Creation of the Media.(Book review)

Paul Starr's Creation of the Media provides a rich history of the social, political and legal infrastructure that shaped the American media from its earliest origin. Starr examines in incredible detail the political decisions made from approximately 1600 to 1941 regarding public discourse in most of its forms and analyzes how those contributed to the development of the media. (1) Starr analyzes the context of American decision-making through an elaborate comparative analysis of the British, European and Canadian experience in an effort to fully describe the options available to the American power structure at critical points in history. At times the sheer volume of the comparative detail threatens to overwhelm the casual reader, but anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding will embrace Starr's approach with gusto. (2) Starr's narrative includes numerous footnotes to extensive scholarly works and other useful source material. As a result, Creation of the Media represents an exceptional resource for the interested lay reader as well as the dedicated academic.

I. AN ANALYSIS OF CONSTITUTIVE MOMENTS

Starr's examination of American media history focuses on what he terms "constitutive moments" and choices that shaped the growth of the media. Start posits "[t]echnology and economics cannot alone explain the system of communications we have inherited or the one we are creating." (3) Instead Start points to the influence exerted by politics, finance and power on the evolution of the media. "At times of decision--constitutive moments, if you will--ideas and culture come into play, as do constellations of power, preexisting institutional legacies, and models from other countries." (4) Starr identifies many such constitutive moments and examines the intent of the action as well as the international context of the moment.

Start breaks constitutive choices about communications into three categories:

Of particular interest to Start is how these categories relate to the development and the evolution of the public sphere. (6) Start frequently returns to these themes and the importance of public discussion, public knowledge, and public opinion throughout the book. For example, in his analysis of the role of the Post Office in the development of the media, Starr points out that tying public representatives and their constituents together through improved communications created a larger "public" sphere. (7) The development of the Post Office and the growing national discourse disseminated over its network, facilitated by cheap rates for newspapers and magazines, became an essential instrument for implementing the republican ideas upon which the country was founded. (8) Ironically, and typically, the creators of the national Post Office failed to appreciate at the time the implications of that particular constitutive moment.

The Creation of the Media goes far beyond a simple recitation of history, even though the history alone justifies significant treatment. By choosing to examine the constitutive moments in history, Starr provides a rich discussion encompassing both the development of the media and the evolution of the larger American society, including education, politics and civil liberties. Similar to his approach in his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Social Transformation of American Medicine, Start fits the institution of media into a comparative context. (9) The result is a multi-dimensional discussion that provokes the reader into contemplation of how more modern constitutive moments may be judged by history.

Starr's account reveals the cyclical nature of history. His discussion concludes, somewhat abruptly, with America's entry into World War II in December 1941. Starr fails to explain why he chose to conclude the book at this point in time. "Our story stops at a point--the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941--when some changes in the media paused and a new political framework of communications emerged." (10) Perhaps it is a tribute to the excellence of the book that the reader cannot help but be disappointed that Starr's examination of media history ends more than 60 years ago.

II. AN APPLICATION OF HISTORY

The Nation's current involvement in foreign war and what some term an environment of change provokes the question of what impacts current developments and decisions regarding technology, law and policy may shape the continued development of the media. (11) Starr does not attempt to draw any lessons or advise modern society how to apply the lessons of history provided in The Creation of the Media, but an educated reader cannot help but speculate.

The paradigmatic shifts in competition policy in the telephone industry Starr describes in the latter half of the book provides a classic example of a current constitutive moment begging for an application of history. Starr describes the early telephone market as a rich, competitive market for both patents and customers. (12) In the years following the expiration of the Bell patents on telephone technology, "the market broke open with a surge of independent commercial and nonprofit cooperative telephone enterprises." (13) As the Bell System grew in political power and technological superiority, it purchased, coerced and manipulated the competitive Independent Telephone Companies to come within its monopoly umbrella. Bell created its long distance subsidiary, AT&T, in 1884 with its first line carrying traffic from New York to Boston. (14) The Bell Companies transferred their assets to the long distance affiliate, AT&T, for financial reasons in 1899. (15) Over the next century, the combined company created one of the most pervasive monopolies in American history. (16)

Starr's close examination of the telephone concludes before AT&T's monopoly came to a staggering halt. In an effort to settle a landmark antitrust suit in 1984, AT&T and the Justice Department entered into a Consent Decree, commonly known as a Modification of the Final Judgment ("MFJ"). (17) The MFJ stipulated that the 22 Bell Operating Companies providing local telephone service be organized into seven Regional BOCs independent from the AT&T parent company offering long distance service. (18) The breakup of the AT&T monopoly signified a shift in public policy as much as a settlement of the dispute: the American public lost patience with the lack of competition in the long distance and local telephone market. (19) The resulting state and federal antitrust litigation created a momentum for change that AT&T could not ignore.

Twelve years passed before the next constitutive moment in the evolution of the telephone. In 1996, Congress took aggressive action to further erode the Bell monopoly in local telephone service by mandating avenues of competitive entry previously unavailable to new companies. (20) The Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("1996 Act") enticed the Bell Operating Companies to facilitate competitive entry by permitting them to petition the FCC for authority to enter the lucrative long distance market once certain competitive benchmarks were met. (21)

Competition in the local telephone market flourished and floundered in turn over the decade following the 1996 Act. The introduction of new communications technology brought significant uncertainty and change to the market. The ability to make a telephone call over the Internet and the increased penetration of wireless technology suddenly allowed a customer to completely bypass the local telephone company. (22) The resulting scramble led, perhaps predictably, to further consolidation in the industry. Ironically, one of the strongest remaining Bell Companies, SBC, purchased its former parent, AT&T. (23) The acquisition prompted rampant speculation that the old Ma Bell was being reassembled. (24) Before the dust settled over that acquisition, the new AT&T, in turn proposed to buy another of the Bell Companies, BellSouth. (25)

Congress, the FCC and the industry stand at a cross roads, a constitutive moment if ever there was one. (26) The FCC must approve the pending application of AT&T to purchase BellSouth, but commentators generally expect that approval to be granted. (27) Congress is debating several new pieces of legislation intended to provide guidance on new communications technology ought to be regulated, if at all, and how regulation of current technologies ought to change in face of the new realities of the marketplace. (28) Development of technology, consumer application and the direction of the industry depend on the outcome of these decisions.

The current state of upheaval in the industry begs the question of how Starr would analyze the choices to be made and how a historic perspective might guide those decisions. Starr suggests that "[a]t moments of change, a typical question is how, if at all, the state will translate the rules and policies for an old medium into rules and policies for a new one." (29) Both Congress and the FCC appear inclined to take a cautious approach to current developments. For example, draft legislation appears to preserve the status quo regarding telephone regulation, with the possible exception of protecting rural markets more explicitly than done in 1996. (30) The minimal regulation of the internet appears to likely to continue, although industry players who own and control the physical infrastructure of the internet seek "network neutrality" legislation that would require companies whose products depend on access to the network, like Google, to contribute to its development and maintenance. Although the FCC may approve AT&T acquisition of BellSouth, other opportunities exist to shape the evolution, some would say revolution, of the telephone, particularly Internet telephony. (31) Where these decisions may take American society will be judged by history, but certainly asking the right questions at critical moments can only enhance the likelihood that the most advantageous decision is reached. To appreciate what may be at stake, consider Staff's analysis of the decision not to follow the international trend to nationalize the telegraph: "For better or worse, once the twig was bent, the tree started to grow in a particular direction--private interests accumulated, ideological defenses developed, and what was once an open question became a hardened institutional reality." (32)

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