MEDIA: OWNERSHIP and CONTROL

Peake found that there has been a rapid increase in the nummber of media outlets. For example, in 1988 we had 4 TV channels and 0 webpages, now we have over 500 TV channels and over 1 billion web pages. 

Bagdikian pointed out, in his book 'The Media Monopoly' that in 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the US. He predicted that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. Since then 1 in 4 internet users in the US now log in with AOL Time-Warner, the world's largest media corporation. In the revised verison of his book, now called 'The New Media Monopoly', he pointed out how now only 5 corporations control most of the media industry in the US. They consist of Time-Warner, Disney and Murdoch's News Corporation. If the US media was owned by separate individuals, there would be 25000 owners, instead there are only these 5.

What has caused the concentration of media organisation? 

1. Vertical integration: Now many companies own all stages of production to maximise profits; 'cutting out the middle man'. i.e. owning the paper mills, the printers, the lorries etc. 

2. Horizontal integration: When one company owns different types of media. E.g. Murdoch owns news papers, books, 20th century Fox, etc. 

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