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Ownership + Control of the Media - Coggle Diagram
Ownership + Control of the Media
Trends in ownership + control
The number of companies controlling global mass media has significantly shrunk in the recent years
Bagdikian
Notes that in 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the USA, but by 2004 media ownership was concentrated in 7 corporations
Curran
Notes that ownership of British newspapers has always been concentrated in the hands of a few powerful 'press barons'
E.g. in 1937, 4 men owned nearly one in every 2 national + local daily newspapers sold in Britain
Today, seven powerful individuals dominate the ownership of British national daily + Sunday newspapers
Control of satellites, cable + digital tv
In Britain = controlled by 2 companies, News Corp + Virgin Media
Control of commercial terrestrial tv
In Britain, is mainly controlled by 1 company - ITV plc
Global Conglomeration
Transnational corporations (TNCs) with a presence in many countries
Major difference in media ownership + control compared to 40 years ago is the movement of media corporations into the global marketplace
Horizontal + Vertical Integration
Ownership + control of mass media = a complex business
E.g. some media companies = characterised by
horizontal integration
or cross media ownership - this refers to the fact that global media corporations often cross media boundaries + invest in a wide range of media products - e.g. NewsCorp - owns newspapers, magazines, book publishers, terrestrial + satellite tv channels + film studios in several countries
Some media companies = focused on increasing economic control over all aspects of the production process in order to maximise profits - e.g. film companies not only make movies, but distribute them to all their own cinema chains
(vertical integration)
Diversification
Some media corporations = not content focus on media products but have diversified into other fields
E.g. Virgin = began as a music label + record shop chain, but expanded into a wide range of products - e.g. cola, vodka, banking, insurance, transport, cinema
Synergy
Media companies often use their very diverse interests to package or synergise their products in several ways - e.g. a film is often accompanied by a soundtrack album, computer game, toy action figures, ringtone
So, a company may use its global interests to market one of its films through its tv channels, magazines + newspapers in dozens of countries at the same time
Technological Convergence
It is a recent trend which involves putting several technologies into 1 media product
Companies that normally work in quite separate media technology fields are joining up/converging in order to give customers access to a greater range of media services across technologies such as interactive TV, laptops, MP3 players, phones