Ownership And Contol

• Types Of Media

  The print media

  The audio-visual media

  • Cyber and digital media
• On the surface the number of media outlets available to the general public has increased dramatically.

  In the 1980s there was only four main terrestrial channels.

  • This increase in outlets indicates that there is more choice now than ever in terms of the media we consume.
• Concentration


  •Concentration of media ownership is the trend towards fewer individuals and/ or companies owning a higher proportion of the media.
• Bagdikian

  Marxist – Bagdikian suggested that there has been a sharp decrease in the number of owners of media companies… meaning an increase in concentration and power for those few owners.

  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.

  •Marie Claire, Woman, Nuts, Country Life, What’s on TV, Elle, FHM – all owned by IPC – part of Time Warner•The UK magazine market is dominated by TWO major companies.  27 million adults read magazines by IPC•
• Media Companies Have Became

  a)become more transnational – exist in a number of different countriesb)...become more diverse – have an interest in many different forms of mediac)...become conglomerates – branched into different areas of economic activity
• What Does This Mean

  ●Marxists argue that these companies promote capitalist interests●Technological developments mean you can watch MTV in India and CNN anywhere in the world●Governments no longer control what people see
• Concentration of Ownership

  Less companies are owning increasingly larger areas of the media.
• Vertical Integration

  Concentration of ownership in a single medium (e.g. a film company that also owns the cinema chain).
• Horizontal Integration

  Cross-media ownership - e.g. owns film companies, newspapers etc.
• Technological Convergence

  Products are available in different forms that can be accessed on one device.
• Global Ownership

  Media organisations operate all around the world.
• Conglomeration and Diversification

  Companies having wide variety of products besides the media - e.g. Virgin.
• Synergy

  Media companies produce, promote and sell a product in a variety of forms - e.g. a film, soundtrack and video game for a superhero
• Pluralism is a perspective that believes the opposite of everything we’ve looked at so far.

  Instead of ownership concentration, pluralists believe there is a wide variety of media available from a wide variety of sources and owners
• Pluarlism


  Whale (1997) suggests that there are a number of competing groups in society with different views/priorities.

  Pluralists also believe the media is free from political control, and therefore the media is free to present a range of views without a risk of being challenged.
• Marxists believe that the concentration of media ownership is inherently dangerous, as the capitalist ideals are being transmitted more intensely.

  However, pluralists and other sociologists criticise Marxists for the following reasons...
• Media Professionalism

  The idea that concentration of ownership is bad, is criticised by some sociologists:

  •Just because one corporation owns many outlets, doesn’t mean it turns into a giant brainwashing machine with all employees also brainwashed.•Individual companies and individuals within corporations have agency to speak, write and edit how they want. This is part of journalistic professionalism.
• Media Audiences

  Even if journalists abandoned their professionalism, and started writing just what their bosses told them to write, the audience don’t passively believe everything and can be critical and selective.
• State Controls

  The state can have huge power in relationship to the media. Depending on the government and people in power, the media can be changed drastically:

  •The state can put controls on what media companies can do/own•The state can control the content media companies put out
• The Role Of Ideology

  Marxists believe that the media creates false class-consciousness, through which the working class believe that meritocracy exists and society is fair.
• Ideology-Miliband (1973) - Conservative and conformist ideology comes across as fact in the media.
• Everything we have learnt can be summarised into three key approaches, which form the most important part of this topic. They are:

  1)The manipulative approach (also called the instrumental approach) - Associated with traditional Marxism2)The hegemonic approach - Associated with neo-Marxism3)The pluralist approach - Associated with pluralism (obviously).
• Manipulative Approach


  •Owners directly control and manipulate the content and audiences, to protect their profits and spread the dominant ideology.•Media editors and managers have little choice but to run the media within the boundaries set by the owner. This approach sees audiences as passive - a mass of easily manipulated, unthinking and uncritical robots.•Evans argues that media moguls such as Murdoch undermine editorial independence and press editorial staff to adopt the same right-wing, conservative views as the moguls.
• The Hegemonic Approach


  • Media owners have powerful influence, but rarely have day-to-day control of media content
  • Editors and journalists have some independence, but still support the dominant ideology by choice, not because they are manipulated
• Most journalists tend to be white, middle-class and male, therefore share the same views as the dominant class
• Media managers and journalists

  Do not want to upset owners, but also need to attract audiences and advertisers
• Journalist news values sometimes go against the dominant ideology, but this is to attract audiences and make a profit
• Agenda setting or gatekeeping

  1. Some news is excluded from reporting, meaning audiences have little choice of media content

  2. Products are produced in the framework of the dominant ideology
• Pluralist Approach


  • Media content is not driven by a dominant ideology or the political interests of owners, but instead the fight for profit through high circulation and audience figures
  • There is a wide range of competing media platforms and products that reflect a wide range of audience interests and choices
• Pluralist Approach


  • The media is generally free of government intervention and ownership, and can present whatever viewpoint they want
• Pluralist Approach


  • Audiences are free to 'pick and mix' whatever interpretation suits them, they have the freedom to accept, reject or re-interpret media content in accordance with taste and beliefs