No Ads Here

I’ve been thinking about what Berger writes on pg. 168 of Agitpop:

It is the advertising that pays for the text, which leads me to suggest that the most important genre in most media is the commercial (in electronic media) and the advertisement (in print media).

I don’t suppose anyone disagrees with that suggestion.

We could discuss the consequences of ad-driven mass media on society but instead we’ll ask:

Is advertising the most important genre in new (Information Age) media?

I will suggest not everywhere.

The advertising at web sites whose intention is to raise the level of discourse in society (local or global) is incidental. It exists to support the content, not vice versa. My favorite blogs are all supported by reader donations, site stores, and blogger time and energy. There are advertisements but they support the content, not dictate it. Wikipedia (the most far-reaching and effective media machine invented by man thus far to distribute information knowledge to society) subsists solely on donation and societal time and energy.

Such a phenomenon barely exists in old media and is impossible in old mass media (with the possible exception of NPR/PBS). There are 'zines in cities all over America but they, like Public Access Television, reach a meager audience compared to new media.

If one is an optimist who thinks ad-driven mass media is bad for America, one might find solace in the concept of a non-ad-driven new mass media.