few firms dominate an industry?
     

235. 
     a. oligopoly b. limited competition c. monopoly d. all of the above
     
236. 
     5. Which of the following is an example of media products that are paid for directly?
     

237. 
     a. books b. CDs c. movies d. all of the above
     

238. 
     6. The _____ prohibited manufacturers from selling only to dealers and contractors who agreed to reject the products of business rivals.
     

239. 
     a. Clayton Antitrust Act b. Sherman Antitrust Act c. Celler-Kefauver Act d. all of the above
     

240. 
     7. The contemporary, flexible economy relies on _____.
     

241. 
     a. rapid product development and efficient market research b. cheap labor c. quick, high-volume sales d. all of the above
     

242. 
     8. What is one reason for the global expansion of American popular media?
     

243. 
     a. eighteen- to thirty-five-year-olds controlled most of global spending b. media technologies became cheaper and more portable c. U.S. labor unions forced manufacturers to look for international workers d. all of the above
     

244. 
     9. Which of the following was not a successful Disney animated feature-length film?
     
245. 
     
     
246. 
     a. The Little Mermaid b. Fantasia c. Land Before Time d. Mulan
     

247. 
     10. How much did Disney pay for ABC in 1995?
     

248. 
     a. $1 million b. $19 billion c. $19 million d. none of the above
     

249. 
     11. The diversification strategies of media companies promote _____.
     

250. 
     a. monopolies b. oligopolies c. limited competition d. none of the above
     

251. 
     12. Why did consumer and Latino organizations protest the proposed purchase of DirecTV by Echostar?
     

252. 
     a. they owned DirecTV stock b. in many US markets, Echostar would have gained a Spanish-language programming monopoly c. it would have created competition with local cable systems d. all of the above
     

253. 
     13. Who said in 1937, "He who attacks the fundamentals of the American system" of commercial broadcasting "attacks democracy itself"?
     

254. 
     a. William Paley b. Ben Bagdikian c. Walt Disney d. Walter Cronkite
     

255. 
     14. During the 2004 presidential campaign, how much is it estimated that TV stations made from political advertising?
     

256. 
     a. $1.6 billion b. $475 million c. $5.5 billion d. $325 million
     

257. 
     15. In 2004, about _____ of the world's population could not afford most of the products advertised on American, Japanese, and European television.
     

258. 
     a. one-half b. two-thirds c. one-third d. 100 percent
     

259. 
     16. Which of the following is an example of a media product that is supported through indirect payment?
     

260. 
     a. a radio and TV broadcast b. a daily newspaper c. a consumer magazine d. all of the above
     

261. 
     17. What is a media market with many producers and sellers but only a few differentiable products?
     
262. 
     a. monopoly b. limited competition c. indirect payment d. oligopoly
     

263. 
     18. What form of media generates revenue through both direct and indirect payment?
     

264. 
     a. books b. online services c. radio and TV broadcasts d. none of the above
     

265. 
     19. In many communities, Gannett newspapers represent _____.
     

266. 
     a. local monopolies b. limited competition c. online services d. all of the above
     

267. 
     20. Why do most radio stations feature a limited number of formats?
     

268. 
     a. because just a few firms dominate the radio industry b. because commercial broadcast radio is such a difficult market to enter c. because Microsoft controls all commercial radio in the United States d. none of the above
     

269. 
     21. The first wave of national media consolidation began in the _____.
     

270. 
     a. 1950s b. 1960s c. 1980s d. 1990s
     

271. 
     22. The _____ limited any corporate mergers and joint ventures that reduced competition.
     

272. 
     a. Sherman Antitrust Act b. Clayton Antitrust Act c. Celler-Kefauver Act d. none of the above
     

273. 
     23. Government controls on business were drastically weakened during the _____ administration.
     

274. 
     a. Reagan b. Carter c. Kennedy d. Johnson
     

275. 
     24. With the onset of international synergy, products claiming to be "made in Japan" were seen as superior, particularly _____ and _____.
     

276. 
     a. automobiles/clothing b. clothing/electronics c. automobiles/electronics d. all of the above
     

277. 
     25. The television show _____ was the most watched program in the world by the late 1990s.
     

