MIT 1050: Week 3

Media Regulation and Policy

 Why Regulate?
o Technical Issues (technical requirements and standards) – especially necessary
for over-the-air broadcasting, but necessary for cable, too. Ensures that signal,
transmissions, and the like are consistent, enabling the mechanics of
broadcasting to work well.
o Scarcity – when over-the-air broadcasting began in the early 1920’s, a very small
part of the frequency spectrum was accessible. In the US, for example, the body
that became the Federal Communications Commission allocated the few spaces
on the spectrum to larger, usually commercial enterprises with enough money to
set up and operate radio stations. Now, there is much more space on the
spectrum, but licensing remains necessary.
o Industry Structure (media ownership) – in the past in the US, there were strict
limits on how many media properties such as radio stations, TV stations, and
newspapers could be owned by a single entity in a particular area. When digital
technologies started to be developed in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a great
outcry to deregulate the media industries in the US, the rationale being that too
much regulation would deter innovation. The led to the ongoing conglomeration
in the media.
o Public Interest – there’s the belief that broadcast media is supposed to act in the
public interest. In the US, that has never been defined as it has in other
countries, including Canada.
 Types of Media Systems:
o State-Controlled – all of the national media systems in the world were originally
public, with the exception of the US.
o Hybrid – most national media systems are hybrid, with a major government-run
company and several commercial media companies. Canada has a hybrid system
of the CBC and commercial networks, and Great Britain has been that way since
the mid-1950s. More autocratic countries tend to have state controlled media.
o Commercial – the US is an all-commercial system, with media companies owned
by private concerns and funded by sponsors. The US does have PBS, the Public
Broadcasting System, which is funded by the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting. Its funding which is politicized, accounts for a very small part of
the US budget yet is always under threat by conservatives in the US government.
o Public –means that the media system, is operated by the government. Public
systems emphasize public service, are national in character, and are non-
commercial. Two notable examples are the BBC and CBC. Radio and television
 programs cover a wide range of topics that attempt to represent the entirety of
the nation. That is an ideal of course. If you watch television programs produced
by the BBC, for example, you’ll notice that the production values aren’t as high
as shows produced in Hollywood, but they’re often more interesting and
challenging.
 Operational Regulation – ensures that uniform technical standards are
in place and followed by broadcasters.
o Allocation of airwaves and digital space – is an important function,
as it ensures that stations won’t interfere with each other.
o Licensing – the granting of permission to operate a broadcast station
at a particular place on the spectrum. Most countries, including
Canada, charge licensing fees. The US does not.
o Technical matters.
 Content Regulation – such as a song or show.
o Cultural protectionism – the requirement that a certain amount of
programming is made in or by a country or citizen of that country.
o Content licensing – not a regulation per se, but licensing agreements
made between rights holders and streaming services, for example,
often limit exhibition to the US or do not extend it to Canada.
 Ownership Regulation – a highly contested area, owners hate it,
because they believe that it interferes with the free market, impedes
technological innovation and exploration, and puts too many limits upon
how companies can conduct their business. Ex. Rupert Murdoch
o Industry structure – power is increasingly in the hands of a small
number of companies. This power can be used to push political
agendas.
o Deregulation.
o Ownership limits (or lack thereof) – the sameness that seems to
pervade much media, because of the focus on making money.
o Public Interest – countries like Canada have a strong government-
supported media outlet that works in the public interest with a range
of programs and practices that allegedly support and represent all
Canadians. US media and stations are licensed, for free, in the public
interest, but that interest is never defined. Instead, those with
licenses essentially mint money with very few restrictions.
 Behavioral Regulations – concerns what can be said and shown on the
radio and on television programs, in particular those that broadcast over
the air as well as digitally and through cable.
o Censorship – much behavioral regulation is actually self-censorship
by media companies, in order to avoid being told what they can and
can’t do by the government.
o Self-censorship – consumer boycotts can try to for networks to self-
censor.
o Community Standards – have an influence on what is said and shown
in the media, although what they are is vaguely defined. Standards
change with the times.
o Appropriateness – often revolve around the potential impact on
children. For example, violence on television continues, as well as
debates about its appropriateness.
 Parental Advisory (Explicit Content - 1990)
o An industry response to government hearings about the “obscene”
and “satanic” content in music lyrics. This was around the same time
that major retailers such as Walmart began selling CDs. Since these
retailers advertised themselves as family stores, some refused to sell
recording with the label. That’s when the practice of producing clean
versions of recordings began. Even in virtual forms, some music
continues to be labeled as explicit.
 Media Regulation in Canada
o The CRTC – primary body for media regulation in Canada. It oversees
everything from radio to television to the internet to the big telecom
companies. As we know, the media industry in Canada is oligopolistic
– a lot of power is in the hands of a small number of companies. The
CRTC does try to set some limits of what the telecom companies can
do. The body managed to stop mandatory cell phone terms and 30-
days cancellation fees but hasn’t been able to control their pricing.
They also negotiate with American media providers like Netflix,
ensuring that they have productions offices in Canada that hire
Canadian actors and workers.
o Cultural Protectionism – the requirement that a certain amount of
programming is made in or by a country or citizen of that country.
Because of the great media to our south, Canada practices cultural
protectionism to ensure that its media producers and products aren’t
 lost in a sea of US media. There are a set of regulations for Canadian
Content, known as Cancon. They require that radio and television
broadcasters, (including cable and satellite specialty channels), must
air a percentage of content that was made with the involvement of
Canadian personnel or that is culturally Canadian in nature. The CBC
actively produces television programs, including my personal
favorite, Schitts Creek. The best known of these protections is the
MAPL schema.
o The MAPL schema – M(uscic), A(rtist), P(erformance), L(yrics).
 The MAPL system applies to songs broadcast over the radio.
This system was originally adopted in 1971. At that point it
required that 25% of airplay be devoted to Canadian music. It
was eventually raised. It is now 35% for older licensees.
Stations licensed since 1999 must devote over 40% of airplay
to Canadian music.
 So what qualifies as Canadian music? To qualify, a song must
meet two of the following conditions:
 1) the music is composed entirely by a Canadian
 2) the music is, or the lyrics are, performed principally by
a Canadian artist; the performance is wholly recorded in
Canada for broadcast live in Canada; and the lyrics are
written entirely by a Canadian.
 For the purpose of MAPL, the CRTC defines a Canadian
as; a Canadian citizen; a permanent resident of Canada;
a person whose ordinary place of residence was Canada
for the six months immediately preceding their
contribution to a musical composition, performance,
concert; and a licensee, a person licensed to operate a
radio station.
 Copyright as a form of regulation – copyright laws are a way to
regulate media creation and to make money for media industries.
Increasingly, especially as media content is delivered digitally, money
making in the media industries is about rights and management. Copyright
is especially important to the music industry, in which rights are often
owned by media companies, not artists, and treated like intellectual
property.
 o Copyright was developed in the 1600s in England, after the invention
of the printing press enable the greater circulation of printed
material. It was intentded to protects authors and to give the King
control over hat was published in their domain. It was supposed to
encourage artists to continue to create original works by protecting
their right to profit off it for a number of years. In recent times, rights
are often claimed by media companies. In the recording industry, for
example, many artists “work for hire”, meaning that their rights,
except for 50% of royalties from songwriter, are given to the
publisher or recording company. Recording companies profit greatly,
which is why the recording industry has fought illegal downloading so
much, especially as sales of physical items such as CDs and records,
have declined greatly.
o Bedsides affecting how much money artists make from their labor,
copyright laws can affect the very means of making music, who gets
to be called a musician, and the very nature of musical creation.

