The Political Economy of Communications is a particular branch in Communication studies or media studies which studies the power relations that shape the communication of information from the mass media to its public. PEC (Political Economy of Communications) analyzes the power relations between the mass media system, information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the wider socioeconomic structure in which these operate, with a focus on understanding the historical and current state of technological developments. PEC has proliferated in the 2000s with the modernization of technology. The advancement of media has created conversation about the effects of colonialism and PEC. Influences One of the earliest modern works in political economy of communications scholarship is from Harold Innis, these theories were compiled in the book Empire and Communications. Innis directly inspired Marshall McLuhan, a colleague of his at the University of Toronto, who would later be made famous for the dictum "the medium is the message". Subsequent PEC approaches have been heavily influenced by Marxist thought and democratic politics, as it questions the powers residing within communications and the state necessary for democracy to be realized. Below the theories and their approaches are explained: Marxist thought - The moral philosophy (or ethics) of PEC often criticizes capitalism for its effect on media and democracy, this idea originates from the critical theory works of Karl Marx. A common critique of critical political economy (often from the cultural studies approach) is that, like Marx, it fetishizes capitalism and is deterministic technologically and/or economically. Christian Fuchs and Vincent Mosco in their book Marx and the Political Economy of the Media compile the affects of media communication in a capitalist society. They note that the media is a circulator and contributor of ideologies, even more so with the prevalence of alternative news sources. Democratic Politics - PEC views media and information as the ultimate democratizer of power, and thus includes social praxis as a criterion. Ultimately, this means that PEC encourages media reform and government intervention in the marketplace. Along with Innis and McLuhan, the political economy of communications was significantly impacted by economist Robert A. Brady’s teachings. Brady initiated a search of social practices and emerging authoritarianism that were later explored by Dallas W. Smythe and Herbert I. Schiller. Brady did not officially work with the structure of Marxist philosophy; he was rather focused on “the interaction of social and economic factors in a business.