INTERNATIONAL BACHELOR COMMUNICATION AND MEDIACH3028 Media Processes &

InfluencesMedia Production

Rhythma Kapoor

Seminar 2

CONTENTS• Production perspective to media• Media concentration and conglomeration• Profit-driven logics of media production• Effects of advertising• Political factors

– Media Regulation Debate– Regulation of Ownership– Regulation of Content and Distribution– Informal Pressure

A Production Perspective on Media

Economic Perspective– Study of media production within the

economic constraints– Media products are a result of social and

economic processes

Economic factors - Trends in Ownership

1. Concentration of ownershipWhat does it mean?How was it possible?Which are the ‘big four’?What are effects and consequences?

2. Integration– vertical and horizontal

Concentration of ownership

Changing Patterns of Ownership

• Concentration of Ownership – Today, only a handful of firms dominate the

mass media industry– Magazines– Newspapers– Movies– Book publishing– Music– Online services

Number of Firms that Dominated the US Mass Media

05

10

1520253035

404550

1983 1987 1990 1997 2006

Media Ownership- USA 2012

Changing Patterns of OwnershipThe BIG FOUR (USA):

–Time Warner / –The Walt Disney Company / –Viacom /– News Corporation /

Europe: Bertelsmann AG

So, what does this imply?“This gives each of the five corporations and their leaders more communication power than was exercised by any despot or dictatorship in history” (Bagdikian 2004: 3)

Bertelsmann (TV/radio stations)

53 TV channels and 29 Radio stations in 10 (European) countries  

Its TV channels reach around 170 million viewers in Europe

53 TV channels and 29 Radio stations in 10 (European) countries  

Its TV channels reach around 170 million viewers in Europe

Bertelsmann (TV content production)

• produces and sells 9,200 hours of TV programming per year across 58 countries

• more than 300 programmes on air or in production worldwide

How does ownership take place?

1. through regulation/legislation2. through mergers, acquisitions 3. through conglomeration & integration

Media Conglomeration & Integration

Conglomeration: Media companies have become part of much

larger businesses. -multinational-diverse business areas

Integration: -horizontal -vertical

Conglomeration

Firms become involved in a variety of diverse business activities.

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Vertical Integration

Cross-industry ownership, or the degree a single firm owns its upstream suppliers and its downstream buyers. Here one firm engages in different aspects of the process,from production to distribution.

– Example: a firm hires an artist, records them, distributes them on stations they own and features them in clubs they own.

Vertical Integration

Journalists

Newspaper Business

Editors

Paper Mill and printers

Distributors

Integrate all aspects of mediaproduction and distribution.Top-down control

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Horizontal Integration

Consolidation of many firms that handle the same part of a production process. When a firm buys out other firms doing the same thing, it is seeking horizontal integration.It seeks to increase its share of the market. Most anti-trust laws are aimed at horizontal monopoly.

– Example: When MTV’s Viacom buys other cable channels, magazines, and other distributing means it is seeking horizontal integration in distributing.

Horizontal Integration

Time Warner

Warner Bros Pictures

Online Services

Moviefone

Time, People, Enter. Weekly

Warner Music Group

Cable Networks

across the media

Consequences of Conglomeration and Integration

• Integration and Self-Promotion– increase of products suitable for cross-promotion, self-

promotion – difficult for small companies to compete– Synergy– Cost minimization– Profit maximization

• Impact of Conglomeration – “Hollywoodization” of news

Consequences (contd.)

• Media Control and Political Power – Concentrated media ownership often leads to political

power– Media outlets may promote specific political agenda of the

owner– Media barons can easily become influential politicians

• Media Owners’ Influences on Media Contents – FOX TV & political coverage

Consequences

(In)direct political consequences• promoting a political agenda• political resource• excluding certain ideas to avoid controversy• corporate voice

–Example 1: GE refused to let NBC report on GE corruption in the nuclear industry.–Example 2: Big Media has yet to cover the Iraq invasion from anything but a moderate or a right- wing perspective.

