Eloquently closing a gaping hole
Medienökonomie Die Einführung eines FAZ-Redaktors has (almost) the makings of a standard work.
Media Economics The introduction of an FAZ editor has (almost) the makings of a standard work There is no question that the lack of supervision at the Institute for Journalism Studies and Media Research at the University of Zurich is scandalous: there are currently over 1800 major and minor subjects for every three and a half professorships and one visiting professor. No less scandalous, albeit less noticed, was the neglect of media economics until the end of 2001. But even after Gabriele Siegert took up her post (WW 32/02), the attention paid by the specialist public to the economic foundations of the fourth estate has remained inversely proportional to its importance, and one consequence of this underestimation has been the lack of substantial and at the same time clever textbooks and handbooks. Hanno Beck, economics editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has finally closed this gap with his guide to this widely ramified subject area, which is divided into media genres.
However, both practitioners and students will find the preceding basic section particularly inspiring, in which "The theory of natural monopolies" and "The lemming effect of networks" are discussed alongside the political and social characteristics.
Beck's comments on the future of the newspaper industry in the age of the virtual internet economy are no longer quite "state of the art". It is quite possible that the renowned FAZ author's own existential fears have obscured his view of the structural hardships and grievances of his industry. A few weeks after the publication of "Medienökonomie", his employer announced job cuts on an unexpected scale. However, the fact that Beck himself has (so far) remained unaffected by this does not necessarily mean that his book is also suitable as a personal survival guide in the media job jungle.
> Media economics. Print, television and multimedia by Hanno Beck. Springer Verlag, Berlin 2002. 348 pages, Fr. 56.-.
However, both practitioners and students will find the preceding basic section particularly inspiring, in which "The theory of natural monopolies" and "The lemming effect of networks" are discussed alongside the political and social characteristics.
Beck's comments on the future of the newspaper industry in the age of the virtual internet economy are no longer quite "state of the art". It is quite possible that the renowned FAZ author's own existential fears have obscured his view of the structural hardships and grievances of his industry. A few weeks after the publication of "Medienökonomie", his employer announced job cuts on an unexpected scale. However, the fact that Beck himself has (so far) remained unaffected by this does not necessarily mean that his book is also suitable as a personal survival guide in the media job jungle.
> Media economics. Print, television and multimedia by Hanno Beck. Springer Verlag, Berlin 2002. 348 pages, Fr. 56.-.
Oliver Classen
