actual murdoch voting
TRANSCRIPT
Here's a quote for you... “I mean in our office there’s a picture of Bush as Hitler. I
don’t know where they got it, but yes, Bush as Hitler. It’s quite a serious thing comparing Bush to Hitler! So did anyone in the newsroom in question object? No. Nobody did.”
Which newsroom are we talking about? Al Jazeera? ITV? Channel 4? CNN? Fox News? Sky? BBC?
The newsroom in question is one of the main newsrooms of the BBC. The crucial thing about the quotation above - from a BBC journalist - is that no BBC staffer objected to the poster being put on the wall of one of the major newsrooms of the world's most influential broadcaster. The anti-American bias of the BBC was recently acknowledged by the Corporation's own Washington correspondent, Justin Webb. Mr Webb told a BBC seminar that his employer treated America with scorn and derision and gave it 'no moral weight'.
The story about Bush-as-Hitler comes in a new book about BBC bias by Robin Aitken. Robin was a BBC journalist for 25 years. His inside account of the Corporation's failings is called Can We Trust The BBC?
Impact of the Media
NewspapersTelevision
Internet
Circulation The Sun – 3 million Daily Mail – 2.1 million Daily Record – 323,000 Daily Mail – 2.1 million
They are not impartial. They are privately owned and tend to reflect the views of the owners.
They supported the Tories in 1992 and they won despite Labour being favourites – ‘It’s The Sun Wot Won It’.
They moved back to Labour in 1997 and they won, maintaining power for 13 years.
However, they backed the Tories in 2009 – ‘Labour’s Lost It’. We know what happened there.
Is The Sun really that influential or do they simply know when the time is right to switch allegiance? Do they influence voters or do they take into account the views of their readership and adapt?
The quality broadsheets tend to be more balanced a they will lose credibility with their readership if they are too biased. Their readership tends to be more educated.
Founder of News Corporation
World’s 3rd biggest media organisation
They own The Sun, BSkyB and many, many others
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=2476&view=wide
The turnout for Daily Mirror readership was 68%.
16% voted Tory 59% voted Labour
The turnout for Daily Telegraph readership was 81%.
70% voted Tory 7% voted Labour
The turnout for readers of the Sun was 57%.
43% voted Tory 28% voted Labour
1. Why might newspapers be able to influence voting behaviour in the UK?
2. In what way does political coverage by tabloids and broadsheets differ?
3. How could ‘The Sun’ claim to have had an impact on voting behaviour?
4. Make a note of newspapers that tend to maintain party support and those who fluctuate.
The Telegraph – 5% of the readership is from Social Class DE
The Sun – 32% of the readership are from Social Class DE
12% of the readership are from Social Class AB
Leadership DebatesParty Political Broadcasts
The average person in the UK watches 22.5 hours of TV each week, therefore it’s a platform for political parties to reach the electorate.
51% of adults consider television to be their main source of political information.
Approximately, 67% of people surveyed felt that TV broadcasts had little impact on their decision.
29% said it was not at all important.
This is despite it being the most expensive form of advertising used by political parties.
In twenty years time, will we still be watching Party Political Broadcasts as we currently know them?
FacebookTwitter
2010: The Internet Election
What impact did Social Media have?
It was predicted that the Internet would have a significant impact on the outcome of the 2010 Election.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/05/so_was_it_an_internet_election.html
Did it?
Official Website Stealth Sites (Lib Dems set one up a
false Party known as ‘Labservative’. Email – regular updates from key
Party members. Online Fundraising – Lib Dems
reportedly raised £500,000. Strategies to direct web traffic –
Tories at one point had a video linked to a search for Gordon Brown on youtube.
www.mydavidcameron.com Facebook, Twitter and blogging
1. .Newspapers1. Why might newspapers be able to influence voting behaviour in
the UK?2. In what way does political coverage by tabloids and broadsheets
differ?3. How could ‘The Sun’ claim to have had an impact on voting
behaviour?4. Make a note of newspapers that tend to maintain party support
and those who fluctuate.5. What evidence is there to suggest a link between social class
and newspaper?6. Explain the relationship between social class, newspapers and
turnout.
Television1. What do you think political parties see television as a useful
tool in an election campaign?2. Television can have a hugely positive impact on voting
behaviour for political parties. Provide arguments for and against this view.
3. Summarise the influence of the Leadership Debates.
Internet1. In what way did political parties utilise the internet?2. Summarise the impact of the internet on the 2010 General
Election. Was it the Internet Election that people predicted? Why?
PBS or Murdoch? PBS – BBC, PBS America etc
Broadcasting
Press Cinema
Advertising
New Media
AOL – Time Warner
Gerald Levin, chief executive, AOL Time Warner , in a CNN discussion on the future of the media, a few days before the AOL Time Warner merger, predicted global media would become the dominant industry of the 21st century — so powerful that they might in fact become more powerful than governments. "So what's going to be necessary is that we're going to need to have corporations redefined as instruments of public service," he said, adding: "It's going to be forced anyhow because when you have a system that is constantly available everywhere in the world immediately, then the old-fashioned regulatory system has to give way."
Media Concept Institutions
Medium Examined Mass Media
Topic Media Giants
Is media a business whose texts and products are to be sold to the consumers?
Is media a public service, in which the emphasis is to inform, educate and entertain the people?
Who will control those who control those who control?
Traditionally, the role of the media is to safeguard citizens’ rights by ensuring that public servants, including those who govern, are accountable to the people. It is the ‘fourth estate’ of government.
Industry structure - Incentives for Global Markets, changes in customer demands require changes in revenue models
Content – design process, production process, distribution process.
Technology – hybrid devices to use multiple formats – the bit that Andreas is teaching.
