Why media companies insist they’re not media companies, why they’re wrong, and why it matters

Authors

  • Philip Napoli Duke University
  • Robyn Caplan Data & Society Research Institute in New York
  • Mariela Baladrón UBA
  • Ana Bizberge UBA
  • Bernadette Califano CONICET, E-TCS, CCTS, UM.
  • Cecilia Fariña UBA
  • Guillermo Mastrini UBA, UNQ.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24215/23143924e002

Keywords:

Mass media, Social networks, Tech companies, Digital technologies, Communication policies

Abstract

A common position amongst social media platforms and online content aggregators is their resistance to being characterized as media companies. Rather, companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have regularly insisted that they should be thought of purely as technology companies. This paper critiques the position that these platforms are technology companies rather than media companies, explores the underlying rationales, and considers the political, legal, and policy implications associated with accepting or rejecting this position. As this paper illustrates, this is no mere semantic distinction, given the history of the precise classification of communications technologies and services having profound ramifications for how these technologies and services are considered by policy-makers and the courts.

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Author Biographies

Philip Napoli, Duke University

Philip M. Napoli (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is the James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, where he is also a Faculty Affiliate in the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy. His research interests include media institutions and media policy. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Media technocracy: Algorithmic media and the public interest (Columbia University Press).

Robyn Caplan, Data & Society Research Institute in New York

Robyn Caplan (Ph.D. candidate, Rutgers University) is a Researcher at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York. Her research interests include technology and governance, media, data and democracy, and the role of public and private actors as information and data intermediaries. She has been a Fellow at the GovLab at New York University, and a 2015 Milton Wolf Emerging Scholar for the Center for Global Communication Studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.

Mariela Baladrón, UBA

Es licenciada en Ciencias de la Comunicación Social de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) y Magíster en Industrias Culturales: Políticas y Gestión por la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (UNQ). Ha obtenido la beca de investigación y formación UBACyT de doctorado (2016-2019) y es miembro del Instituto de Estudios de América Latina y el Caribe (IEALC) y del Observatorio Comunicación y Derechos (DERCOM), de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la UBA.

Ana Bizberge, UBA

Ana Bizberge es Magíster en Industrias Culturales por la UNQ y Licenciada en Ciencias de la Comunicación por la UBA. Actualmente realiza el doctorado en Ciencias Sociales (FSOC-UBA). Es docente de Políticas y Planificación de la Comunicación en la cátedra de Guillermo Mastrini (Carrera de Ciencias de la Comunicación, FSOC-UBA).

Bernadette Califano, CONICET, E-TCS, CCTS, UM.

Investigadora del CONICET. Doctora en Ciencias Sociales y Licenciada en Ciencias de la Comunicación por la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). Actualmente se desempeña como investigadora del equipo e-TCS del Centro Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad de la Universidad Maimónides, y del Programa ICEP de la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.

Cecilia Fariña, UBA

Es Licenciada en Ciencias de la Comunicación de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). Actualmente, cursa la Maestría en Industrias Culturales: políticas y gestión en la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (UNQui).

Guillermo Mastrini, UBA, UNQ.

Guillermo Mastrini, es Doctor en Ciencias de la Información por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y Licenciado en Ciencias de la Comunicación por la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Profesor Asociado por oposición en los seminarios “Políticas Internacionales de comunicación” e “Introducción a la economía política de la comunicación” en la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, donde fue Director de la Maestría en Industrias Culturales. También es Profesor Titular en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, a cargo de la cátedra de «Política y Planificación de la Comunicación”, de la Carrera de Ciencias de la Comunicación de la Facultad de Ciencias. Sociales (UBA). 

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Published

2019-12-16

How to Cite

Napoli, P., Caplan, R., Baladrón, M., Bizberge, A., Califano, B., Fariña, C., & Mastrini, G. (2019). Why media companies insist they’re not media companies, why they’re wrong, and why it matters. Hipertextos, 7(12), 15–46. https://doi.org/10.24215/23143924e002

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 12 (2019)

Section

Traducciones