A2 SOCIOLOGY

TRENDS IN THE
OWNERSHIP AND
CONTROL OF THE MEDIA
 Media ownership

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjwJ2JS
EjzM
Introduction
 The mass media are generally defined as
those agencies of communication that
transmit information, education, news and
entertainment to mass audiences,

 There are broadly three types of media:

1. The print media,
2. Audio visual media,
3. Cybermedia or digital media.
Print media
 Newspapers, magazines, comics, books, and
some form of news advertising – most of
the these types of media are commercially
owned and produced in order to generate
profit for the publishing companies that
own them.
The audio visual media
 Terrestrial and satellites television, radio,
cinema, DVDs, and music.
 Most of these medias are owned and
produced by commercial broadcasters whose
main aim is to make profit usually through
subscriptions and/or advertising revenue.
 In the UK a significant proportion of the audio
visual media is publicly owned or state
owned.
Cybermedia and digital media

 Those are the new types of media whicoh

also include the internet or worldwide web
and in particular interactive online websiites
such as Facebook.
What do you think

Individually read through the handout

and answer the three questions.
Ownership and control

Why do you think those

two key terms are
important when looking at
the mass media ?
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,
Media/cybermedia ownership in the USA

1. Time Warner, Bebo

2. Disney,
3. News Corp, MySpace
4. Sony,
5. Bertelsmann of Germany,
6. Viacom (formerly know as CBS),
7. General Electric NBC
Concentration of media ownership
 4 distinct features:
Ownership within a single medium e.g. Company owning
several newspaper,
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...
 Who owns what in the UK
 Read through table 3.2 in your handout
which summarises media ownership in the
UK.

Suggest at least 2 reasons why the concentration of

ownership of the mass media might be of concern
in a democracy ?
Media ownership in the media

 Broadcasting media – ITV Plc (owns 11 of 15

regional commercial television franchise),
 NewsCorp ( Murdoch) – BSkyB,
 Virgin Media (Branson)
 British Music Industry – EMI
Reading task
 Read the article on media ownership and
British politics ...

 What message is the author of the article

trying to bring across?
 Horizontal Integration
 AKA cross media ownership which refers to
the fact that bigger media companies often
have a diverse range of media (NewsCorp)
Newspaper,
Century Fox,
Star TV
 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 advanitage of
the erosion of traditional boundaries
surrounding media markets.
 Globalisation has opened up natyional
markets and has created international
competitions between media companies.
 E.g.NewsCorp – owns newspaperws in
australia, the UK and the USA.
 Synergy
 Media companies are using different interest
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)
 Technological Convergence
 A fairly new concept which refers to the trend
of putting several technologies into one media
product for example through the personal
computer, mobile phones, digital television.
 E.g. we can access the internet,
telecommunication services, paying bills,
buying and downloading media through the
use of mobile phones and personal
computers.
Plenary

Individually without using your

notes, match the correct trend,
definition and evidence.

You have 10 minutes to complete

this task