278. 
     a. Seinfeld b. Cheers c. Survivor d. Baywatch
     

279. 
     26. Cultural imperialism can be described as _____.
     

280. 
     a. global popular culture b. when the styles in fashion, food, and media in one nation (such as America) shape cultures and identities in other nations c. the best way to monitor the impact of transnational economies d. all of the above
     

281. 
     27. Unlicensed duplication of CDs, cassettes, videos, DVDs, and software is called _____.
     
282. 
     
     
283. 
     a. cultural imperialism b. piracy c. oligopoly d. all of the above
     

284. 
     28. The _____ has made it possible for groups who address media issues that affect individual and community life to form globally.
     

285. 
     a. Telecommunications Act of 1996 b. Internet c. growth of media conglomerates d. none of the above
     

286. 
     29. During the 2004 presidential campaign, how much is it estimated that TV stations made from political advertising?
     

287. 
     a. $1.6 billion b. $1.6 million c. $5.5 billion d. $325 million
     

288. 
     30. The opening of markets in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe after the fall of various totalitarian regimes spurred the growth of _____.
     

289. 
     a. AOL b. global popular culture c. the Cold War d. native cultures
     

290. 
     (http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture/pages/bcs-main.asp ?v = chapter&s=14000&n=00030&i=14030.02&o=|00020|000 30|&ns=0)
     
291. 
     
     
292. 
     II. Summary
     
293. 
     
     
294. 
     Summary 1 Read the summary of the section of Chapter 13 titled "Analyzing the media economy" and answer the multiple choice questions that follow.
     

295. 
     Analyzing the media economy
     
296. 
     The study of the economic conditions of the mass media poses a number of complicated questions. For example, does the government need to play a stronger role in determining who owns what mass media and what kinds of media products should be manufactured? Should citizen groups play a larger part in demanding that media organizations help maintain the quality of social and cultural life? Does the rapid spread of American culture worldwide smother or encourage the growth of democracy and local cultures? To begin to understand these questions, we need to learn about economic concepts in two areas: media structure and media performance.
     
     The structure of the media industry
     
297. 
     Three common structures characterize the media business: monopoly, oligopoly, and limited competition. A monopoly is when a single firm dominates production and distribution in a particular industry, either nationally or locally. One example of this is Microsoft, accused of monopolistic practices in the software business throughout much of the 1990s. Monopolies can also be found in local markets, such as in the newspaper business. For example, Gannett owns more than a hundred papers, most of which constitute a newspaper monopoly in their communities.
     
298. 
     
     
299. 
     An oligopoly is an economic situation in which just a few firms dominate an industry. The music and film businesses are both oligopolies, as four or five major players control the production and distribution of more than 90 percent of each of those industries. Oligopolies often add new ideas and product lines by purchasing successful independents.
     

300. 
     Limited competition, which is sometimes called monopolistic competition, is a media market with many producers and sellers but only a few differentiable products within a particular category. One example of limited competition is radio stations. There are hundreds of independently owned stations in the United States; however, most of these stations feature a limited number of formats, such as country, classic rock, or contemporary hits. Because commercial broadcast radio is such a difficult market to enter, most station managers play the few formats that attract sizable audiences.
     
     The performance of media organizations
     
301. 
     Economists analyze the behavior and performance of media companies by paying particular attention to the ways the media collect revenues: through direct and indirect methods. Direct payment involves media products supported primarily by consumers who pay directly for a book, a CD, a movie, an online computer service, or a cable TV subscription. Through direct payments, consumers communicate their preferences immediately. Indirect payment involves media products supported primarily by advertisers, such as radio and TV broadcasting, daily newspapers, and consumer magazines. Through indirect payments, the client is the advertiser, not the viewer, listener, or reader. Many forms of media generate revenue both ways, including newspapers, magazines, online services, and cable systems.
     
302. 
     
     
303. 
     Economists also look at many elements of the commercial process, including program or product costs, price setting, marketing strategies, and regulatory practices. For example, in 1996, critics and government agencies began reviewing the artificially inflated price of CDs. Based on the economies of scale principle, which refers to the practice of increasing production levels to reduce the overall cost per unit, the cost of CDs should have dropped. Yet it wasn't until October of 2003 that any of the five major recording companies dropped their CD prices.
     

