Theories of Ownership and Control Flashcards
What does Bagdikian argue? (MARXIST)
A small number of privately owned giant corporations operate a monopoly over every mass medium e.g books, which they use to strongly influence people’s politics and social views.
What does Miliband argue? (MARXIST)
Owners directly control the content in the media, can easily interfere with this if they don’t like what is being produced. Owners have an interest to ensure that capitalism survives, as they make money through this.
Also, the owners share cultural capital as they have the same social networks.
What does Marcuse argue? (MARXIST)
We are convinced by the media that capitalism is a fair system. Consumerism = meaning of life, false needs encourage us to buy things e.g quiz shows like “Who wants to be a millionaire”, reality TV, etc, give the illusion that social mobility is easy.
Audiences are passive; content purposefully dumbed down as it is undemanding and uncritical, makes us even more passive so we’re unable to reject capitalist messages.
Editors and journalists have little choice other than to run the media at the mercy of their owner’s choices, as they depend on them for their jobs. Therefore, journalists censor own reports if they challenge RC ideology, and are ridiculed if they challenge it e.g Greta Thunberg.
What does Althusser (neo-marxist but used in marxist perspective) argue?
The media is part of the ISA: a tool the bourgeoisie use to brainwash the proletariat to support capitalism. They send ideological messages, false class consciousness, and justify the advantage that the RC have over the WC e.g Dragons Den, The Apprentice - pretending that meritocracy exists.
Evaluation of the Marxist view of Ownership and Control?
- Audiences may not be as passive and gullible as this approach argues
- Difficult for owners to have day-to-day control of content. Levene (postmodernist) = ownership of media is changeable and fluid, offers a voice to those who may not have been heard.
- Regulated so one singular person does not have total influence.
What does Philo argue? (NEO-MARXIST)
Owners may be powerful but they do not have direct control over all their products, instead journalists managers etc do. Owners rarely interfere in media content.
Journalists = white, middle-class males, support dominant ideology by choice as it is mutually beneficial.
Media present values of RC as normal - enabling hegemony. If media content is critical of these values, it is to help attract audiences and give the pretense of being unbiased.
What is Gatekeeping?
Withholding certain information from the public/limiting what is published.
What is Agenda Setting?
Media has the power to choose which topics to report on based on own values and particular topics.
Evaluation of the Neo-Marxist view of Ownership and Control?
- Media professionals not completely free to run media; owners have a say.
- Pluralists = journalists come from a range of backgrounds.
- Journalists can be very critical of RC ideology, campaign against this e.g investigative journalism.
What does Harrison (PLURALIST) argue?
There is no dominant class in the media, but many competing groups with different interests. They are all represented in the media, including the audience, whose interests drive what the media produces.
The media attempt to satisfy consumer demand to sell products.
What does Whale (PLURALIST) argue?
Media owners have global problems of trade and investment to focus on, so control shifts to editors/journalists/managers. The concentration of media ownership is affected by these economic reasons e.g costly to produce things, so media conglomerates can maximise profits whilst finding new audiences.
What are some other Pluralist talking points of Ownership and Control?
Audiences are free to choose what to consume, can accept, reject etc media content.
Can also pick and mix.
Journalists use ‘news values’ to reflect consumer demands, and their jobs depend on fulfilling these demands.
Also, there is no deliberate bias in the media as journalists simply reflect a societal bias. The professionalism of journalists would never allow them to purposefully mislead the public.
What does Burnham (PLURALIST) argue?
A managerial revolution has occurred, where there is an increase in democracy in the workplace. Managers are left to do their jobs by owners, diversity in managerial positions.
Regulatory bodies also have some control over content, and have a strong sense of professional ethics so will not print fake news.
Evaluation of the Pluralist view of Ownership and Control?
- Workers are still accountable to the owners e.g risk of being fired
- The pressure to attract audiences can limit media choice / lower media quality, trying to compete with other media companies. Curran = “race to the bottom”, media content unchallenging, uncritical and bland.
- Only the rich can launch media companies due to having the resources.
What role does Shareholding play in the Ownership and Control of the media?
Pluralists = ownership is not always concentrated, lots of media companies are public so answer to the shareholders, cannot produce what they please.
Marxists = only the RC who can afford to buy shares have a say in content produced.
Neo-Marxists = journalists/editors who can afford to buy shares are unlikely to disagree with what is produced, same values.
What do Feminists argue about the Ownership and Control of the media?
The vast majority of content/media owners are by men and for men - a bias towards male, patriarchal interests. E.g sexualisation of women
Most news is about men, dominated by male figures, and even if women reach a high status in a media organisation they have to play the “male game”: continuing to organise programming baaed on male understanding of what female audiences like.
Evaluation for Feminist view:
There are powerful women within the media, most content is aimed at women e.g fashion magazines who have female editors, therefore not always controlled by men. E.g Gisele Pelicot, etc.
In relation to new media:
New Media means owners have less control = citizen journalism, interactivity, increased choice.
New Media has led to owners having more control = media imperialism, lack of regulation, ‘sovereigns of cyberspace’.
