Ownership and Control Flashcards
What is the media?
An organisation that conveys messages to a large, socially diverse and widely dispersed audience.
What is the Public Sector?
A non-profit organisation that is financed by a license fee. E.g the BBC, which is ran by a board of governors independent from the Govt (could be argued otherwise).
What is the Private Sector?
A whole range of media from the press, TV, radio, etc, which are all financed through advertising revenue and subscriptions, e.g Netflix, Spotify, etc.
Who owns and controls the media, with examples?
The Elite/Bourgeoisie (Marxists):
- META, Sony, Disney, Warner Brothers/Time Warner etc all being media conglomerates.
META = Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc.
Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch family: fox news, the times, ITV, national geographic, etc.
What does Bagdikian argue?
Media ownership that used to be controlled by a lot of news companies, is now concentrated into seven corporations: ‘lords of the global village’ who dominate the world’s media and control every aspect from creation to exhibition. They have a power greater than the Government.
What is Integration?
Owning and controlling all the stages of media production, distribution and exhibition. E.g horizontal and vertical integration (vertical = prod, dis, exh)
What is Diversification?
Moving into new, unrelated areas of business - different sectors e.g Virgin Media: planes, cruises, records, broadband.
What is Synergy?
When one thing sells another; companies working together to cross-promote different media forms and products. E.g Black Panther soundtrack sells the film and the film sells the soundtrack/encourages people to listen to it.
What is Cross-media ownership?
Global media corporations often cross media boundaries, investing in a wide range of media product. E.g NewsCorp owning magazines, books, newspapers, TV, etc.
How is the media formally controlled?
OfCom = regulate the mass media and deal w/ public complaints, protects the public.
The Law = laws which controls what is allowed to be shown by the media, e.g laws of libel, the Courts, hate crimes etc.
IPSO = Independent regulator for newspaper/magazine industry UK, handles complaints + ethics of journalists.
The BBC = public broadcaster, has a remit to protect, promote creativity etc.
WaterShed = a period of time where programmes with adult content may be broadcasted, like graphic violence, horror, sex etc.
How does the Government influence and control media output?
- Government press conferences and briefings of journalists e.g Trump selecting which journalists can be in the oval office with him.
- Leaks/off the record briefings where Govt try manage what is reported in the news.
- Journalists who portray the Govt in a positive light are more likely to get preferential treatment.
- Spin doctors employed by Govt to manipulate the media, e.g burying bad news by creating a new story, Daily Mail etc.
What do Tunstall and Palmer argue?
The media is left to do as they please, not controlled by the Government due to ‘regulatory favours’.
