7.2 ownership and control of the media
Who owns the Uk media
5 billionaires own 80% of the UK media (Rupert Murdock, Richard Desmond, viscount rothermere and the Barclay brothers
The big 6 corporations: Comcast, Disney, News Corp, time warner, Viacom and CBS
Media moguls = an individual who owns a significant share of a media company. For example Rupert Murdock who owns a number of newspapers and TV broadcasting companies around the world
Curran points out that it has always been this way: in 1937, four men owned half of all newspapers sold nationwide
Features of media ownership in the UK today
horizontal integration — this is where a media company will expand, often by buying or merging with competitors
Media convergence — this is where different media corporations join with other companies to offer a product or service
Global conglomerates — this refers to companies that consist of a lot of different businesses/ interests that may operate on an international level
Marxist views
the media is owned and controlled by members of the bourgeoisie
These owners instruct editors and journalists to put across a particular message to the audience
These messages spread the dominant ideology which seeks to justify inequalities, which contributes to false class consciousness (apart of althussers ideological state apparatus)
This idea of direct control is the manipulative approach, associated with Ralph Miliband. He argued that editors and journalists will not use their autonomy against the owners because they lack power and depend on the owners for their jobs
Examples
Richard Desmond (former owner of the express), apparently regularly visited the newspaper offices, making clear demands of what should be included
Curran found that ‘press barons’ were quite open about their propagandist role and that there have always been more conservative-supporting newspapers. This reflects them serving the interests of wealthy owners
Politicians also believe media moguls to have a great deal of control over media content as they try and get on the ‘right side of them’. Tony Blair flew to Australia to meet with Rupert Murdock and was rewarded with the support of ‘the sun’
Evaluation of Marxist views
neomarxists would suggest that owners of the media do not have time to micromanage. So media content is controlled by the editors and journalists
Pluralists would argue that owners of the media’s main focus is not to spread their opinions, but is to make profits. So their focus is on what they customers want and what will sell. James Whale argued that media moguls are busy dealing with business matters, not what story to run on a newspaper
Suggests that the audience is passive
Neomarxist views
the role of the media is to spread the dominant ideology
They argue this is because journalists and editors are typically from upper classes, and owner will generally employ people whose opinions and values are similar to themselves
Therefore the journalists and editors will put across the ideology of the owner
The GMG (Glasgow media group) found that most journalists were white, middle/ upper class men
Jones suggests that the decline of local newspapers has removed one route that working class people could take into a journalism career, further increasing the middle/ upper class domination in media
Neomarxist also suggest that journalists and editors may be subconsciously pushing the dominant ideology, Gramsci calls this the hegemonic approach
Evaluating neo Marxist views
the Labour MP, Dennis skinner, tells a story about marching with striking miners through London and journalists at the Daily express were cheering them on from their office windows. However the newspaper regularly printed articles attacking the miners union. This shows that the owners were forcing their agenda onto the journalists and the audience (traditional Marxist)
Pluralists such as James Whale argue that the media is not a result of the social background of editors and journalists, but is rather the product of market demands and profits
Pluralists would point out that there is a diverse choice of media companies and media outlets, and by choosing these news outlets they may become more well known
It’s hard to establish if people are manipulated or indoctrinated. As pluralists would suggest, the media provides those views and values to satisfy audiences, rather than the other way around
Pluralist views
argue that the editors and journalists are professionals with ethics and integrity, so would not allow themselves to be manipulated by owners
Companies simply want to maximise profits and minimise costs which is achieved through conglomerates, integration and globalisation. They don’t see this as cultural imperialism or capitalist dominance, they see it as the functioning of the free market with choice for consumers
They argued that the audiences control the media. The audiences have choice in what they consume so the companies must meet the demands of the customers
So they believe the audience is active rather than passive
Also argue that mass media is essential for democracy, as it enables us to be informed by the media
Evaluating pluralist views
Marxists argue that the audience is manipulated and the media deliberately creates false needs. People are manipulated to buy certain products through advertising. So they are not active
Marxists and neomarxists would argue that there is no consumer choice. Barnett and Weymour said that even though there are hundreds of TV channels, there is just lots of the same thing. This is referred to as the fallacy of choice. Also this media market has led to the dumbing down of media content to keep hold of audience members, which further contributes to false class consciousness
Neo-pluralist (Davies) argued that its hard for journalists and editors to be neutral reliable professionals in contemporary society. So their input might lack fact checking and reveals bias, however their is still a choice for audiences
Postmodernists views
argue that audiences have a greater choice than ever as we live in a media saturated society, so it’s impossible for owners or editors to control what is out there
However Baudrillard suggests that media saturation means that we are unable to distinguish between real life and a media version of life (hyperreality)
Levene argued that media ownership is fluid as the gap between producer and audience has been eroded. This is seen through citizen journalism
Evaluating postmodernist views
citizen journalism lacks the same power as mass media, so depend on mass media editors and journalists to report on it. Otherwise these messages just exist in a social media bubble, where they are circulated among a self-selecting community who already agree with each other
Media saturation gives more power to owners as it creates a more passive audience, as they are anaesthetised by the fallacy of choice. And audiences are unable to distinguish between real life and hyperreality
Public service broadcasting
parts of the media owned by the government (BBC), which is funded by license fees and operated independently of state interference and is not subject to the same commercial constraints
However neomarxists such as the GMG would argue that the BBC’s heirarchy is made up of white, wealthy men with conservative views therefore would produce media content that supports these views
Some would argue that the BBC has dumbed down its content, focusing on popular entertainment to secure advertising revenue