Space, Time, and Media Theory: An Illustration from the Television-Advertising Nexus

Abstract

The constitutive role of the media in relation to society has, arguably, not received the attention it deserves from those interested in the spatial constitution of society, A case could be made, for example, that the most dramatic manifestation of the relation between the media and space—viz globalisation—has led to a failure to appreciate the multifaceted scales and dimensions of this relation. Thus, though sometimes sensitive to the local scale, notions of globalisation have seemingly indirectly caused the neglect of a more thoroughgoing examination of space and time within media theory. Rather than develop such a critique, however, I seek here to demonstrate the difficulties involved in such a reconsideration of media theory. Accordingly, in the paper I provide an analysis of the temporal bias in existing media theory—examining, in particular, Jhally's political-economic analysis of the television-advertising airtime market—and proceed to offer an alternative spatial analysis of television advertising, using a case study of the United Kingdom. The difficulty of integrating the two accounts serves to question the adequacy of existing media theory, thus demonstrating the importance of detailed theoretical and empirical work in helping to understand the increasingly significant role of the media in relation to society, space, and time.