The republic of mass culture
Subtitle: journalism, filmmaking, and broadcasting in America since 1941
By: James L. Baughman.
Series: The American moment
Publisher: John Hopkins University Press; Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 1992
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 257
Subjects: Mass media -- United States -- History
Description: In the late 1940s, the film, radio, print, and television media enjoyed roughly the same measure of popularity in America. By the 1960s, television's rivals had in effect become secondary services, and Hollywood and radio began to target "sub-groups"--Especially teenagers--to win back a segment of the mass market. The proliferation of VCRs and cable television in the 1980s presented even more challenges to media producers and the first serious threats to network.

Television. This changing landscape of America's major mass media is the subject of The Republic of Mass Culture. James L. Baughman argues that the advent of television had the greatest impact on its established rivals--not, as many have argued, on society itself. Many of TV's competitors--most notably, publishers of newspapers and periodicals--failed to recognize the long-term threats of television. But by capturing the largest share of the mass audience, television.

Gradually forced its competitors to settle for smaller audiences. In the process, television producers indirectly influenced what their rivals produced--including rock music for young radio listeners in the 1950s, and more sexually explicit films, which Hollywood began offering in the late 1960s. The capacity of individual industries to adapt, argues Baughman, not only determined their success or failure but also shaped the content of their products. The Republic of Mass.

Culture presents a lively analysis of the shifting objectives and challenges of the media industries, and offers a corrective to some of the casual generalizations frequently made about their effects on Americans.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.