Binary Models Reflection

I found binary models particularly interesting because they appear in many places. Binary models include hot and cold, elitist and populist, information and entertainment, and content and distribution. Hot means the form of communication requires full attention, and cold means it does not. Elitist means that a media organization that is not primarily about profit, and populist is a media organization that’s objective is money. Information and entertainment are self-explanatory; they mean that the form of communication informs or entertains. Content means that a company makes the product, and distribution means that they buy the product and gives distributes it.

There are many examples of these models. Books are examples of hot, while music is an example of cold mediums. This is a model where its two parts cannot be combined.

Elitist and populist organizations are also everywhere. An example of an elitist organization is NPR. They have articles that they think are important and do not try to make as much money as possible. An example of a populist organization is CNN. Though they are a legitimate news station, their main goal is to make money.

An example of information communication is an article about who won the latest election. An example of entertainment communication is an article about the friendship between two animals.

Examples of content are the publisher and the printing company. Examples of distribution are the warehouse the books are stored and the book store.

There are many cases of these models merging. Disney, through conglomeration, does not only make their content, they also own channels so they can distribute their products and create more of a profit. This is an example of a company being both content creators and distributers.

Because there are many places these binary models are found, their relevance to my society made this topic very interesting.