Consequences (contd.)

• Media Ownership and Content Diversity – The Homogenization Hypothesis

– Media owned by a few lead to products that lack diversity.

Mass Media for Profits

• Prime-Time Profits – Logic of Safety and Profits

• Economic considerations lead to similar programs across networks

• Cost minimization logics lead to proliferation of a certain type of programs

• Effects on News Media– Scaled-back international news coverage– Entertainment-oriented news

Impact of Advertising

• Growing Advertising Influences– Product placement– Product integration– Branded entertainment

The Impact of Advertising

• Advertising as a key source of revenue– example: product placement

Consequences of Advertising– commodification of the audience– adaptation of content– Corporate voice– Cross/ self promotion

Media and regulation

The Public Interest and Regulation Debate

• Media deregulation approach– Free market principle– Deregulation is actually “selective” regulation

• Media regulation approach– Public interest principle

• Regulations in international perspective– United States is typically more “deregulation” oriented– In many European countries, media are public owned

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The Issue of De-Regulation

• Big Media claims that de-regulation brings freedom and diversity to the market.

• In fact, it has done the opposite. – This is because de-regulation has allowed large

corporations to concentrate, eliminating smaller media outlets. This brings monopoly and oligopoly, which violate the public interest.

The Telecommunications Act (1996)

Milestone media regulation– Easing of restrictions through deregulation– Changed limits on the number of media

outlets a single company can own– Increased concentration of ownership– Criticism: May be detrimental to free flow of

ideas

Regulating Ownership of Programming

Federal Communications Commission

oversees:

TV (cabel and satelite)RadioBroadband Internet

broadband,mobile networks,wireless networks.

Regulating Content: 4 Dimensions

1. Diversity2. Morality3. National Interest4. Accuracy

Regulating for Diversity

• Regulations asking media companies to provide diverse perspectives

• Regulation on programming, media-access

Regulating for Morality

• Concerns for sex and violence in media

– Obscene vs. Indecent materials• Obscene material is illegal• Indecent material is legal, but limited• Controversies in definitions

– 3-pronged test to determine obscenity

Regulating for Accuracy

• Protect the public against fraudulent or deceptive advertising

• Regulating ads for potentially dangerous products

Regulating Content

Diversity:• regulation on programming, media-access

Morality:• self-regulation, censorship

National Interest:• press pool, pr

Accuracy:• laws on advertising• time devoted to ads and infomercials

Regulating for National Interest

• Government control on press coverage of war– Vietnam war case

– The press pool system (aka Embedded journalism)• Government controls and manages the flow of information

• Government control resulting from terrorism– USA PATRIOT Act

• Increased the ability of law enforcement agencies to search email and telephone communications

Industry Self-Regulation

– Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings system (1968)

• G• PG• PG-13• R• NC-17

• Industry self-regulations to avoid external control

Net Neutrality

• A recent media technology regulation issue– One of the most important and controversial

media policy issues

• Preserving open access to the Internet and a level playing field for all websites

• Often hard to implement the true ideal of net neutrality in reality

AT&T

the largest mobile network provider in the US, with more than 100 million users.

- has blocked for its iPhone/iPad users access to video calling App FaceTime (costs of app 0,89 €)

- to still use the App, users first have to subscribe for the expensive service (having unlimited minute bundle, costs annually extra 1000$ annually)

Regulating content on Internet

Freedom of Press

Influence from Nongovernment Sources

• Political role played by other actors

• Directly influencing the media

• Prompting government to act on media

• Players in the debates over the media– Media critics and think tanks– Citizen activists– Media advocacy organizations

Conclusion• Economic and Political factors

– are (partly) interdependent– have an impact on form and content– differ per medium

Next Week

• Seminar 3 –Media Ideology• Readings:

– Croteau& Hoynes Chapter 5 (pp.153-184)– Hirschorn,M. (2007)