304. 
     The mass media have been asked over the years by economists, media critics, and consumer organizations to meet certain performance criteria, such as introducing new technologies to the marketplace, making products and services available to all economic classes, facilitating free expression and political discussion, acting as public watchdogs over wrongdoing, monitoring times of crisis, playing a positive role in education, and maintaining the quality of culture. While sometimes media industries live up to these criteria, economic analyses permit citizens to examine the instances when the mass media fall short.
     

305. 
     1. A _____ is when a single firm dominates production and distribution in a particular industry.
     

306. 
     a. oligopoly b. limited competition c. monopoly d. none of the above
     

307. 
     2. Which of the following is a description of direct payment?
     

308. 
     a. media products supported primarily by advertisers b. media products supported primarily by consumers who pay directly c. the client is the advertiser, not the viewer, listener or reader d. all of the above
     

309. 
     3. What is also known as monopolistic competition?
     

310. 
     a. limited competition b. monopoly c. oligopoly d. direct payment
     
311. 
     4. What is the practice of increasing production levels to reduce the overall cost per unit?
     

312. 
     a. limited competition b. indirect payment c. direct payment
     d. economies of scale
     

313. 
     5. Which of the following is a performance criterion that the mass media is expected to meet?
     

314. 
     a. facilitating free expression b. playing a positive role in education c. maintaining the quality of culture d. all of the above
     

315. 
     Summary 2 Read the summary of the section of Chapter 13 titled "The transition to an information economy" and answer the multiple choice questions that follow.
     
316. 
     
     

While the first half of the twentieth century emphasized mass production, the rise of manufacturing plants, and the intense rivalry of one country's products against another's, the contemporary era emphasizes information distribution and retrieval as well as international economic cooperation. The shift to an information-driven economy began in the 1950s, when mass media companies began to market music, movies, television programs, and computer software globally. In the 1960s, the first wave of national media consolidation began, escalating into the global media mergers of the 1980s and 1990s.

In the late nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century, Congress passed a variety of antitrust laws. These laws included the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in 1890, which outlawed the monopoly practices and corporate trusts that fixed prices to force competitors out of business; the Clayton Antitrust Act, passed in 1914, which prohibited manufacturers from selling only to dealers and contractors who agreed to reject the products of business rivals; and the Celler-Kefauver Act, passed in 1950, which further strengthened antitrust rules by limiting any corporate mergers and joint ventures that reduced competition.

The antitrust laws of the twentieth century have been unevenly and curiously applied, especially in terms of the media. For example, when ITT tried to acquire ABC in the 1960s, protests and government investigations sank the deal, but when GE purchased RCA/NBC in the 1980s, the FTC, FCC, and Justice Department found few problems. One of the world's biggest media deals was the Disney acquisition of ABC in 1995. Disney paid $19 billion for the company. Other large media deals in recent years include the Time Warner purchase of Turner Broadcasting in 1995 for $7.5 billion and the 2001 Time Warner merger with AOL ‒ the largest media deal in history ‒ worth over $160 billion. Media companies have been able to avoid monopoly charges by purchasing diverse types of media instead of trying to control just one medium. For example, Disney provides programming to a TV network, a cable channel, and movie theaters.

In addition to the trend toward consolidation, today's information culture is also characterized by flexibility. This new elastic economy features an expanded service sector, which often relies on cheap labor and exploits poor workers in sweatshop conditions. This type of economy also relies on quick, high-volume sales to offset the costs of making so many niche products for specialized markets. Because 80 to 90 percent of new consumer and media products fail, a flexible economy demands rapid product development and efficient market research. To offset so many failed products, companies need to score a few hits. This system heavily favors large companies that can absorb the losses incurred from failed products more readily than smaller businesses.

After World War II and throughout the 1950s, labor unions made strong gains on behalf of workers. With the shift to an information economy, many manufacturing jobs (such as making CD players and TV sets) were exported to avoid the high cost of U.S. labor, and by 2004, many firms were looking to less economically developed countries that were short on jobs to supply cheap labor. In many countries today, most workers cannot afford the stereo equipment and TV sets they are making primarily for U.S. and European markets. With this globalization also comes the extension of synergy to international levels. For example, "made in Japan" went from being a label of inferiority to a mark of superiority, especially in the automobile and electronics industries.

