Book Review: Consumer Democracy: The Marketing of Politics
Rather than political ideology or other preference oriented decision criteria, Webster argues that structural forces like language and geography play a stronger role in segmenting the marketplace of attention. He shows evidence that people remain interested in local news and information, and notes that the United States, China, and most European nations have media systems that employ local media. Like geography, language is a "scarcely noted" structure defining audiences (p. 162) The book is expansive and ambitious. Webster is convincing on the importance of media measurement and the need for a more comprehensive model. However, this book has its limitations as well. His model seems to speak past questions of media ownership. The horizontal integration of mass media provides opportunities for both the fragmentation and concentration of audiences. NBCUniversal is able to provide a variety of niche programming types across its various networks, subscription channels, and websites (e.g. NBC, Telemundo, USA Network, NBC Sports Network) yet draws together the attention of a broader audience for major events like the various Olympic games, programmed across all of these channels in the United States. Webster's engagement with questions of geography and globalism is incomplete too. This cannot be a major criticism because Webster is engaging a sufficient number of moving parts that something must be sacrificed. There is a disjoint between his theoretical development and empirical references. The theory he develops should be applicable across media systems and cultures. His theoretical explication of audience members points to fundamental psychological research. Most of the systematic data he uses comes from the U.S. case. It would be useful for him to more explicitly consider the limitations of this model, conditioned by assumptions about expression rights and norms, types of media companies, and audience members. Still, this is essential reading for scholars interested in the ever changing media landscape. The Marketplace of Attention should directly inform scholarship on U.S. mass media and provides an excellent point of reference for further theorizing comparative media systems.