Communication Theory Media, Technology and Society

of consciousnesses in their person. The intensity of such concentration can

have substantial consequences for the distribution of recognition relations

within the specular field of a given broadcast medium. As discussed in

the next chapter, celebrities may become over-exposed, whilst audiences

can be too dispersed for cult fixation to gather momentum. These kinds

of changes will have an effect on the kind of virtual community that is

constituted by media events as much as entire mediums.

But there is also the question of the number of broadcast channels

that are available in a given national frame. The ‘nationwide’ audience

which Morley (1980) first theorized can only occur in settings where there

are a relatively small number of channels and broadcast conduits. In

Australia, commercial networks have recently staunchly opposed the

introduction of multi-channelling, ‘which would reduce their capacity to

offer advertisers a mass market on a single channel, while bringing in no

extra revenue’ (Tingle, 2002: 1). In order for advertisers to have an effec-

tive mass audience, the number of broadcasters either has to be very small

or very specialized, as in the case of cable TV.

Interaction without reciprocity – the Internet

To turn now to the second column of Table 5.3, just as there can be reci-

procity without interaction, there can also be interaction without reciproc-

ity. This is exemplified by any form of interaction between strangers at a

distance, as in much of the communication on the Internet. Such forms of

interaction are possible in fleeting, transient, face-to-face contexts in

abstract settings like a large metropolis where there is little likelihood of

such communication being repeated. But on the Internet it becomes a

Interaction versus Integration 149

Table 5.3 Broadcast and network as forms of communicative

integration

Broadcast integration Network integration

The many interact with the many by way of The many interact with the many by way

the agent of message procedures (‘media of computer simulations of presence

workers’, the culture industr y, etc.)

High level of recognition/identification Low level of recognition/identification

Ver y low level of interaction Ver y high level of interaction

Individual experiences strong identity/ Individual experiences weak

identification with figures of authority, identification with others as figures of

charisma or cult movements authority or charisma

Concentration spans of audiences are sold The need to communicate in highly

to advertisers urbanized settings is sold to

individuals

Source: from Holmes, 1997: 31.

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