The global expansion of America's popular media occurred for two reasons. First, media technologies became cheaper and more portable, allowing for proliferation both inside and outside national boundaries. Second, American VCR, CD, and TV manufacturers lowered costs by moving production plants outside the country. In addition, global manufacturing offered companies that lost money on products at home the opportunity to profit in the international market. For example, the television show Baywatch, which was cancelled by NBC, went into first-run syndication, was exported and translated into other languages, and by the late 1990s was the most-watched program in the world.

Disney is a perfect example of media economics in the twentieth century. Walt Disney moved to Hollywood and found his niche creating cartoons, among them the first sound cartoon in the late 1920s (featuring Mickey Mouse) and the first feature-length cartoon in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. During Disney's first economic period — from the late 1920s to the late 1940s ‒ the company barely broke even, although the studio produced the two top-grossing films of 1940, Fantasia and Pinocchio, which each made more than $40 million. This was because such cartoon projects took time and commanded the company's entire attention.

During Disney's second economic period ‒ encompassing the 1950s and early 1960s ‒ the company diversified and expanded into nature and feature-length documentaries. The company also embraced television during this period, launching a long-running prime-time show. Then, in 1955, Disneyland opened in Southern California. Eventually the theme parks would produce the bulk of the studio's revenues.
The death of Walt Disney in 1966 triggered a period of decline for the studio, and Disney's third economic period was not initiated until 1984, when a new management team, led by Michael Eisner, brought the company to even greater financial success and diversification. The newly created Touchstone division found success with Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a movie that reinvented the live-action cartoon. Disney also had a string of animated hits in the late 1980s and 1990s, including The Little Mermaid, Mulan, and The Lion King.
Disney also expanded globally in the 1980s and 1990s, opening a successful theme park in Japan, signing a ten-year deal with Russian television, and marketing cartoons to Chinese television. In addition, EuroDisney (now called Disneyland Paris) opened in France in the early 1990s. Though the French did not initially embrace the theme park, it began to finally make money after the mid-1990s. In 1997, Disney's 24-hour cable channel was introduced to twenty-three countries in the Middle East and North Africa via satellite.

Disney epitomizes the synergistic possibilities of media consolidation. By 2004, Disney could produce an animated feature for theatrical release and home video, spin off a cartoon version of the movie and place it on Saturday morning television lineup, publish a book version of the movie, and place the "making-of" version on cable or in a children's magazine. Characters from the movie could become attractions at Disney's theme parks or incentives for buying a Happy Meal from McDonald's. Testifying to the success of this type of synergy, by 2004 Disney was the world's second-largest media conglomerate.

3. How have media companies been able to avoid monopoly charges?

317. 
     Summary 3 Read the summaries of the section of Chapter 13 titled "Social issues in media economics" and "The media marketplace and democracy" and answer the multiple choice questions that follow.
     
318. 
     
     

The mergermania we have witnessed in recent years between companies like Time Inc. and Warner Communications and AOL and Time Warner has accompanied stripped-down regulation, which has virtually suspended most ownership limits on media industries. One critic of such media mergers, Ben Bagdikian, worries about a limited number of companies in charge of the abundance of media products in the market. He fears a marketplace in which a handful of media moguls wield a disproportionate amount of economic control.

American antitrust laws have been easily subverted since the 1980s as most media companies diversify among different product lines, never completely dominating a particular industry. These diversification strategies promote oligopolies, and this kind of economic arrangement makes it difficult for many products offered outside the oligopoly to compete in the marketplace.

The current consolidation of media owners has limited the number of independent voices and owners; however, occasionally some independent owners raise issues that aid the Justice Department and the FTC in antitrust cases. One example of this is how consumer groups rose up to oppose the Echostar acquisition of DirecTV in 2001. Due in part to protests by groups who stated that Echostar would have gained local monopolies in Spanish-language programming, the FCC blocked the merger in 2002 to protect the public interest.
Because antitrust laws try to curb national monopolies, most media monopolies today operate locally. For example, almost every cable company has monopoly status in its local community and can decide which channels are made available and what rates are charged. In addition, antitrust laws have no teeth globally, and though there has been discussion about enforcing international copyright laws, no international antitrust rules exist.

