A2 SOCIOLOGY
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
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
1.
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