Reading Questions: Croteau 1

For Monday, consider the following:

• How do horizontal and vertical integration differ? Looking at the lists of holdings for the major media conglomerates (in the reading and also at the links below), which of the two types of integration is more prevalent? Why do you think this might be?

[For these questions, it may be helpful to visit the following site:http://www.cjr.org/resources/ It has current holdings for several giant conglomerates. Take a look at, at a minimum, entries for Sony, Disney, and GE.]

• Think about how the concept of "synergy" would apply to a property like "Spiderman" from Sony (use the holdings list to spur your thinking). What kinds and in what ways have media texts been produced and circulated, motivated by the concept of synergy?

• How does the need to make money shape the kinds of decisions that media companies make? What do you think about the concept of "advergames"? It is a necessary and appropriate development of our system of media production, or is it problematic? If the latter, in what ways?

[Take a look at the following site: http://mysoup.com/ It is part of the web presence for Campbell's soup. Use what you find there to answer the question above.]