Topic 1: Ownership & Control of the Media Flashcards

Question

Concentration of ownership

Answer 1

most of the media are in the hands of a few very large companies

Answer 2

concentration of ownership within a single medium, such as one company owning several newspapers, and owning all stages in the production and distribution of a media product

Answer 3

media owners have interest in a range of media - newspapers, magazines, books etc

Answer 4

the owners have global media empires with interests in many different countries

Answer 5

media companies are often a part of huge conglomerates - companies that have a diversity of interests in a wide variety of products besides the media

Answer 6

not only is media ownership international, with media companies operating in global markets producing many different media products- such as films, newspapers and websites - in many countries, but the conglomerates they are part of are often also global conglomerates.

Answer 7

when media companies produce, promote and sell a product in a variety of forms Eg. a film shown in cinemas might be promoted by advertising in newspapers and magazines Each of these promotes the other products, enabling far more sales and greater profits.

Answer 8

try to maximize sales of their products by promoting and making them available in a variety of formats which can be accessed on a single device. Eg. a single device like a phone or computer can be used to advertise a film, to watch the film, to download and listen to music etc

Answer 9

the media can manufacture ways the audience see the world around them. Morley (1999) called this the preferred (or dominant) reading - the interpretation of messages that those producing media content (newspaper stories, TV programmes, etc) would prefer their audiences to believe.

Answer 10

society. Althusser says this takes place as a result of ideological state apparatuses. These are agencies like the media and the education system which seek to induce in the mass of people a false consciousness of their exploitation and their real interests.

Answer 11

Media editors, managers and journalists have little choice other than to run the media within the boundaries set down by the owners. The media control access to the knowledge which people have about what is happening in society, and encourage them to accept the unequal society in which they live. The media thereby creates a climate of conformity among the mass of the population which justifies the rule of the rich and powerful.

Answer 12

Media owners interfere and manipulate newspaper content, at the expense of the independent journalists and editors, to protect their own interests.

Answer 13

- Neo-Marxist: the bourgeois owners of media companies do not have time to micromanage media content. In reality, owners can have so many business interests that they can really only control the big picture, leaving real control of media content down to editors. - Pluralists: the rise of the new digital media and the internet, and the growth of citizen journalism, has undermined the traditional influence of media owners, and has given more power to ordinary people to give their interpretations of events that happen in the world.

Answer 14

Hegemony: the norms and values of the ruling class are taken as common sense

Answer 15

we have a limited media agenda is because of cultural hegemony, not because of direct control by wealthy media owners.

Answer 16

51% top journalists in Britain are privately education, compared with 7% of the population. Only 19% of top journalists went to comprehensive schools, compared to 90% of their readers. They share cultural hegemony of the ruling class

Answer 17

implies the dominance of one social group and its ideologies over other social groups

Answer 18

Pluralists, such as James Whale (1997) would argue that the views and approaches contained within mainstream media is not a result of the social background of editors and journalists, but instead a result of the market demands of the audience

Answer 19

a theory of the distribution of political power that holds that power is widely and evenly dispersed in society rather than concentrated in the hands of an elite ruling class

Answer 20

dismiss the idea that the media moguls and press barons control media content. They argue that editors and journalists are professionals with ethics and integrity who would not allow themselves to be manipulated by owners

Answer 21

Postmodernism argues that there has been an increase in choice. Today, that choice is greater than ever. Postmodernists talk about media saturation. In a society where people are exposed to media messages all day - it is impossible for individual owners or editors to control what is out there. Individuals have the freedom to choose which media they consume

Answer 22

People use social media to put across their own narratives. They're not controlled by the media, they control the media sometimes directly campaigning against the owners of the platforms they're using (Eg. Twitter and Facebook)

Answer 23

- Marxists: audience is manipulated and the media deliberately creates false needs. Audiences are not making a free choice when they decide one newspaper over another

Answer 24

Barnett and Weymour point out that, despite there being hundreds of television channels, there is not really an offer of greater choice: there is just lots of the same thing. People will choose one channel over another because of branding, or because of whether or not they like the presenter, rather than them approving or disapproving of the general nature of the media content.

Answer 25

refers to the process whereby there is a decine of serious news reporting coverage of current affairs and documenters and their replacement by a more dumped down

Answer 26

(2009) in a content analysis of media in Denmark, Finland, the UK and the United States, showed how the media were becoming more market-oriented and entertainment-centred, leading to less serious kinds of journalism that limited citizens' knowledge of public affairs.