★Back to the idea of evil corporate leaders controlling our media intake: these "few hands" signify a very controlling power that manufactures weird global media events. SYM: leaders as hands that feed us news. ★★Why a "news feed?" Are we "fed" news? Certainly, this is a clear connotation: news as good. The subject eats up the event, fueling the weird global media event even more. It is almost as if the subject needs these weird global media events as sustenance.★★★News feeds connote other notions too. A news feed nowadays can take various forms. It comes on the bottom of CNN, it is on our Google sidebar, and it is on Facebook. All of these news feeds are not bringing us the same news. We are saturated by different types of news (Social news on Facebook, worldly news on CNN, local news on our televisions).
"No matter how many channels we get..."
★REF: modern-day technology and news. "How many channels" brings about the thought of digital television, DirecTV, Comcast Digital Cable, and so on. We now have upwards of thousands of channels. SYM: channels as modern technology.★★ This also symbolizes a break in traditional news media. We have seemingly endless channels, but Wark phrases this as though we will only get more. Indeed, after he writes his essay, we definitely get more channels. However, these new channels may not always come in the form of a television news channel. Nowadays, they take the form of other media. Mostly, we see new websites coming about as new channels. Googling a hot news story will lead you to countless news websites. If one was to Google "health care reform" under the News section, one is overwhelmed with over 41,000 results. This is definitely a representation of the expansion of news channels in our society. SYM: futuristic channels as internet.
"These corporate owners are increasingly integrating diverse media holdings to more profitably co-ordinate print and audio-visual flows."
★The connotation of evil militaristic motives expands here."Corporate owners" signifies a certain malice: big wigs looking simply for their own well-being. What comes to mind when discussing big corporate leaders? Bernie Madoff, Enron, and Lehman Brothers to name a few. Essentially, greed. SYM: Corporate leader as greed.
"...become increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer corporate hands"
★ "Never bite the hand that feeds you" is a common cultural phrase. Is a news feed the same? Should we never bite the hand that feeds us the news? Certainly, weird media events come from the news that feeds us. This phrase, used by Wark, connotes a certain power and control, furthering his militaristic and controlling symbolic code. CUL: never bite the hand that feeds you your news. EXPAND
"...points out that these vectors from whence we get the information to form an ongoing map of the world and its histories..."
★We get our information from a vector. "Vector" signifies a plethora of different meanings. A military vector, perhaps. The vector for a missile. Indeed, missiles use vectors to seek and destroy their target. Does media similarly maliciously seek out its target in the same manner? Yes, it does. It is a calculated package of news that reaches us through the television, internet, or radio. Take as an example September 11th. This is a certified weird global media event. Would it have been such an event if the media had not calculably delivered us, the subject, repetitive images and descriptions of the hijacking of four planes and the use of them as missiles? To an extent, it would have caused mass hysteria no matter how much the media played a part. However, the use of these media vectors to send the information directly to us through media hubs helps to magnify the frightening aspects of the event and create the weird global media event. The use of the word vector connotes this notion of control and militaristic notions. SYM: Vector as militaristic, powerful, and control-seeking. The media event seeks to capture the subject, to keep them watching. Quite militaristic, indeed.
"Robert McChesney..."
★HER: Who? Who is Robert McChesney? Why would anyone care what he says? We are given no clarification and no reference as to who this man is other than a footnote. However, we have learned through repetition to trust the theoretical text: if it quotes an outside source, they are most likely a credible and intelligent contribution.
"...or thrown from a truck onto the ground in front of your local news stand."
★A clear allusion to the ubiquitous newspaper. SEM: newspaper. ★★However, for the modern citizen, what does a newspaper delivery truck signify? A dying medium, soon to become obsolete. This ties interestingly to the notion of a "ComSat angel," because the news that we are fed from these angels used to be in the form of news print. Now, much of the news that is delivered to us is in the form of hypertext on the internet. We scour news sites such as Cnn.com and msnbc.com for our news, but mostly refuse to pick up an old-fashioned newspaper to acquire our news. Is this why the ComSat angels are angels? The news they deliver used to live on Earth, in the form of print, but now it is dead. It has moved on to its next life, and become an angel. Thus, the ComSat angel is born. SYM: print is dead- ComSats are angelic.
"From the ComSat angels in orbit overhead,"
★Can a communications satellite connote anything natural? Here, it is attempted. Angels connote goodness, naturalness, purity, and a level of higher-being. Comsat satellites are not angelic. They are machines, delivering to us weird media events. These events often create mass histeria. Is this a goal that an angel would have? It is clear that the connotation of angel here is in place to show the height of these satellites. They are so far away from Earth that they are not visible or reachable by the normal human. However, comparing them to angels specifically creates an interesting and counter-intuitive connotation. To deliver a weird media event is not angelic, it is hellish if anything. SYM: technology (negative technology) as pure and respected nature.
"Do they fall from the sky? Yes they do."
★The answer to our previous questions. Satellites, towers, the media hand that feeds us- this creates the media event. The "weird media event," as Wark names it, is what happens when the media breaks and aligns behind one singular event.★★ To "fall from the sky" connotes also a certain unpreparedness, a notion of surprise that is held by these weird media events. Certainly, many global media events have literally fallen from the sky: The Challenger explosion, September 11th, Hiroshima, and Hurricane Katrina to name a few. This is an interesting signified by the phrase "fall from the sky" when discussing media events. REF: events (objects?) falling from the sky.
"Where do events come from?"
★We will have this question answered almost immediately by Wark. However, it raises more queries other than "where do they come from?" Are they simply occurrences? Are media events formulated by someone or do they happen by themselves? Is an event an event only because of its mediation? What is its origin? HER: the event?
Media Spaces
★ Where do spaces of media exist? The heading on the text suggests that there are specific areas in the world where media strongly exists and saturates the area. Then, does this media not exist in some places? To an extent, yes. High levels of media (televisual, digital, radio) can be witnessed in big cities and media hubs. A media hub connotes a large city: New York, LA, Paris, and the Middle East are all examples of major media hubs. These are the major media spaces in the world. SYM: Media in space as a city. ★★However, the use of the word "space" has another connotation. Media comes from space. It beams down to us from satellites, from towers, from the space above us. It is odd, however, to have our digitalized media come from the natural area that is space. This antithetical thought represents a symbolic code. SYM: media coming from a naturalistic area. Media "space"- is it space as in the galaxy or is it simply space as in an area in which media saturates?
Where do events come from? Do they fall from the sky? Yes they do. From the Comsat angels in orbit overhead, or thrown from a truck onto the ground in front of your local news stand. Robert McChesney points out that these vectors from whence we get the information to form an ongoing map of the world and its histories become increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer corporate hands. These corporate owners are increasingly integrating diverse media holdings to more profitable co-ordinate print and audio-visual flows. No matter how many channels we can get, our main news feed comes from few hands indeed.