Ownership and Control

Question 1

What are the 3 types of media?

Answer 1

Community based media
Public/state of media messages
Privately owned media (most influential)

Question 2

What did Bagdikian (2005) find?

Answer 2

There has been an increased concentration of ownership into a few giant corporations:
In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all media in the USA. However, in 1992, 22 companies owned and operated 90% of the media. By 2004, media was concentrated into 5 corporations (time warner, disney, news corp, viacom, berteslmann)

Question 3

How have media companies changed? and What do Marxists argue?

Answer 3

More transnational - exist in a number of different countries
More diverse - have an interest in many different forms of media
Conglomerates - branched into different areas of economic activity
M: these companies promote capitalist values

Question 4

Give examples of the 3 types of ownership

Answer 4

State: BBC, North Korea (government influence)
Community: School/local radio
Private: Channel 4, ITV (adverts pay)

Question 5

What is Horizontal and Vertical integration?

Answer 5

Horizontal Integration: global media corporations often class media boundaries and invest in a wider range of product (e.g. News Corp owns newspapers, magazines, TV channels, etc. in several countries)
Vertical Integration: media companies focus on increasing economic control over all aspects of the production process in order to maximise profits (e.g. film corporations distribute movies to their own cinemas)

Question 6

How does synergy concentrate media ownership?

Answer 6

Media companies use their diverse interests to package or synergise their products in several different ways (e.g. films have soundtrack albums, computer game, action toys - Frozen)
A company may use its global interests to market one of its own films through its TV channels, magazines and newspapers in dozens of countries at the same time

Question 7

How does technological convergence concentrate media ownership?

Answer 7

Putting several technologies into one media product
iPhone - camera/internet
iWatch - watch/text/calls

Question 8

What does Curran argue regarding media ownership being concentrated isn’t a recent trend?

Answer 8

It isn’t new

In 1937, four men (press barons) owned nearly half of all national and local newspapers sold

Question 9

How do laws restrict concentration of media ownership?

Answer 9

Laws to prevent media owners from having too much control over the information presented to the public
USA: large film studios can’t own film production, distribution and cinemas at the same time. X - major broadcasters have been able to expand their share of the media market

Question 10

How has the existence of state owned media stopped the concentration of media?

Answer 10

Prevents conglomerates from owning too much of the media
BBC - owns a range of media: TV channels, radio stations, using internet to broadcast - BBC iplayer, also commissions many TV programmes and films

Question 11

What are the main Pluralist ideas?

Answer 11

Media is shaped by consumer demand
Mass media is part of the political process
Concentration of ownership is to do with economic rationality, not politically motivated
Power is restricted by state/law
Role of the media is to represent the views of all political parties

Question 12

What are important names/concepts/examples of Pluralism?

Answer 12

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) controls BBC to ensure it educates and informs the public
New Media: users control, e.g. ‘YouTube’ where 20hrs of video is added a minute

Question 13

What are the criticisms of Pluralism?

Answer 13

Pluralist theories are often part of the mainstream media themselves
Journalists and politicians need each other so journalists are not neutral
Phila: Pluralists are often funded by and part of the media themselves

Question 14

What are the main Marxist ideas?

Answer 14

Capitalist class uses the media to transmit ruling class ideology
Working class have fake class consciousness - believe things are fair when they're not
Capitalism is rarely challenged by the media

Question 15

What are important names/concepts/examples of Marxism?

Answer 15

Allocative control: select employees with same or similar views
Operational Control: controlling day to day stories themselves
Cultural Power: transmit ruling class ideology
Rupert Murdoch
Leveson Inquiry - Sun supporting conservatives for election

Question 16

What are the criticisms of Marxism?

Answer 16

Curran - media owners are not worried about political control but rather about profit and competition
Postmodernists - power is fluid and not concentrated as Marxists suggest
Society holds a wide range of views, this would not be possible if media manipulation were stronger

Question 17

What are the main Hegemonic/Neo-Marxist ideas?

Answer 17

Don't believe that media owners transmit ruling class consciously, but that it happens indirectly
Agenda Setting: media set the agenda and decide what issues are discussed by society and which ones are not

Question 18

What are the important names/concepts/examples of Hegemonic/Neo-Marxism?

Answer 18

Cultural Hegemony: culture of the dominant class is reproduced in a taken for granded way through the mass media
For Example, journalists tend to be white, middle class men who are likely to be privately educated, they don't challenge the status quo (capitalism) ad want to maximise profits so they report mainstream ideas which don't challenge middle class ideology