Ownership And Control Flashcards
Trends in media ownership
BAGDIKIAN
.1983= 50 corporations control media in USA
.2017= 6 corporations controlled media in USA
-Disney,Comcast,cbs,Viacom,Comcast,time warner,21st century fox
CURRAN
.1937 = press barons -lord rothermere,lord camrose, lord beaverbrook and lord northcliffe/owned 1/2 national newspapers sold in uk
.2015= press barons are corporations that own media -7 companies in UK - news corp, DMGT,northern and shell,telegraph,trinity mirror etc
British broad casting- Tv movies -private ownership
. Terrestrial commercial = itv, Chanel 4 and 5
. Satellite,cable and digital TV =sky,virgin,bt tv
-so media ownership is very concentrated
Types of media ownership
1.Horizontal integration - bigger media companies own a range of different types of media outlets eg newspapers and publishing groups or tv
2. vertical integration - refers to media companies owning all levels of media production - for example Warner distributes film but also writes and creates it
3. Lateral expansion - when a media company diversifies into other areas of business to spread economic risk eg : virgin = airlines, media,holidays
4. Global conglomerate - media ownership has been helped by the breakdown of national borders (globalisation) - for example Sony ( USA based) now have headquarters all over the world.
5. Synergy - creating a diversity of packages to sell the same product for example marvel will sell the sound track,cloths and comic book to go along with the film.
6. Technological convergence -converting several technologies into one media delivery system for example iPhone and laptop + just having one device for everything
Theories of media ownership
DOYLE = examination of media ownership is important for two reasons :
1. To hear all points of view for society to be truly democratic
2. Abuses of power and influence by elites to be monitored by a free media
Pluralists view of media ownership
Suggest that concentrated media ownership isn’t a bad thing
- Media content is shaped by consumer demand not by media ownership as companies put out what people want
-professional ethics act as a system of checks and balances to prevent to much control by one owner
Promoting fairness and equality
- media is an essential part of democracy - helps to represent a broad spectrum of view
-Due to increase in diversity it can be argues that all viewpoints are catered for
Media acts as a mirror of what people want to see rather than shaping society
-concentration of media ownership is a product of economic rationality, meaning running a media conglomerate requires consideredable costs and resources - so pluralists argue that only haveing a few companies that run the media keeps costs low ( economically rational ) which the consumer benefits from
- public service broadcasting ( BBC ) - pluralists argue that this is the epitome of impartiality and objectivity and counteracts bias that pay come from the public sector as it is not allowed to promote one view over the other
- government and state controls on the media -views the governments role as to encouraged the media to spread diversity and fairness and produce laws that t prevent miss information eg : the media cannot publish anything that they know or suspect to be untrue
Critiques of the Pluralist view on media ownership
- CURRAN= there is evidence of the media professionalism can be undermined by the owner
For example, journalists as if they fail to take instructions from the owner they are putting their job at risk - so may have to self censure their reports - BULMLER + GUREVITCH - there is an over exaggeration of the impartiality of journalists as many are over reliant on official sources to give them information
TROWLER- build on this and suggests that journasts become overinvolved with their subject
-observed that journalists that were embedded with soldiers during the Iraq war - resulted in one sided and unbalanced view of the conflict + became to attached with the soldiers - Feminists argue that female representation is limited - no media owners are men and so media representation is limited to pleasing male owners
- media is a highly censored market place - idea of choice is false as all choices are coming from one source
Marxist theory of media ownership
MILLIBAND= media is a form of ideological state apparatus ( they control the n+v that everyone else is living up to )
-enforces capitalist ideology for example during the Cold War the media was very negative towards communism and directed the publics opinion
CURRAN =evidence of ideological nature of the media - Burlseconi -Italy- a figure associated with media control, channels favouring his perspective and political policies
-Press barrons in 1920s- newspapers seen as propaganda tools
-Rupert Murdock since 2000- media ownership spanning continents has been critised for fostering his own personal view ( he was a trump fan, so Fox News was a huge fan of trump)
CASTLES + KOSACKS = media is used to divide and rule the working class in order to maintain owners power
-MARCUS= Bread and circuses - media serves as a distraction to the realities to inequalities and exploitation, preventing them from rising up
TUNSTALL +PALMER = government does not want to control media owners
- as some even provide money to the government and election campaigns
Critiques of Marxist view
- influence of media owners is anecdotal meaning is is not scientifically collected - as it is stories from journalists
-GRAMSCI= audiences have a dual consciousness rather than a false consciousness as they understand that they are being exploited - MATHIESON = synoptic surveillance - where the public monitor each other
- MANN = sousveillance- conscious capture of processes from below by an individual
The owners now have to worry about the audience controlling them not the other way round - Unclear on what the media owners motivations are -profit or ideology ??
Glasgow University media group
Media owners are giving us a biased view but they just don’t mean to
-media content doesn’t support the interests of those who run the capitalist system, however this is an unintended by-product of the social backgrounds of journalists and broadcasters.
Media journalists and owners come from similar economic backgrounds
- decisions on what content to put out is determined by economic pressures- as media companies are competing so need to put out what people want
- links to agenda setting and cultural hegemony - media plays a major role in deciding what is worthy of being news and so shape the agenda of what we talk about
Creates a cultural hegemony by providing the same things - JONES = The establishment - see the media landscape with power structures+ so broadcasters content that mirrors the interests of those within the establishment like company owners , politicians
Critiques of Glasgow University media groups
- considered very vague - doesn’t identify what it considers to be an ideology and what the effects are - more of a description
Focuses on media professionals ignoring the input of the owners but also from the consumer especially in the age of new media where consumers have more choice and power - Feminists argue that agenda setting is a form of patriarchal control - men trying to maintain their power
- new media and citizen journalists have the potential to counter the influence of the establishment as it is also under scrutiny
Postmodernists view on media ownership
In post modern society media ownership is limited in its power as society is media saturated
-post modern society has impacted media ownership because =
1. Society is media saturated
2.globalisation has increased consumer choice =increased competition
3. The breakdown of Metanarratives as we now have access to a range of info
Meaning no media owners could influence society it this degree
- media owners and no longer control the media
BAUDRILLARD -hyper reality =reality and fiction are blended, situation are manipulated for entertainment
TROWLER- polysemic media messages- messages that media carries have many different meanings and our experiences that shape the messages we take from the media
we all look at the media in different ways
-blurring the lines between producers and consumers
LEVENE - rejection of messages from the powerful - consumer is becoming the producer
Critiques of post modernist view
- More of a vague set of anecdotes -as it is juts one persons experience
-exaggeration of the information explosion- this may not be new information as we just have more access to it
-ignores the inequalities which do not allow powerless groups to access the media in a meaningful way - as people are able to make choices in what media they are consuming -turn of the tv if they do not like the content
