Trade, Culture And The Neurotic Choice

Michael Hedges June 27, 2013 Follow on Twitter

Commerce and culture are frequently at odds. The media sector resides in both, often uncomfortably. With the rise of a true digital dividend media consumers have greater choice than imaginable only a few short years ago. Popular choices, though, don’t please everybody.

Sales practices of online retailer Amazon, discounts and free shipping, are “destructive for bookshops,” said French Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti to a convention of French booksellers, quoted by AFP (June 6). “The book industry is challenged by some websites using every opportunity to break into the French and European markets. Everyone has had enough of Amazon, which, by dumping, slashes prices to get a foothold in markets only to raise them once they have established a virtual monopoly.”

Aside from many tough years financially, Amazon revolutionized American retail sales by combining the convenience of online commerce with tough-as-nails negotiating with suppliers. Booksellers, even big ones, in the United States have disappeared. So have video stores and what were once called “record shops.” Amazon products are shipped in Europe through two-dozen fulfillment centers, four of which are in France.

Minister Filippetti has become a leading European voice in the long struggle for the “exception culturelle” and keeping American media, music and film influence at bay. When European trade ministers voted (June 14) to exclude the audiovisual sector from trade negotiations with the United States (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - TTIP) she took a rhetorical victory lap: “We’ve all fought to prevent culture being regarded as a commodity. It’s central to our European political project.”

The French first inserted the “exception culturelle” in trade negotiations in the 1980’s. Many countries have embraced the principle to keep subsidies and quotas off the negotiating table. Though current TTIP negotiations are secret it is believed the US side offered to allow current European subsidies to existing audiovisual services such as public broadcasting in exchange for free trade online, including no restrictive measures affecting American online giants like Google and Amazon.  The European trade ministers agreed to a compromise that keeps the audiovisual sector out of EC trade representative Karel De Gucht’s mandate but allows it to the negotiating table once US positions are known.

Observers of things economic see the US, economy on the mend, in a stronger position than the European Union, stagnant at best. “Trade with America should, on the face of it, attract none of the usual resistance, whether from trade unions worried about low-wage competition or from greens fretful about lax environmental standards,” opined The Economist (June 15). “Instead it has run into an old neurosis over American culture.”

Hence, EC President José Manuel Barroso needs TTIP to succeed by some measure. On limitations placed on EC trade negotiators regarding the audiovisual sector, Sr. Barroso called the position of the French government “extremely reactionary,” prompting howls from France and beyond. Next year European heads of state will choose the next European Commission, Sr Barroso will be gone and a line is forming.

Minister Filippetti is proposing a tax on all internet-connected devices - smartphones, tablets and such – to further support French cultural industries similar to the tax on blank media. “This contribution will be paid once,” she said to BMF TV (June 21). “Its rate is very, very low, as low as possible. It will be painless for the consumer.”

And she again jibed at Amazon since “most of their taxes are not paid in France. Their headquarters is in Luxembourg. This is a huge failure of the European Union.”

See also in ftm Knowledge...

Media in France

French audiences are moving fast to every new platform. Mobile and Web media challenges the old guard while rule makers seek new directions. Media life in France... and a few secrets. includes updated Resources 147 pages PDF (November 2011)

Order here

Media in Spain - Diverse and Challenged – new

Media in Spain is steeped in tradition. yet challenged by diversity. Publishers hold great influence, broadcasters competing. New media has been slow to rise and business models for all are under stress. Rich in language and culture, Spain's media is reaching into the future and finding more than expected. 123 pages, PDF. January 2018

Order here

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 84 pages. PDF (September 2017)

Order here

Fake News, Hate Speech and Propaganda

The institutional threat of fake news, hate speech and propaganda is testing the mettle of those who toil in news media. Those three related evils are not new, by any means, but taken together have put the truth and those reporting it on the back foot. Words matter. This ftm Knowledge file explores that light. 48 pages, PDF (March 2017)

Order here

More ftm Knowledge files here

Become an ftm Individual or Corporate Member to order Knowledge Files at no charge. JOIN HERE!