"Our study focuses on Sesame Street and sets out to examine how Sesame Workshop, as a ‘nonprofit’ organization targeting children, has been able to continuously transform and make itself relevant in a predominantly commercial children’s television landscape dominated by transnational ownership
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structures. The analysis includes an investigation of Sesame Workshop’s mission statements, organizational structure, annual fiscal reports, promotional material and other written sources from the 1970s to the 2010s. We focus on the Workshop’s own arguments and reasons for why their ‘non-profit’ status was, and still is, better at taking care of children’s interests than the for-profit companies. These understandings are held up against the, at times, very commercial logic guiding the workshop’s business model, and analysed within the economic and political context of children’s television in the United States and the Workshop’s key international target markets. Our theoretical framework draws upon insights from work on political economy and children’s media and comparative media systems." (Abstract)
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"Funding original children’s television has never been easy because this is rarely a commercially attractive proposition unless you target a global audience and tap into ancillary revenues from licenced merchandise. As a case of market failure, policy makers who wish to ensure the production of a
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diverse range of quality content for children have therefore pursued a range of interventions to ensure sustainable levels of local content in the face of strong competition from US-owned media services. The aim of this article is to evaluate different funding options for public service children’s content in a more challenging and competitive multiplatform media environment in countries with a strong tradition of public service content for children. Focussing on interventions that go beyond public service broadcasting (PSB) (quotas, alternative funds), it assesses the extent to which these interventions reflect a future-oriented approach, or one that is mired in the status quo and vested interests." (Abstract)
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"The present study is a first attempt to look inside media organizations in Lebanon in order to understand what kind of business decisions are being made. This study analyzes employee diversity, as well as political affiliation or media owners [...] There was a clear reluctance among media owners to
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wards discussing their business practices [...] Most of Lebanon's seven private commercial television stations, which are comparatively very few considering the nearly 300 Arab television stations in operation, are among the most viewed stations in the region, due to their high production values and quality of programming. At the same time, these and other Lebanese media lag behind with respect to effectively managing human resources. Many lack written job descriptions, organizational policies, or regular performance appraisals, and they heavily rely on part-time staff and volunteers while not providing adequate financial incentives to their employees [...] Perhaps the most significant findings of the present study are those related to the financial aspects of Lebanese media organizations. Despite the sensitivity of discussing the profitability of these media, and considering that it is illegal, according to both the Press Law of 1962 and the Audio-Visual Law of 1994 for a broadcast or print organization to depend on sources of funding other than sales revenues and advertising, the answers given were quite candid and revealing. In Lebanon, financial support by the political elites who own these media is what has allowed most of the local media to survive. To ensure the sustainability of these outlets, long-term financial solutions and better marketing strategies must be adopted." (Preface, pages 7-8)
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El libro presenta un estudio sobre la televisión local andaluza empezando por un analisis teorico de la descentralización de televisión. Plantea que es necesario establecer la televisión local como nuevo medio de comunicación. Partiendo de alli se enfoca los temas del proceso legislativo de la
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TV local, su desarrollo en AndalucÃa, el proceso de creación, problemas de funcionamiento y niveles de audiencia durante el periodo 1985/1999.
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