Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

Another Look at the Political Economy of the Mainstream and New Media: The Capitalists Influence

Abstract

Apuke OD

This paper examined the political economy of the mainstream and new media, it explicates how media industry, the political economy of the media and capitalism affects the accessibility of information in the new media. The study established that the political economy of the media deals with the generation and distribution of resources (film, social media, online newspapers etc) and that power (capitalism) affects it. The paper’s design method is a narrative literature review and the data sources included Google scholar, blogs, Google, and the web of science. Books, print journals, magazines, were also used. A narrative review was conducted between March and May 2017. The paper outlined and discussed the issues raised, into themes concerning political economy of the media; new media; Marxist and Pluralist view of media ownership; the political economy of the new media and the influence of capitalism on the accessibility of information from the new media. The study revealed that capitalism is one of the driven forces that affects the pluralism and democratization of information on the internet; due to capitalism some classified information are sold and copyrighted.