4.2
Ownership and Control of the Media
Concentration of ownership
Bagdikan (2004) points out that in 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the USA.
However by 1992, 22 companies owned and operated 90 per cent of the mass media - controlling almost all of the USA's newspapers, magazines, TV and other radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies
Bagdikian argues that if the USA's media were owned by separate individuals, there would be 25,000 owners; instead, by 2014, media ownership in the USA was concentrated in six corporations: Comcast, Disney, 21st Century Fox/News Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS Corporation.
Internet providers, social networking sites and the content of digital media are increasingly being bought up by the companies that dominate the old media.
The British newspaper industry
Curran (2003) suggests that there has been a similar concentration of ownership in the British newspaper industry since the early 20th century. For example, in 1937, four men - Lords Beaverbrook, Rothermere, Camrose and Northclife, known as the 'press barons' owned nearly one in every two national and local daily newspapers sold in the UK. In 2015, little has changed.
Seven individuals dominate the ownership and content of UK national daily and Sunday newspapers' News Corp (owned and controlled by the Australian-American Rupert Murdoch and his family) produces The Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The Sunday Times.
DMG, formerly Associated Newspapers (owned by Lord Rothermere) owns the Daily Mail, the Mail On Sunday, and Metro as well as 54 regional papers. Northern & Shellis owned by Richard Desmond and produces the Daily Express and the Sunday Express, the Daily Star and OK! magazine.
The London Evening Standard, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday and the i newspaper are owned by Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny.
The Telegraph group (Daily and Sunday) is owned by the Barclay Brothers.
Only two national newspaper groups are controlled by companies rather than individuals. Trinity Mirror owns the Daily Miror, Sunday Miror, Sunday People and Daily Record (Scotland's biggest seling paper), as well as over 150 regional daily newspapers. The Guardian Media Group is controlled by a board of trustees -the Scott Trust - which owns both the Guardian and the Observer.
The British broadcasting media
There is evidence of concentration of ownership in British commercial and satellite television.
For example, the content of commercial terrestrial television is mainly controlled by one company, ITV plc, which currently owns 12 of the 15 regional commercial television franchises Channel 5, on the other hand, is currently owned by Richard Desmond. Access to satellite, cable and digital television in the UK is generally controlled by three companies - Sky plc (39 per cent of Sky's shares are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp), Virgin Media and BT Total Broadband.
Horizontal integration
Concentration of ownership is consolidated by cross-media ownership or horizontal integration. This refers to the fact that the bigger media companies often own a range of different types of media outlets.
Vertical integration
Concentration of ownership is also strengthened by vertical integration. This refers to the increasing trend of media multinationals to control all levels of media production.
Lateral expansion
Lateral expansion also assists concentration of media ownership. It occurs when media companies diversify into new business areas in order to spread economic risk. Losses made in one area may be compensated for by profits in another.
The Virgin group owned by Richard Branson is a good example of a diversified corporation it has major media interests in music, publishing, film production and cinemas. However, it also sells insurance and banking services as well as running an airline, a train service and health services.
For example, Time Warner makes its own films and distributes them to its own cinema complexes while News Corp owns television and film studios as well as the satellite television channels that show them. Vertical integration therefore gives media multinationals greater economic control over their operating environment.
For example, News Corp, which owns newspapers in Britain and Australia, also owns the publisher HarperCollins as well as interests in the USA, including the New York Post, Fox TV and 20th Century Fox film studios. It also owns a big chunk of Sky and the biggest Asian satellite channel, Star TV.
Global conglomeration
Concentration of media ownership has been assisted by the erosion of traditional national boundaries and the globalisation of both economics and culture.
Media companies such as Sony, Samsung and Viacom have invested in or bought up media companies outside their countries of origin. Globalisation has opened up new international markets, particularly in new media such as the internet and smartphones.
For example, News Corp owns hundreds of different types of media companies across Asia, Europe and North America.
Concentration of ownership has therefore become global and a small number of media companies have transformed themselves into transnational conglomerates that monopolise ownership of a diversity of media across dozens of countries.
Synergy
Concentration of ownership is increasingly strengthened by a marketing strategy known as 'synergy'. This involves media transnationals using their diversity to package the same product in several different ways therefore increasing profit.
For example, a film will often be accompanied by a soundtrack album, a computer game, downloadable ring tone, toys and so on, produced by different arms of the same media company. The film may be marketed by advertisements in newspapers.
Technological convergence
Technological convergence refers to the trend of putting several technologies into one media delivery system such as the smartphone, tablet or laptop. This, too consolidates concentration of media ownership because in the past these media delivery systems would have been produced by distinct companies that specialised in those products.
However, transnational media companies are increasingly investing in and working closely with companies such as Samsung (producers of smartphones), Apple, Orange, Microsoft and Facebook to explore ways to bring about even greater technological convergence, so making their media products - music, films, television, apps and games - more accessible to a global audience.