Cultural Industries

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Go to our Media Factsheet archive and open Factsheet 168: David Hesmondhalgh’s ‘The Cultural Industries’. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can access it online here using your Greenford Google login. 


Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What does the term 'Cultural Industries' actually refer to?
The term ‘cultural industry’ refers to the creation, production, and distribution of products of a cultural or artistic nature.

2) What does Hesmondhalgh identify regarding the societies in which the cultural industries 
are highly profitable?
Hesmondhalgh identifies that the societies in which the cultural industries are highly profitable tend to be societies that support the conditions where large companies, and their political allies, make money.


3) Why do some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society?
This happens because the cultural industry companies need to continuously compete with each other to secure audience members.


4) Look at page 2 of the factsheet. What are the problems that Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to the cultural industries?
• Risky business
• Creativity versus commerce
• High production costs and low reproduction costs
• Semi-public goods; the need to create scarcity


5) Why are so many cultural industries a 'risky business' for the companies involved?
Risk stems from consumption and is made worse by 2 factors: firstly, limited freedom given to symbol creators in the hope that they will create something original and distinctive;
secondly, the cultural industry company relies on other cultural industry companies to make audiences aware of the existence of a new product 


6) What is your opinion on the creativity v commerce debate? Should the media be all about profit or are media products a form of artistic expression that play an important role in society?
I think media should be about creativity and a form of artistic expression as artists and producers should have autonomy on their projects and should receive compensation from their audiences


7) How do cultural industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits? (Clue: your work on Industries - Ownership and control will help here) 
Diversification - media companies will branch out and explore other areas of the industry
convergence and synergy- series of media products derived from the same text or institution is promoted in and through each other.

Companies will branch out and diversify their content and products to reduce risk as this gives audiences choice and a variety of content


8) Do you agree that the way the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society? Should the content creators, the creative minds behind media products, be better rewarded for their work?
I think creative minds should be better compensated as they express their art for audiences and produce high quality content for enjoyment, or spreading of information


9) Listen and read the transcript to the opening 9 minutes of the Freakonomics podcast - No Hollywood Ending for the Visual-Effects Industry. Why has the visual effects industry suffered despite the huge budgets for most Hollywood movies?



10) What is commodification? 
Turning everything into something that can be bought or sold. Commodification spreads the idea that owning something or holding property of something gives you the right to
exclude others. This then leads to inequalities and the exclusion of groups


11) Do you agree with the argument that while there are a huge number of media texts created, they fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society?
Yes, I feel that audience's opinions are not represented in the media and is played off as controversial or uncomfortable topics. For example sexuality in the media had not been properly represented up until these recent years


12) How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Identify the three most significant developments and explain why you think they are the most important.
Ownership and organisation of cultural industries is now much broader and these large conglomerates are now connected in complex ways however there are also many small and medium sized companies who create cultural products.


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