John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" does a good job of addressing
many of the concepts related to mass media. Berger's ideas are
inspired by the philosopher Walter Benjamin and semioticians
such as Roland Barthe.
Benjamin's seminal paper, "The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction" written sometime in the late 30's
disusses how photography, offset printing, and film (cinema)
affect the notion of authorship in light of mass reproducibility.
Our current digital era really brings home many of Benjamin's
ideas, especially because of how indistinguishable copies of
"Originals" are.
Do a net search on Walter Benjamin. I found the entire paper
online a while ago. I couls also be persuaded to email it out
to interested parties. Apropo eh?
Once anyone reads this, I'd be interested in discussing the whole
realm of capitalism, "aura" and authorship.
beefy stuff.
peace,
troyb