1) Ownership and control of mass media Flashcards
How did McCullagh define mass media?
Mass media are simply the means through which content, whether, fact or fiction, is produced by organisations and transmitted to and received by an audience.
McCullaghs definition includes three aspects what are they?
Production of messages by media institutions.
Content of media messages.
Reception of message by an audience.
Identify the three types of media organisation?
Community based e.g. local radio
Public/ state owned e.g. BBC
Privately owned e.g. News corporation
Give examples of how there is now a increased media choice?
In 1988 there was only 4 TV channels, since 2011 there has been 1000 TV channels.
There was 60 commercial radio stations today there are around 350.
What is media concentration ?
where fewer and fewer companies actually own what we hear and see about.
What are the 3 major developments that has brought around media concentration?
Vertical integration.
Horizontal integration.
Transnational ownership.
What is vertical integration?
The process by which one owner acquires all aspects of production and distribution of a single type of media product.
What is horizontal integration?
One organisation buying up companies from different media, concentrating ownership across different kinds of media.
Give an example of horizontal integration?
News corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch. It initially produced newspapers but now publishes books (harper collins), television (Bskyb), radio (Sky), film (20th Century Fox) and the internet (Myspace).
what is transnational ownership?
The ownership by a single company of media organisations which operate in two or more countries.
Give an example of transnational ownership?
News corporation- produces over 175 newspapers in Australia, Britain and the USA; it owns 37 television stations; and is able to beam programmes into homes through ownership and control of cable programming and satellite operations across Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America and the USA
Explain increasing concentration?
Media products are costly to produce, it requires a large upfront investment. However producing copies of the original is cheap. This encourages media organisations to maximise their audiences hence vertical and horizontal integration also transnational ownership.
Vertical allows companies to sell products easier.
Horizontal allows companies to promote products easier.
Transnational ownership allows them to sell on a global scale.
What is pluralism?
A theory in which sees power widely spread dispersed in democratic societies.
What does pluralism argue about western societies ?
They’re a representative democracy where the concerns and interests of the population as a whole and of particular groups within the population are represented.
According to Pluralism is any group dominant ?
No one group is dominant. To some extent all groups have a say in the running of society, and all adults have the freedom to choose who governs society.