Ownership And Control 2 Flashcards
Give an example of a privately owned and state owned media corporation
ITV and BBC
What is the concentration of media ownership?
The overall number of media corporations has shrunk and we now have a small number of very large and powerful media corporations
What did Bagdikian argue?
In 1980s 50 corporations owned the majority of all US media. By 2004 it was 7. Now it is the big 6
Who largely controls our television in Britain?
Rupert Murdoch- Newscorp
Richard Branson
What did Curran argue?
Ownership of British newspapers has always been concentrated in the hands of few powerful ‘press barons’
What do mass media corporations expanding into the global market place create?
Transnational corporations or global conglomerates
What is horizontal integration?
When media corporations diversify across different forms of media and create synergies between them eg NewsCorp owns newspapers, magazines, publishers, film studios and TV channels. It channels advertise and gain exclusive access to its films
What is vertical integration?
When media corporations expand across all aspects of the production process eg Paramount not only makes films, but distributes them to cinemas
What do traditional marxists think of society?
Society is defined by its economy. We have a capitalist economy which has divided our society into the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
What do neo marxists think of society?
Agree with trad that there is a conflict in society. However, neo marxists like Erik Olin Wright argue that it is too simplistic to see society as being made up of two classes, which are defined by the economy. Instead, they see society as containing multiple classes, and that differences between them are the result of a number of factors- including economy, but also culture, political systems etc
What is the function of the media to trad marxists?
The bourgeoisie will do anything to preserve the capitalist system. This means using their economic power to control the political and cultural institutions of society. The media performs these functions -
Denying access to competing views about society
Presenting a picture of society that supports the interests of the ruling class/capitalism
Providing entertainments and diversions that stop people thinking about the ways in which they are exploited and oppressed (Herbert Marcuse)
Scapegoating techniques designed to create divisions within social classes, and deflect criticism away from the bourgeoisie
What do neo marxists argue about the function of the media?
Agree with trad Marxists who argue that ownership of the mass media is spreading dominant ideology to justify the power of the ruling class. It is part of a range of institutions which. Create what Gramsci calls ‘hegemony’- a situation wherre the values and beliefs of the ruling class are accepted as common sense. Althusser calls the range of institutions which support the capitalist status quo- ISA
Who owns the mass media according to both Marxists?
Dominated by the bourgeoisie. They have the economic power to invest in privately owned media corporations, and are more likely to gain senior positions in state owned media corporations. Although some of the proletariat might achieve superficial control of the mass media, those with greater economic power have a greater capacity to invest more, in more powerful forms of mass communication .
- Rupert Murdoch took on the job after his father, the owner. All his kids have or do work for Newscorp
- the last three Director Generals of the BBC went to private schools
How are arguments for the control and ownership of the mass media criticised?
Pluralists would argue that this argument is too simplistic. No single group or individual has monopoly of the mass media
Free media and state media are not exclusively controlled by the bourgeoisie
Laws stop a single corporation expanding so widely there is no more competition
Who controls the mass media according to traditional Marxists?
Controlled almost exclusively by their owners. Ralph Miliband argues that owners have ultimate control over the nature of their media organisations. Although they may have managers to deal with day to day content, these managers can be fires if they fail to perform the functions of the mass media.
Eg the editor of the Sun may have control I wear the stories that go in each day, the hiring and firing etc. The owner of the sun (Murdoch) ultimately controls such things as the political stance of the paper, the type of audience it is aiming to reach, and can sack the editor if they don’t perform their function.
How is trad marxists view of control criticised?
Both neo marxists and pluralists argue it is implausible that a single person or board could entirely control a corporations content. Eg during the Leveson Enquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World, most senior executives at Newscorp claimed to know nothing of the practice
Eg Viacom with subsidiaries like Nickelodeon, MTV etc shows how difficult it would be to control content through the hiring and firing of media managers
What do neo marxists argue about the control of the mass media?
Mass media corporations, their owners, media managers, and audiences are controlled by hegemony.
Eg
-editors/media managers/ gatekeepers have been brought up within hegemony themselves so will consider the values of capitalism to be common sense eg Martin Harrison’s study of the Glasgow Rubbish Strike how how the news focused on the problems caused by the strike rather than the demands of the strikers
- Although there is variety within the media: most views come from a moderate spectrum and anything radical is labelled ‘loony’ eg Russell Brand was smeared in the Sun for fighting against social discrimination
- Herbert Marcuse argues that large amounts of content is devoted to unthinking escapism (soaps), consumerism (adverts/product placement) and greed (quizzes) eg in the Xfactor finale there were 30 mins of breaks
What is hegemony?
Gramsci refers to it as a situation where the values and beliefs of the ruling class are accepted as common sense. It is instilled through the ISA. Owners, media managers and audiences all have the same values. As a result, though they think they are making a free choice, they have been taught to make that choice.
How is the neo marxist argument of control criticised?
- Pluralists argue it ignores free will eg if Miliband and Marcuse can consume media critically why cant audiences?
- Stuart Hall, though a Marxist, would argue that this mass media effects model is too simplistic and audiences might accept (dominant), partially accept (negotiated) or reject (oppositional) media messages eg Sainsbury’s WW1 XMAS advert met radically different responses
- the internet and social media, including the DarkNet, allows for the sharing of loony views eg during the Arab Spring protestors used twitter and BBM to overthrow authoritarian regimes
- Pluralists would argue that the content that Marcuse is referring to is driven by Market Mechanism
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What do pluralists argue about society?
See society as being made up of various different and overlapping groups competing for power and influence. Each of these groups may enjoy certain types of media but reject others. Therefore the media needs to be as diverse as the society it serves
What are the basic three functions of mm for pluralists `?
Providing information relevant to the various different groups in society
Criticising and reforming the activities of the most powerful groups in society- businesses and politicians
Representing the interests of ‘ordinary people’ against powerful businesses and organisations they could not stand up to alone
Who owns the media according to pluralists?
Dahrendorf argues that the mass media is owned by a range of people from a range of different backgrounds eg some of those people will be wealthy individuals or groups called shareholders who have chosen to invest their money in a mass media corporation eg Murdoch, who has shares in NewsCorp
Some people may be less wealthy but still own media eg having a social media account on a smartphone
Or owned by the state- BBC is funded by taxpayers
How are pluralists views of the function and ownership of mm criticised?
Marxists would argue that it is ridicules to compare majority shareholders in transnational corporations like the big 6 in America with someone who owns a smartphone
Much of the new media that allows individual users ‘ownership’, is actually owned by large media corporations like Facebook and google. These companies have a right to shut down unwanted content eg the Burmese government shutting down new media
What do pluralists argue about the free media controlling mm?
Everyone has the right to set up accounts or create newspapers and express their opinions eg
- during the Arab Spring new media like BBM was used to organise and share with world media
- Zella became famous on a blog
- Crowdsourcing through new media means that even films can be funded and created
