CIAO DATE: 01/02

Changing Rules In the Market for Attention: New Strategies for Minority Programming

Abstract

As minorities comprise increasing percentages of the population in the United States, the number of media outlets is also increasing. It is logical, then, to assume that a properly working marketplace would result in increased programming for those minority populations. If that is not the case, as it appears it is not, then what business models would help the market to work better, and what policies should be adopted to bring about a more just result?

To address these issues, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program established The Forum on Diversity and the Media in 1996 with support from the Ford Foundation to explore business models for greater media inclusion of socially responsible programming for minority communities. Over the past several years, this Forum has met annually to explore the marketplace for minority programming, in both specialized and mainstream media. The objective each time has been to understand how programming for and about minority audiences can reach minority and majority viewers, ideally without resorting to government interference.

Changing Rules In the Market for Attention: New Strategies for Minority Programming (PDF File)