Tuesday’s lectorial was all about media institutions. Having already felt sorry for the students who have this as a topic for our next assessment, I was keen to learn more, and glad when Brian started by answering the question “what is an institution?”

In doing so, he asked us to look not at media but at the institution of marriage, and think about why we would define it as such. The points brought up were interesting and really translated to media institutions:

1. Legal requirements A part of being an institution definitely has to do with legal requirements. As marriage is bound by law (both in terms of the marriages recognised and not recognised by the law), so are institutions. For example, 2011-2012’s Leveson Inquiry in the UK led to criminal charges for many involved in News of The World‘s hacking scandal, demonstrating that as an institution it is bound by and held accountable to public law.

2. Values and ethics This was an interesting one, because it is clear that marriage values are different around the world; where in the West we idealise marriage as being the ultimate announcement of love, in India it is still common and somewhat acceptable for marriages to be arranged on the basis of compatibility or even mutual familial benefit. However, it is important to note that while these values differ, they exist in all forms of marriage and thus make it an institution. Similarly, while the values of institutions differ, most have some sort of code of ethics that they operate under. For example, just recently an SBS reporter was fired after tweeting controversially his disapproval of ANZAC day. It was not his right to his personal opinion that was in question, but rather the discord between this view and SBS’s core values of tolerance and respect.

3. Representation in popular culture Think the end of every Disney film ever. Think The Wedding Singer, or Four Weddings and a Funeral. Weddings are a pretty important part of our culture and so are reflected in much of our media. Similarly, media institutions are in turn reflected in our popular culture and our media. For example, stepping away from a corporation and looking at a broader institution, journalism is a concept that is often dissected in our popular culture. From Zoe Barnes in House of Cards to Will McAvoy in Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, we often see journalists on screen and an examination of what journalism is, what good journalism is and what makes it what it is today. It’s this scrutiny that makes it an institution.

4. Money Or industry, perhaps, would be a better way to put it. One of the key factors that makes an institution an institution is in making money itself (such as a corporation), or its role in creating an industry that makes money. Looking at the wedding example, while you may not turn a profit in getting married yourself, it’s guaranteed that someone is: the caterers, the venue, the dress-makers, florists, bakers . . . When it comes to media, it’s hard to think of an institution that doesn’t make money. Even not-for-profit media institutions contribute to the industry, such as RMITV, which doesn’t make money itself but promotes the media industry and launches careers of talented young media-makers. (Like me 🙂 )