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Media in World Politics
Conglomerate Control
'Concentration' vs 'diversity'
Horizontal & vertical H: mergers within the same market V: within the process of production/distribution
Levels of concentration Ownership : increased power of owners, through
business 'raionalisation' → Reduced 'difference' Editorial : difficult to assess as 'independence' of
editorial from business highly variable. Audience : market share - who has access to what
size/share of market?
P228-9 in McQuail (2010) Mass Comm. Theory. 6th ed. SAGE (adapted from Ridder, J. A. de. (1984). Persconcentratie in Nederland. Amsterdam: VU Uitgeverij)
'Media Moguls'
Rupert MurdochHe smashes unions. He squares politicians. He keeps in
with national leaders offering them news-space and book contracts [Thatcher, Gingrich, C.Patten]. Everywhere, he lobbies.
Marr 1995:200
Silvio BerlusconiHis media regime is […] one based not on the silencing of
all dissenting voices […] but on the rule enunciated by talk-show host Maurizio Constanzo: “Power does not belong to those who talk on television. It belongs to those who permit you to talk on television.”
Ginsborg 2005: 113-4Marr, A. (1995). Ruling Britannia: The Failure and Future of British Democracy. Michael Joseph, London
Ginsborg, P. (2005). Silvio Berlusconi: Television, power and patrimony. Verso.
Media Moguls (India)
Samir and Vineet Jain (BCCL - Times of India)“We are not in the newspaper business. If 90 percent of
your revenues come from advertising, you are in the advertising business.”
http://www.firstpost.com/india/media-moguls-inside-the-minds-of-samir-and-vineet-jain-479062.html
Subhash ChandraEssel Group: Zee TV, Zee News, DNA newspaper chain,
cables systems, DTH television broadcasting, theme parks, online gaming, cinemas etc etc. Group Revenues apx USD 4bn (not all media
related)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essel_Group
Bagdikian: “Media Monopoly”
[M]asses of potential voters have become resigned to the assumption that what the major media tell them is the norm and now unchangeable.
In the first edition of this book, I observed twenty years ago, “media power is political power.” The five dominant media firms, now among the largest in the world, have that power and use it to enhance the values preferred by the corporate world of which they are a part.
(Bagdikian 2004:25)
Bagdikian, B. H. (2004). The New Media Monopoly. Beacon Press, Boston.
Important Groups
News Corp Disney Viacom Time Warner Vivendi Bertelsmann
Viacom
TimeWarner
Disney
Vivendi
Brazil’s leading company in high-speed Internet and connected television
mobile co.
Websites: ticketing
etc
Includes:Universal Music Japan(Beatles->Perfume &c)
Record Labels:GeffenA&M
PolydorDefJamIsland
MotownVirgin
BlueNoteDeccaEtc...
Canal+: France, Poland, Spain, Francophone Africa, Vietnam
News Corp. & “20cF”
http://www.21cf.com/Management/
...and there's more...
“Every morning, the most powerful and influential people in the most powerful and influential city on earth wake up and read the New York Post.”
http://newscorp.com/business/new-york-post/
selling 10.4 million newspapers each week, and distributing an additional 6.7 million commuter and community titles. Publish 7 of the top 10 newspapers sold (in Oz)
..and more...
http://www.harpercollins.com
“Synergy”“Cross-promotion”“Content flow”
Fox News...
Producers: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Murdoch and China
Murdoch purchases STAR (Satellite Television Asian Region) TV in 1992 1992 Chris Patten made Governor of HK
1993/4 STAR TV drops BBC News/World channel 1996 Patten starts on memoirs
(Pub:HarperCollins) 1 July 1997: HK → China
10 Feb 1998: Patten memoir axed End Feb 1998: Patten sues HarperCollins
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/60781.stm
Political or commercial?
Murdoch's press supported.... 1980s: Thatcher's Conservative Party 1997–2009: Blair's (New) Labour Party 2009– : Cameron's Conservative Party
Motivations... Reflecting 'popular' mood (media populism)? Personal liking for leaders? Political manoeuvring? (regulatory support from
govt.)
International flows...
Businesses within the same group, but operating in different markets, can be used to cross-subsidise.
UK Tabloid 'Price War' of early 1990s Sun: 25p → 20p “increased its sales by between 180,000 and
200,000. This is costing the paper pounds 900,000 a week in lost cover price revenue.”
Intention was to damage circulation of rival Mirror (but also nearly killed Today(d.Nov 1995))
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/tabloid-price-war-cripples-today-1485616.html
Scale...
2011 Revenue in USD (billions)
Google 37.9 (apx GDP of Serbia, Panama)The DirecTV Group 27.2 (...Bolivia, part owned by NewsCorp,34%?) News Corporation 26.4 (...Cameroon)Walt Disney Company 19.7 (...Honduras, Nepal)Comcast 16.2 Time Warner 15.6 Bertelsmann 11.3
Google: media company? “Like network television, advertising comprises the
majority of Google’s revenue. It is a commercially supported site, and its economic survival depends on advertising revenue and a vast number of users. Similar to network television, Google exchanges free content with advertisements.”
Vertical integration: search engine ad agency ratings provider
“The Google system is closed and non-competitive. Advertisers cannot place an ad on Google through another company. Furthermore, other ratings companies have no access to the internet traffic data collected by Google.”
Lee, M. (2011). Google Ads and the blindspot debate. Media, Culture & Society, 33(3), 433–447.
“Media Monopoly”
“Five global-dimension firms, operating with many of the characteristics of a cartel, own most of the newspapers, magazines, book publishers, motion picture studios, and radio and television stations in the United States.” (2007:3)“the power to treat some unliked subjects accurately but briefly, and to treat subjects favorable to the corporate ethic frequently and in depth” (2000:15)
Bagdikian, B. H. (2004). The new media monopoly. Beacon Press, Boston.
Ownership Alternatives
“The contents of media always reflect the interests of those who finance them”: Atschull's 'second law of journalism' (1984)
Privately-held, commercial, profit-oriented 'company' State-owned commercial companies (e.g. China) Non-profit bodies: trusts, NG/POs, churches etc
e.g. Hearst Corp., NYWorld, Guardian etc
Publicly-owned State-administered → 'independent'
Altschull, J. H. (1984). Agents of power: The role of the news media in human affairs. Longman, New York.McQuail (2010) Mass Comm. Theory. 6th ed. SAGE
Regulating Ownership
The Norwegian Media Authority (Medietilsynet)
rating movies enforcing rules on content, advertising and sponsorship
for broadcast media; handling license applications for local broadcast media
handling applications for newspaper production grants, including non-leading newspapers, minority language newspapers and Sami newspapers
overseeing and intervening against the acquisition of media ownership (either prohibiting the acquisition or merger, or allowing an acquisition on such conditions as the Authority sets, including ordering the divestment of other media ownership interests.