The Sociology of Mass Media

Ownership and Control

 Media Forms: defining “media”
TP p.779

- Print media: newspapers, books, comics, some advertising

- Audio-visual media: TV, cinema, radio, various music formats

- Huge changes over last 25 years;

- Pre-1990: all analogue TV, with only 5 channels (max.);
- These channels free to those paying the “TV license fee”;
- Today: all TV is digitalized (same tech as K-Plus in
Vietnam), and 12 million homes subscribe to premium
packages inc. movies and sports;
 .
• - “New” media: internet-based, interactive etc.

- new delivery technologies: e.g. internet

(76% of UK adults had access in 2011), laptops, hand-
held devices like 3G/4G cell phones, iPads, Kindles

- convergence of media delivery technologies:

cell phones, PCs, laptops, hand-helds etc all deliver
numerous services to users

- cross-media convergence: companies (e.g. electronics

or telecoms/internet service providers) now work in
many fields, and often converge with other media
companies e.g. Comcast and Verizon (USA)

- interpersonal and interactive: more choice in ways to

project opinions/identity, communicate, gain/share
information etc. e.g. social networking, blogs. OFCOM: 50%
UK adults used SN in 2012
 Trends in the Ownership and Control
of the Media
• Crucial information if we value diversity in media output and the avoidance of
abuses of power (Doyle, 2002)

• Owners/controllers of media organizations have more power than those of other

sectors due to power to influence popular opinion ; and this can undermine the
democratic process (Doyle, 2002)

Concentration of Ownership

- CR %= Concentration ratio %; total revenue going to the top media companies

- CR4 to top 4 companies, CR8 top 8… if CR4 is above 75%, or if CR8 is above 75%, the ind. Is seen
as “highly concentrated”.

- Bagdikian (2004) : in “The New Media Monopoly”, states that both CRs have been growing in
recent decades
Ownership of mass media in the USA
.
- Bagdikian (2004): 1983- 50 corporations controlled 90%; in 1992- just 22

- 2013: ownership concentrated in just 7 companies e.g. News Corp,

Time Warner, Disney, Sony

- New media e.g. SN: traditional media companies e.g. News Corp
compete with cyber-media organizations to control social
networking (very lucrative advertising). Microsoft owns a $1.36
billion stake in Facebook, for example

British print media

- 7 individuals dominate ownership and content of most British

newspapers:
- E.g. News Corp (Rupert Murdoch and family) who own major publications e.g. the
Sun, the Times
 .

• Some newspapers e.g. the Mirror group are owned by companies, not individuals

• And the Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust http://www.gmgplc.co.uk/the-scott-trust/ , a Trust

founded in 1936 dedicated to preserving the journalistic freedom and liberal values of this very fine
newspaper

• Unlike newspapers, magazines are a big growth area of the 21st century; and the magazine market is
dominated by just two companies

• The Bauer group and IPC each publish around 80 titles

Broadcasting media in the UK

- The BBC is publicly owned and committed to a “centre (wing)” stance

- Other than BBC, Murdoch’s News Corp and Virgin Media dominate the market
- The music industry seems to be bucking the trend of centralized ownership; in 2011 six companies
dominated, but last year EMI split up into four
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 Strategies of media corporations
Horizontal integration

- Corporations own a diverse range of media. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp

owns newspapers in UK, USA and Australia, HarperCollins books, Fox TV,
20th Century Fox movies, NBC news channel
- It also has a controlling stake over UK satellite TV giant Sky, and Asian
channels Star Sports, Star world and Star Movies
Vertical integration .
- Corporations are increasingly trying to control all aspects of a particular
industry sector e.g. Time Warner makes its own films and shows them in
its own cinemas

- News Corp owns not only TV channels but also TV and film studios that
makes the products

-  “Vertical integration gives media

greater
companies

economic control over

their operating environment”. TP p781
 .
Convergence

- Growing range of technologies e.g. powerful laptops, 3G/4G phones, large

HD TVs, games consoles

- These allow fast, download/streaming of information, almost anywhere,

very cheaply…as well as purchasing of consumer goods using credit cards

- Also allow access to social networking e.g. FB, Twitter…as well as YouTube
and shopping sites…all found using search engines like Google
 .

• Unsurprisingly these companies are

converging; they were previously very
separate entities
• the smartphone (and laptop) create a media
world where internet providers (e.g. Vodafone
or Viettel) work closely with TV, music,
shopping and photography companies to
maximize overall media consumption
 .

Global conglomeration

- Globalization lessens the importance of national boundaries that surrounded media

markets

- This opens up new international markets and encourages competition between media
companies

- As a result, most of the big media companies are transnational; present in many
countries with no specific ties to any (names of these companies rarely show national
allegiance e.g. News Corp, Virgin, Sky, Canal Plus)

Branding

- Like all transnational corporations, companies use brand imagery to become

recognizable, and to create and utilize particular impressions in consumers’
minds e.g. Disney
 Summary
• 13 companies dominate the UK media industry
• 10 of these owned by wealthy, powerful and influential
individuals, not shareholders of trusts
• The concentration of ownership is increasing
• Vertical/horizontal integration, convergence, global
conglomeration, and branding are key strategies used by
media giants