Promotional Desires: Popular Media's Presence on the Internet

Abstract

For a variety of reasons, the traditional popular or ‘mass’ media have attempted to position themselves on the Internet through the establishment of often elaborate Websites, The potential future delivery of film, television and radio through the Internet represents a serious challenge to the continued viability of media companies and their vested modes of delivery and exhibition. Their Internet sites represent their reaction to a possible computer/media converged future. At present, these sites play with the different interactive aesthetics of the Internet and tend to emphasise the use of the Internet as primarily a promotional tool. This article analyses the Websites of selected national and international media corporations, identifies the promotional quality of their presence, and charts their organisation of desire.