Consumer choice vs. consumer control

Lack of public debate or involvement surrounding the tightening oligopoly structure of international media dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. During that era, commercial radio executives succeeded in portraying themselves as operating in the public interest and labeled their noncommercial counterparts in education, labor, and religion as the voices of propaganda.

The influence of American popular culture has created much debate in international circles. On one hand, the global spread of media software and hardware has made it harder for political leaders to secretly repress dissident groups because so much police and state activity can be documented on video. On the other hand, American styles in fashion, food, and media are shaping cultures and identities of other nations — what many critics have identified as cultural imperialism. While many indigenous forms of media culture (like Ireland's Riverdance) are popular, U.S. dominance in mass media puts a burden on countries trying to produce their own cultural product.

Supporters of American pop culture argue that a universal popular culture creates a global village and fosters international communication, and that because some of our culture emphasizes challenging authority and tradition, it creates an arena in which citizens can raise questions. However, some of the harsher critics believe that American cultural imperialism hampers the development of native cultures and negatively influences teenagers, who abandon their own rituals to adopt the tastes of their American counterparts.

Global popular culture was spurred by the opening up of markets in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe after the failure of various totalitarian regimes in the 1980s. Around the same time, economic piracy developed worldwide with unlicensed pilfering and duplicating of cassettes, CDs, videos, DVDs, and software. Authorities are loath to stop such pirating as it represents a source of jobs. In fact, one of the greatest concerns regarding a global economic village is that in 2004, about two-thirds of the world's population could not afford most of the products advertised on American, Japanese, and European television. Some worry that exposure to these products will elevate expectations among people whose standards of living are not routinely portrayed in contemporary media.

The best way to monitor the impact of transnational economies is through vigorous news attention and lively public debate. Unfortunately, this process has been hampered recently by severe cutbacks by news organizations in the number of reporters assigned to cover international developments. Also of concern is the impact of mergers on news operations. The multinational corporations that continue to control production and distribution of media products have the capacity to use major news resources to promote their products and determine national coverage.

A key paradox of the Information Age is that for economic discussions to be meaningful and democratic, they must be carried out in the popular media as well as in educational settings; however, public debates about the structure and ownership of the media are often not in the best economic interests of media owners. In some places, local groups and consumer movements are addressing media issues that affect individual and community life, and the Internet has made it possible for such groups to form globally. By understanding media economics, we can make a contribution to critiquing media organizations and evaluating their impact on democracy.

1. How have American antitrust laws been subverted since the 1980s?

319. 
     III. Text reviewing
     
320. 
     
     
321. 
     Review the sections "Analyzing the media economy", "The transition to an information economy", "Social issues in media economics" and "The media marketplace and democracy" in your textbook. When you are ready, write a brief paragraph-length response to each of the questions that follow.
     

2. Describe the two ways media collect revenues.

3. What were the reasons for the global expansion of America's popular media?

4. Describe the three economic periods of Disney.

5. Describe how the political ideas of democracy became closely allied with the economic structure of capitalism.

6. Describe some of the pros and cons of America's cultural imperialism over global culture.

1. Describe how Disney epitomizes the synergistic possibilities of media consolidation.

2.Describe the global expansion of Disney in the 1980s and 1990s.
Focus Questions(2)

1. What does this table tell you about the spending habits of Americans?

2. What are some of the performance criteria the mass media have been asked to conform to by economists, critics, and consumer organizations?

1. 
   
   Directory: upload -> iblock
   upload -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016
   upload -> Township of winfield
   iblock -> MC/dc coverage measurement of c programs
   iblock -> Спецификация к
   iblock -> Residence: (902) 555-1234
   iblock -> АҒылшын тілі нұсқау
   iblock -> Vorobyov Oleksandr Sergeevich
   iblock -> Application form
   iblock -> Guzenko Oleksandr
   
   
   
   Download 3.34 Mb.
   
   Share with your friends: