The Moral Technical Imaginaries of Internet Convergence in an American Television Network
Fish, A. (2015). The moral technical imaginaries of internet convergence in an American television network. In O. Fraysse, & M. O'Neil (Eds.), Digital labour and prosumer capitalism: the US matrix. London: Palgrave Macmillan. PREPUBLICATION DRAFT Abstract How emergent technologies are imagined, discussed, and implemented reveals social morality about how society, politics, and economics should be organized. For the television industry in the United States, for instance, the development of internet “convergence” provoked the rise of a new discourse about participatory democracy as well as the hopes for lucrative business opportunities. The simultaneity of technical, moral, and social ordering defines the “moral technical imaginary.” Populating this concept with ethnographic and historical detail, this article expands the theory of the moral technical imaginary with information from six years of participant observation, interviews, and employment with Current TV, an American-based television news network founded by Vice President Al Gore to democratize television production. This chapter explores the limits of political participation and morality when faced with neoliberal capitalism. Current Television and its Moral Technical Imaginaries Current is a for-profit television network founded in 2005 by Vice President Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to democratize television media production. It later became a progressive news network. Gore remains the chairman of the board, and Hyatt is the CEO. Current claims to be independently owned despite Comcast, the cable and internet service company, owning 10 1 percent of the network. From primary offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the network broadcasts potentially to 71 million homes, 60 million of which are in the United States, via distribution contracts with cable and satellite companies such as Comcast, Time Warner, DISH, AT&T U-Verse, and Verizon FiOS.
[Show full text]