Pluralism and the media

Question 1

What is pluralism summarized?

Answer 1

Argue that in democratic, free market economies different media companies must compete for customers
- Not only market forces but society is individualistic and seek self interests

Question 2

What are the two types of competition?

Answer 2

Economic and Ideological

Question 3

What are the definitions of the two competitions?

Answer 3

• E: different newspaper groups competing for readers for example
• I: different political groups competing to promote their views through the media
• Media owners potentially powerful players, in a position to demand, their views are heard and expressed

Question 4

What do pluralists argue about control of the media?

Answer 4

The control of the media is increasingly in the hands of a technocratic managerial elite (Galbraith - 1967) remain employees despite being well-paid and regarded than employers
- employers called the media conglomerates

Question 5

How does ownership work in modern media organizations?

Answer 5

Owned by a group of shareholders rather than 1 person
- No single shareholder has overall control of a company
- directors/managers: main policymakers, making all the important day-to-day business decision
- more supply and demand

Question 6

What do pluralists point out about practicality?

Answer 6

practically media owners of large global corps cannot personally determine the content of all their media products
- too many products and global-level management issues to keep them occupied

Question 7

Who has freedom to shape media content?

Answer 7

Producers, editors and journalists can, free from the control of the big bosses

Question 8

What is the principle of pluralism?

Answer 8

Supply and Demand

Question 9

Why does profitability come before the ideological content of media messages?

Answer 9

Bc media companies must compete for customers, it gives power to consumers
- if consumers don’t buy what is offered, the company risks going out of business

Question 10

How does competition in the media marketplace affect media content?

Answer 10

Ensures that media companies compete for consumers and consumers decide the content by choosing what they buy

Question 11

Are audiences passive or active?

Answer 11

Active, free to select, reject and reinterpret media content

Question 12

What role do new technologies play in media consumption?

Answer 12

New technologies allow audiences to produce their own content, giving them more control over media

Question 13

How do pluralists argue that consumers influence media content?

Answer 13

Consumers determine media content by choosing what to consume
> which forces media companies to adapt to their preferences to remain profitable

Question 14

Who argues about media ownership rules in the UK?

Answer 14

Bernard and McDermott (2002)

Question 15

What does Bernard and McDermott say?

Answer 15

Current media ownership rules in the UK prevent any one entity acquiring excessive influence in the sector, thereby ensuring plurality of voice and diversity of content

Question 16

What did Globalization do to the media?

Answer 16

Gave a new meaning to diversity and competition through a new economic shift

Question 17

Who speaks about a new economic shift?

Answer 17

Davis and McAdam

Question 18

What does it mean by a new economic shift?

Answer 18

Media corps have become networks operating across national boundaries with fluid organization structures making them responsive to new tech development

Question 19

What boosted media towards diversity?

Answer 19

The rapid growth of cheap widely available, computer tech
> from desktop computers to smart phones focused around a web-based distributed system (the internet)

Question 20

What did the boost to diversity do?

Answer 20

• Reduced the cost of the media production
• Made entry into the media market place open to many different players
• Given producers access to potentially global audiences

Question 21

How do owners, editors and journalists contribute to this democratic process?

Answer 21

Managers and protectors of this process

Question 21

How is the media essential to the democratic process?

Answer 21

The electorate today gain most of their knowledge of the political process from newspapers and TV

Question 22

How is owners having power a criticism?

Answer 22

• Can hire & fire journalists
• Can select high level editors who have similar views to themselves: may subtly influence the media agenda

Question 23

Who argues that owners have power that negatively impacts the media?

Answer 23

Marxism

Question 24

Who argues that separation of interests between owners and controllers is more apparent?

Answer 24

Murdock and Golding - 1977

Question 25

What do M&G say as well as this?

Answer 25

Managers are increasingly owners of the companies they control
- think and act in the same way as individual media owners of the past

Question 26

What does Collins argue?

Answer 26

Competition doesn’t automatically guarantee media pluralism and diversity

Question 27

What’s an example of Collins argument?

Answer 27

Economies of scale mean that the majority of consumer demands can be satisfied by very few giant corps that wield huge amount of economic, political and ideological power (Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook)

Question 28

When did Collin’s criticize pluralism?

Answer 28

2000

Question 29

Why do owners, editors and most journalists reflect right wing ideologies thru to media?

Answer 29

Share an upper-middle class background and a conservative world view

Question 30

How is censorship a criticism?

Answer 30

Apple directly controls what may or may not be sold through its online store
- if a song is deemed unacceptable = excluded from sale
- Individual song titles and lyrics subject to strict censorship

Question 31

What’s an example of censorship?

Answer 31

iTunes had a 63% share of the global download market in 2019
- the ability to exclude products from sale gives it significant control of media content