Industry theorists

Question 1

Power and media industries - Curran and Seaton

Answer 1

• ‘The media’ is controlled by an increasingly small number of companies who are driven by profit and power
• By concentrating media production in to the hands of so few companies, there is an increasing lack of variety, creativity and quality
• We need more socially diverse and democratic patterns of ownership help to create varied and adventurous media productions

Question 2

Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt

Answer 2

• ‘Regulation’ refers to the rules and restrictions that every media industry has to follow. For example the UK film industry must use the BBFC’s age certifications, and television must adhere to OFCOM’s regulations
• There is a struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material), and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition)
• The increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and developments in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk
• Online media production, distribution and circulation in particular often allows producers to completely ignore media regulations

Question 3

Cultural industries - David Hesmondhalgh

Answer 3

• ‘Culture’ and ‘industry’ are two terms that are often at odds with one another
• Producers try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration
• They also standardise and format their cultural products (e.g. through the use of stars, genres, and serials)
• The largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries.
• The radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-orientated set of cultural industries