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Ownership and Control of the Media - Coggle Diagram
Ownership and Control of the Media
Hegemonic
Agree with traditional Marxists that media transmits the ideology of the ruling class.
Suggest this is due to editors and reporters coming from ruling class backgrounds rather than owners controlling media content.
people employed to fit in with values of the organisation and these are set by the owners- media groups have particular ideological and political views.
Glasgow University Media Group
GUMG found that majority of those in editor and senior reporter roles have similar backgrounds.
Largely Oxbridge education, white, mc backgrounds are dominant mainstream media.
51% of journalists from private schoools compared to 7% of the population
They protect the views of the establishment as they are part of it, so less likely to be critical of the same people as their own backgrounds
Agenda Setting
Media are able to set the parameters of what is in the public interest and this usually reflects the needs of the elite.
Such as the ignorance of poverty, and the focus on the economy.
Shift focus from social issues that conflict with privileged position of the elite onto issues that support their right to be in power.
Gramsci and Hegemony
Establishment of hegemonic ideas in social institutions- education, religion- leads individual journalists with ideology of ruling class
Middle of the road, centrists ideas promoted by media with radical or revolutionary ideas perceived as dangerous.
DIssenting voices as outliers in society rather than a reflection of the diversity of opinion.
Criticisms
Traditional Marxists argue journalists are subject to micro-management from owners and their political ideologies.
Whale argues that media reflects the demands of the audience- what is produced is a reflection of popular culture (PLuralist)
Critics argue in contemporary society there are a wide range of media sources and those in demand are reflection of population’s views.
Instrumentalist/ Manipulative
Media is dictated by those who own it.
Controlled by the ruling class.
Because of this, the media is used to dictate the poltical ideas in society, reflecting their own position in society.
Journalists are not free to pursue stories that conflict with ideological position of owners.
Milliband
Media played an important role in promoting
false class consciousness
Media owners have similar ideas that they transmit through controling content.
Issues are simplified and audience is not given full information.
Passive audience accepts information as if it were fact rather than critically analysing the source of media.
Reinforcing dominant ideologies
Media owners can pick and choose soreness they publish, which often present one-sided account on social issues.
Entertainment programming is often dumbed down as a distraction from the alienation and exploitation that individuals face.
Important social issues such as inequality are ignored.
Concentration of media ownership
Owners support the need to capitalism, promoting consumption
Political ties of owners mean rarely promote critical views of those that share similar ideologies, viewed with Tony Blair’s relationship with Rupert Murdoch.
Pluralist
Patterns of Media Ownership
Marxists and neomarxists argue that the control fo the media is by very few usually middle class.
Pluralists and PM express a diverse range.
Three media companies, DMG Media, News UK, and Reach dominate 90% of the national newspaper market, up from 83% in 2019.
Facebook (Meta) controls three of the top five social media services used to access online news in UK.
Increase in consumption of tabloids, opposed to broadsheets which counters the neomarxist ideologies thateditors and reporters only publish in the interests of the ruling class.
Pluralists argue that widespread readership reflects the demand of audiences,. Loyalties to certain media brands is stil allowed through digitalisation.