Pete Johnson is a Ph.D. candidate in media studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Broadly, Pete’s research is concerned with the power dynamics embedded in media organizations and the disjuncture between industry discourse and industry practice. His dissertation project addresses the historical development of television financing practices, particularly deficit financing, between the U.S. network era and the streaming era. Moving beyond purely economic or financial analysis, this project considers the idiosyncratic cultural, performative, and speculative dimensions of media economics and management. These factors have profound effects on the range and nature of television programming and creative agency. His work has been published in Democratic Communiqué, MONSTRUM, The New Review of Film and Television Studies, and Media Industries Journal, among other publications and edited collections.
After several years working on the sales side of the entertainment and technology industries, Pete completed an M.F.A. in Film & Television Studies at Boston University, where he wrote a thesis on the financialization of television and Wall Street constructions of imagined audiences. He also holds a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.S. in Film & Television from Boston University.
Areas of Interest: U.S. television and film history, media industry studies, business history, critical political economy, media management, financialization, technological change, sports media, digital media, and digital distribution.
