Industry Theory

Question 1

What is Curran and Seaton’s Power and Media Industries theory?

Answer 1

• the idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by
  the logic of profit and power
• the idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality
• the idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for
  more varied and adventurous media productions.

Question 2

What is Livingstone and Lunt’s regulation theory?

Answer 2

• the idea that there is an underlying 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 idea that the increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of
  convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and
  marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk

Question 3

What is David Hesmondhalgh’s Cultural Industry theory?

Answer 3

• the idea that cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences
  through vertical and horizontal integration, and by formatting their cultural products (e.g.
  through the use of stars, genres, and serials)
• the idea that the largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of
  different cultural industries
• the idea that 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