Jeffrey Chester: The Google YouTube Tango

From: "John F. McMullen" <[email protected]>
Date: October 13, 2006 9:30:18 AM PDT
Subject: Jeffrey Chester:  The Google YouTube Tango

(johnmac -- The author sounds overwrought to me -- but later makes  
interesting points about colitions to spread their message -- which  
could also become as insidious as the Nokia Ads)

 From the Nation -- <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061030/chester>
The Google YouTube Tango
by Jeffrey Chester

Under the radar of all but the most savvy Internet users, powerful  
commercial forces are rapidly creating a digital media system for the  
United States that threatens to undermine our ability to create a  
civil and just society. The takeover of YouTube by Google announced  
October 9 and the 2005 buyout by Rupert Murdoch of MySpace are not  
just about mega-deals for new media. They are the leading edge of a  
powerful interactive system that is being designed to serve the  
interests of some of the wealthiest corporations on the planet.  
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The Nation has a content relationship with both  
companies: YouTube hosts our online videos and Google advertisments  
appear on this site.)

Aware that social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube are  
attracting the key youth audience, and aiming to maintain their  
influence over future generations of consumers, marketers are  
aggressively seizing the initiative. Leveraging existing  
relationships with Yahoo!, Microsoft, the phone and cable companies,  
Google and the other large players, the advertising industry are  
developing an array of immersive online experiences--like MTV's  
Virtual Laguna Beach (http://www.vlb.mtv.com/) and Studio.com's Go  
Deep (http://www.studiocom.com/godeep/)  -- that seamlessly blend  
relationships with products and brands.

Advertisers are harnessing technology that targets and follows  
Internet users on their journeys through cyberspace, collecting data  
and tracking behavior. Virtual software marketing tools will be  
deployed across the digital landscape so that wherever we go,  
whatever we do do--e-mail, instant messaging, mobile communications  
or searches--we will be immersed in enticing content for the lifelong  
sell: Witness the work of Oddcast (http://www.oddcast.com/home/), a  
New York-based immersive media company, whose "conversational  
character products" represent a new medium for marketing to get  
inside consumers' heads.

YouTube capitalizes on the growing proclivity of Internet users to be  
creators of information as well as consumers. And as the network  
television and cable audiences age, advertisers are increasingly  
aware that "user-created content"--be it a cute kitty video or clips  
from The Daily Show--are key to attracting young audiences. But as  
the Goo-Tube model develops, behind each video will be a powerful  
connection to an ad, targeted to the user's online behavior, as well  
as the stealth collection of personal data. As Ross Levinsohn,  
president of Fox Interactive, noted about his company's acquisition  
of MySpace, "the digital gold inside of MySpace wasn't the number of  
users, but the information they're providing." [Google, it should be  
noted, now also represents the interests of Rupert Murdoch's US  
empire. In August Google became Fox's principal online advertising  
agent for MySpace, Fox TV and Fox Interactive.]

Given this emerging marketing model, the US broadband infrastructure  
may well become one giant "brandwashing" machine. The most powerful  
communications system ever developed by humans is increasingly being  
put in the service of selling, commercialization and commodification.  
And it will lead to an inherently conservative and narcissistic  
political culture, in which the interests of the self and the  
consumption of products are the primary, most visible, media  
messages. And unless we begin to challenge it now, the emerging  
digital culture will seriously challenge our ability to effectively  
communicate, inform and organize.

A handful of companies now dominate much of the US new-media market.  
Five corporations--Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, Verizon and Qwest-- 
control the wires and cable lines delivering us broadband, digital TV  
and, soon, much wireless service. The viral "Singing Puppy"  campaign  
from Nokia (http://www.enpocket.com/static/dog_viral.htm) is an early  
warning that soon even our phone calls will become platforms for  
commercials. A few other major players--especially Google, News  
Corp., Viacom and Microsoft--have done the necessary deals to  
strategically grow their broadband content businesses (buying gaming  
sites and other programming to insure they ensnare the key youth  
market). Even if the pending update to the Communications Act of 1996  
preserves the core principle of network neutrality, the voices of  
these most powerful media companies are likely to be the loudest.

More mergers in coming years will continue the consolidation of old  
media giants with the new. It's only a matter of time before a  
handful of companies will own TV, radio and newspaper properties  
along with key online services. This further interferes with the  
ability of mainstream news media to serve as an effective watchdog on  
government and big business.

Though the Internet was originally envisioned to serve the public  
interest, there is no guarantee it will continue to do so. Like  
radio, broadcast TV and cable, it will continue to be shaped by  
politics, telecommunication policies and the market. Web activists  
envision a medium that will always support social change and can  
serve as a platform to distribute diverse points of view. But if the  
economic relationships between the old and new media are allowed to  
dominate online culture, what guarantees do we have that the Internet  
will continue to be the "people's" medium? Events are moving quickly;  
media and telecommunications giants already have a powerful hold on  
members of Congress; regardless of which party is in power, it is  
unlikely our elected officials will deliver a federal policy that  
that puts the needs of citizens ahead of corporations.

That's why I suggest that progressives begin to get real--and get  
smart--about digital media. While we have a few reliable outlets-- 
Democracy Now!, Alternet, Huffington Post and The Nation--the  
progressive community lacks a reliable well-connected broadband  
infrastructure that will deliver an array of news and cultural  
content to national and community audiences. I'm not talking about  
the wires and connections but about building a coalition of tech- 
savvy content providers that will deliver to PCs, TVs and cellphones  
a flow of alternative news and information challenging the status quo.

[snip]