Media ownership and control of the mass media – the next 6 weeks

• Who owns the media?• Private and state ownership.• Trends in ownership – UK and globally.• Government controls.• Ideological role of the media – Marxist and

Neo-Marxist views.• Functionalist and Pluralist analysis of media

ownership.

This will culminate in a mock trial. Plumstead’s very own Levason Inquiry

Watch this….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXZdQPhJquI

The class will be split into two opposing teams of lawyers. Over the next 4 weeks we will be gathering lots of information around the intellectual arguments on media ownership. You must use this information to inform your firms attack/defence.

This will culminate in a mock trial – where the influence of media ownership will be scrutinised by the two sides.

The simple charge is… “do modern media companies have too much power?”

Who controls the media?

LI: to be able to identify the breadth and depth of media ownership.

LO: Media conglomerates poster

Starter

What are the implications of this?

There are six major global media conglomerates.

1.Vivendi Universal 2.Time Warner3.News Corporation4.Disney5.Viacom6.Bartelsmann

In small groups research each company and answer these questions:1. What types of media

does it own?2. In how many

countries does it operate?

3. How much revenue does it make?

TASK

TRENDS IN MEDIA

OWNERSHIP

Ownership and control

• Some sociologist have expressed concerns about recent trends in media ownership and control.– The number of media outlets available to the general

public has increased dramatically (increased in the TV choice and the birth of the internet),

– All these changes in the in the availability of media seem to imply a greater degree of choice however some sociologist argue that this might just an illusion

Concentration of ownership - Bagdikian (2003)

• In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the USA,

• In 1992, 22 companies owned 90 percent of the media,

• He argues that if the USA media were owned by separate individuals there would be 25000 owners.

• “this gives each of the five corporations and their leaders more communications power than was exercised by any despot or dictatorship in history.”

Concentration of media ownership

• 4 distinct features:– Ownership within a single medium e.g. Company owning

several newspapers, – Owners have an interest in a range of media such as

newspapers, magazines, book publishing, the film industry, – Ownership is international: owners have media interest in

many different countries, – Media conglomerates: companies that have a range of

interest in a wide rage of interest in a wide variety of products besides the media. For example Virgin also has an airline, train company, soft drinks, mobiles phones etc...

Horizontal Integration

• AKA cross media ownership which refers to the fact that bigger media companies often have a diverse range of media (NewsCorp)– Newspapers, – TV, – Film,

Vertical Integration

• Some media companies are increasingly trying to control all aspects of their industry in order to maximise their profits.

• E.g. Time Warner makes its own films and distributes them to its own cinema complexes

• Vertical integration therefore gives the media companies greater control over their operating environment.

Diversification

• AKA as lateral expansion and occurs when firms diversify into new business areas to spread risks.

• Losses into one area may be compensated by profits in another (Virgin Media)

Global conglomerations

• Media companies have taken advantage of the erosion of traditional boundaries surrounding media markets.

• Globalisation has opened up national markets and has created international competitions between media companies.

• E.g.NewsCorp – owns newspapers in Australia, the UK and the USA.

Synergy

• Media companies are using different interests to package their products in several different ways

• E.g. Spiderman 2 was not only a movie but also a soundtrack, ringtone, computer game, toy action figures, etc...

• Very often the media company producing the film also own the companies that produce the music and computer game (franchise)

Who owns what in the UK?

• Read through table 3.2 on page 203. What does this show us about print media

ownership in the UK?

Write down two reasons why the concentration of ownership of the mass media might be of concern

in a democracy ?

Broadcast media ownership in the UK

• Broadcasting media – ITV Plc (owns 11 of 15 regional commercial television franchise),

• NewsCorp (Rupert Murdoch) – BSkyB • Virgin Media (Richard Branson) • Channel 4• Channel 5 (Northern and Shell Media, Richard

Desmond)• BBC – Public Service Broadcaster

Design a conceptual poster highlighting media ownership in the UK. Think about how much companies own and try to represent this. Use the laptops and text book to research figures, e.g. viewing/readership, revenue, percentage of

market

BBC SKY

C4

C5

Virgin Media NEWS

CORP

TRINITYMIRROR

DAILY MAIL

TRUST