What kind of structure is: "... that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast."?

Question

I can't see where "that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast" is connected in the sentence below.

However, it is precisely because, in an everyday sense, the Internet is seen as a tool, or as a vessel/conduit ‘highway’ (see the discussion below of Meyrowitz’s three metaphors of media), rather than an environment, that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast. An appreciation of how the Internet might be a medium-as-environment is less common in an everyday sense.

Source: Communication Theory; Media, Technology and Society belonging to David Holmes

Answer 1

Re this sentence: However, it is precisely because, in an everyday sense, the Internet is seen as a tool, or as a vessel/conduit ‘highway’ (see the discussion below of Meyrowitz’s three metaphors of media), rather than an environment, that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast.

The sentence above comes from part of the book that is entitled: Broadcast communication in the context of network communication. Broadcast means to send out a message over the airwaves (television or radio) and specifically in the US, it meant television broadcasting (as opposed to cable TV which is not broadcast, it is sent through a cable not over the airwaves).

Structure of the sentence:

However, it is precisely because, in an everyday sense, the Internet is seen as 1) a tool, 2) or as a vessel/conduit ‘highway’, rather than an environment, 3) that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast [television].

I removed the parenthesis as that has nothing to do with the structure. In other words, the internet is seen much more as a medium than broadcast television is seen as a medium.

Answer 2

Everything between "tool" and "that" is parenthetical. "In an everyday sense" is also parenthetical. So leaving those out we get:

However, it is precisely because the Internet is seen as a tool that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast.

Now, I have no idea what the speaker means by suggesting that the Internet is more seen as a medium than broadcast is seen as a medium, but that is what he's saying.

Answer 3

TL;DR

Here is the meaning of the sentence: "Broadcast is seen as a medium. Yet the Internet is seen even more so, and that is because the Internet is not just an environment, it's also a tool or a highway."

You can read:
"that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast" as:
"that the Internet is seen as a medium, and it's seen so much more than broadcast is seen so".

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The following is step-by-step transformations showing that the sentence is grammatical.

(By reading these steps carefully, you can understand the meaning of "that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast" and the structure of the sentence. It's a bit tedious, but I hope that you'll be able to apply the idea to other long and complicated sentences you may find in your reading.)

Eliminated less-important parts:

However, it is precisely because, in an everyday sense, the Internet is seen as a tool, or as a vessel/conduit ‘highway’ (see the discussion below of Meyrowitz’s three metaphors of media), rather than an environment, that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast.

Replaced noun-phrases with symbols.

It is precisely because the Internet is seen as T or as H rather than E,
that it is seen as M much more so than is B.

Decomposed the clauses:

1a) The Internet is seen as M much more so than is B.
1b) It's so (1a), precisely because the Internet is seen as T or as H rather than E.

Unwound 1a):

2a) The Internet is seen as M. -- It's so (i.e., seen as M) much more than B is so.
2b) It's so (2a), precisely because the Internet is seen as T or as H rather than E.

Unwound information:

3a) The Internet is seen as a tool (T) or a highway (H) rather than an environment (E).
3b) (implied) Both broadcast and the Internet are seen as a medium (M).
3c) It's precisely because of (3a) that...
3d) The Internet is seen as a medium much more than broadcast is seen as a medium.

And that's all about it (about the structure of the sentence)!

The rest is to find out what the keywords (broadcast, medium, environment*) mean in this context, in order to understand the meaning of the sentence completely.

Here are the key important ideas:

• Broadcast (or broadcasting) - the distribution of audio/video content to the audience via mass communication medium. TV is the representative of the "broadcast" medium.

• Medium (in the context of "media studies") - A medium is anything that mediates our interaction with the world or other humans.

• Environment (in the context of "media ecology") - the media of communication that is surrounding us. "The word ecology implies the study of environments: their structure, content, and impact on people." (Wikipedia)

With the understanding of the keywords and the structure of the sentence, I hope that you can understand the structure and the meaning of the sentence. Here is my paraphrase of the sentence:

"Broadcast is seen as a medium. Yet the Internet is seen even more so, and that is because the Internet is not just an environment, it's also a tool or a highway."