Notes from film – Copyright Criminals

 Sample (v)- to use a segment of another’s musical recording as part of one’s
own recording.

1. What is the attitude of the issues on copyright?

 Original artists are upsets and want to sue certain younger artist they
don’t appreciate when their music gets used in another people’s
song
 Some artists don’t want their music being sampled
 Don’t necessarily know your music is being sampled
 Artist sometimes get more recognition when they sample, and their
song gets bigger
 Artist trying to be creative but cannot afford if they got sued
 Cannot afford financial restrictions on music

2. What is the debate of the issue against copyright?

 Should artists be able to take to reuse another artists music?
 I think sampling should be allowed but part of the profit has to go to
the artist and there has to be credit given to the original artist
  Some people believe they are just being creative while others believe
they are being lazy by stealing others music
 I think these artists respect the older one’s music and want to
recreate it, but it is not right to not give any fucking credit and totally
disregard where the sample came from
 There is a debate that every great artist copies others
 The music being sampled has gotten their music from other people
 Aren’t stealing people they think they are so obviously representing
that artist

3. How is musical creativity or creativity in general affected?

 Crushing musical creativity not allowing the artist to take samples
and mix them into something new
 Almost think artist think should be allowed to take great classic music
and introduce it into a new era of music
 But at the same time, you can judge these people have no creativity
element because they are taking someone else’s music
 It goes much deeper than that, it is taking someone’s art and adding
to it remaking it
 These artists are inspired by the older ones
 Not all music is about is being bought and sold and all about money
and what lyrics came from who or what beat came from who
 Music is so much more than business, music is an artform

4. Whose Interest are at stake?

 Progressing music further
 Producers see that can jump on making money by suing etc.
 Produces are taking away from the creativity being greedy
 Everyone’s interests are at stake
 Racial divide in the video, intersection of race and capital

Representation and Identity

 Race
 Ethnicity
 Gender
 Sexuality
 Class
 Ability
 Religion
 Age
 Nationality