PBS meets ICP

The Public Broadcasting System’s “Frontline” program recently provided a disturbing dissection of the interwoven relationship among market researchers, commercial interests, the music industry and television programming aimed at our nation’s teenagers. Those who missed “Merchants of Cool” can check out the transcript and additional material at www.pbs.org.

Robert McChesney, a communications professor at the University of Illinois, laid bare how a handful of corporations control the media young people use.

These conglomerates, McChesney explains, “own four of the five music companies that sell 90 percent of the music in the United States. Those same companies also own all of the film studios, all the major TV networks, all the TV stations pretty much in the 10 largest markets. They own all or part of every single commercial cable channel.”

And there is one demographic segment they prize above all others.

“They look at the teen market as part of this massive empire that they’re colonizing,” explains McChesney. “Teens are like Africa. You know, that’s this range that they’re going to take over, and their weaponry are films, music, books, CDs, Internet access, clothing, amusement parks, sports teams. That’s all this weaponry they have to make money off of this market.”

Imagine our surprise when Detroit’s own Insane Clown Posse appeared on-screen as a sort of exclamation point emphasizing just how far — and low — some teens will venture in search of cool outside the media mainstream.

“These are the extremes to which teens are willing to go to insure the authenticity of their own scene,” explains correspondent Douglas Rushkoff. “It’s the front line of teen cultural resistance: Become so crude, so intolerable, and break so many rules that you become indigestible.”

The result?

Rushkoff ends his report this way:

“Oh, and by the way, those rebels in clown makeup from Detroit? They signed with a major record label, produced some slick music videos, even got themselves on World Championship Wrestling. And lo and behold, their latest album hit No. 20 on the charts. Welcome to the machine.”