Topic 1 - Ownership and control

Mass media = agencies of communication that transmit information, education, news and entertainment to mass audiences.

The number of media outlets avaliable to the general public has increased dramatically.

All these changes in the availability of media seem to imply a greater degree of choice.

However some sociologist feel that this is an illusion - despite this media expansion, consumer choice has actually declined.

Concentration of ownership

Bagdikian (2004) - USA - 1983, 50 corporations controlled the majority of the news media. 1992, 22 corporation controlled 90% of the mass media.

Many of these companies have now started to move into cybermedia, which until recently has been dominated by four major companies; Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo.

Cybermedia = the internet and worldwide web.

The UK media industry is therefore dominated by 13 companies. Ten of these companies are owned and controlled by wealth  and powerful individuals rather than shareholders.

Horizontal intergration

Horizontal intergration is also known as cross-media ownership and refers to refer to the fact that the bigger media companies often own a diverse range media.

Horizintal intergration = refers to the fact that the bigger media companies often own a diverse range of media.

Cross-media ownership = occurs where different types of media are owned by the same company.

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