Marxists Views on Ownership and Control
- Created by: Elysia
- Created on: 26-02-13 13:42
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- Marxists and the Media
- Power and control in the media lie with the media owners
- The media serves the powerful in society
- "Ideology" - the ruling class establishes a set of ideas that maintain its interests, but people of society accept as natural and fair
- This ruling class ideology is reinforced as "the norm" through social institutions
- Owners directly intervene in the running of their organizations to ensure that their views are put across
- Owners directly intervene in the day-to-day runnings of their media company
- The media serves the powerful in society
- Milliband (1969) argues that the ruling class uses the media to control society by painting a false picture of reality that presents capitalism in a positive way
- Capitalism is presented as justifiable and fair, presenting a state of false-class conciousness
- The media is the new "opium of the people" - it presents an illusion of happiness that is not happiness
- Journalists of Rupert Murdoch have complained about not being able to write critically about Israel due to Murdoch's personal and business relationships there
- Murdoch is known as the "Phantom Prime Minister" due to his influence within the British Government
- Marxists are critical of media trends as they are seen to strengthening the control the owners already have over society
- Golding (1973) found that due to concentration in the UK, ownership was concentrated in fewer and fewer hands
- Globalisation has made it increasingly difficult to contrain the power of media owners
- EVALUATION
- Marxists present an overly conspiratorial role of owners
- Fail to take into account the role of media prrofessionals such as journalists and editors
- Pluralists argue that Marxists ignore the range of difference views ofference by the media - alternative views are avaiable
- Negrine (1989)
- There is little evidence to support their theory
- Siince media owners are business people, their meain concern is likely to revolve around commercial success
- Power and control in the media lie with the media owners
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