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.