Self Regulation Voluntary code - PCC www.pcc.org.uk
Legal control Libel Jeopardize State Security – Diana/Dodi trial MI5 in
secret. ‘Prejudice a Fair Trial’
Campaign for Press & Broadcasting Freedom www.cpbf.org.uk
Parliament debates government policy
and makes laws The Executive makes
and execute policy runs the government
The Judiciary interprets and clarifies the law
Media - a free press can report all government activity
Rooted in the freedom of the press and the neutrality of the market.
Plays a vital role in democracy;
Media informs the electorate,
Checks and critiques government;
Articulates public opinion.
Media is profit motivated
It generates content that garners the greatest profit.
It tells what sells. It is geared to
readership and audience tastes and prejudices.
It cannot be unbiased or objective.
Bertelsman AG (Random House, BMG, Internet)
News Corp (Murdoch, Fox, Star TV, newspapers, Dodgers)
Viacom (Paramount, Blockbuster, MTV, CBS)
Vivendi/Universal (Music, studios, European media)
AOL/Time Warner (Books, magazines, movies)
Disney (ABC, Touchstone, sports, publishing)
Corporations own a variety of media outlets
TV, radio, movies, books, magazines newspapers, Internet
.
The rise of media conglomerates can be traced back to the 1980s & 1990s which saw a lot of mergers and buyouts of media and entertainment companies.
Bagdikian, a media scholar who studied this phenomenon noted that the last twenty years witnessed a trend where the ownership of the media industry was increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few companies. For example, in 1983
fifty corporations dominated most of every mass medium and the biggest media merger in history was a $340 million deal. ... [I]n 1987, the fifty companies had shrunk to twenty-nine. ... [I]n 1990, the twenty-nine had shrunk to twenty three. ... [I]n 1997, the biggest firms numbered ten and involved the $19 billion Disney-ABC deal, at the time the biggest media merger ever. ... [In 2000] AOL Time Warner's $350 billion merged corporation [was] more than 1,000 times larger [than the biggest deal of 1983].
Six Corporations own 90% of the U.S. media (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services, photo
agencies, and the Internet
The following information was found athttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
giants/
Japan-based Sony Corporation started in 1946 as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, with three employees. Now, it boasts more than 180,000 employees worldwide and over $58 billion in sales for 2001.
BOOKS United States Random House; Ballantine; Fodor's; Knopf; Modern Library
Book Clubs: Book-of-the-Month Club; Doubleday Book Club; Bookspan (50 percent)
Canada Random House of Canada; Quebec Loisirs Book Club
U.K. Random House; Book CLUB BCA (U.K.); European Book Clubs; Bertelsmann Media (Switzerland); Circulo de Lectores (Spain); Circulo de Leitores (Portugal); Donauland (Austria); ECI (Netherlands); France Loisirs (France); Swiat Ksiazki (Poland)
Sudamericana Pacific
Random House Australia; Random House New Zealand Germany
Berlin Verlag; C. Bertelsmann Springer Verlag; and 15 other imprints covering all aspects of book publishing; Book Club Der Club
Online book sales Barnes&Noble.com (40 percent); BOL
TELEVISION /RADIO CLT-UFA (merger of Audiofina, CLY-UFA and Pearson Television)
Television Stations: Germany RTL; RTL-2 (34.5 percent); SUPER RTL (50 percent, with Disney); Premiere World (5 percent, with KirchPayTV); VOX (joint venture with News Corporation)
England Channel 5
France FUN TV; M6; Multivision Teva
Netherlands RTL-4; RTL-5; RTL-9; RTL-Tele Letzebuerg
Hungary RTL Klub
Hungary RTL Klub
Television Production: UFA Film and Television Production; Trebitsch Production; Delux Productions (Luxembourg); Cinevideo (Canada); Holland Media House (Netherlands); Pearson TV (U.K.); UFA Sports
Radio: France Radio RTL; RTL 2; Fun Radio
Germany Antenne Bayern; 104.6 RTL; Radio Hamburg; Radio NRW; RTL Radio
Belgium Bel RTL
Sweden 104.7 RTL; Wow 105.5
U.K. Atlantic 252
"With 22 television stations and 18 radio stations in ten countries, RTL Group is Europe's biggest broadcasting corporation."
— www.bertelsmann.com/tv MAGAZINES
Gruner Jahr is Bertelsmann's magazine division, publishing 80 magazines worldwide.
USA American Homestyle; Family Circle Inc.; McCalls; Parents
France Femme; National Geographic and 13 other magazines
Germany Stern; TV Today; Impulse Brigitte; and 17 other magazines
U.K. Best; Prima; Focus - and this is just the tip of the iceberg!!!
"Today, Bertelsmann is the world's largest publisher. Our U.S. publishing group Random House alone ships over one million books a day." — www.bertelsmann.com/book
The Sony Bit of Sony BMG ----
•Movielink (jointly owned with Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios) Music•Sony BMG Music Entertainment (50% with Bertelsmann)Labels include: Arista Records, BMG Classics, BMG Heritage, BMG International Companies, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, LaFace Records, Legacy Recordings, RCA Records,
Film•Sony Pictures Entertainment •Columbia TriStar •Sony Pictures Classics •Screen Gems Television•Sony Pictures Television •AXN •Animax Japan •SoapCity •GAME SHOW NETWORK (50% with Liberty Media)
RCA Victor Group, RLG - Nashville, Sony Classical, Sony Music International, Sony Music Nashville, Sony Wonder, So So Def Records, Verity Records
Sony/ATV Music Publishing (joint venture with Michael Jackson)
Music Choice (venture with Time Warner, EMI, Motorola, Microsoft, and several cable companies: Cox, Comcast, Adelphia, Time Warner Cable)
Other Sony Electronics Sony Computer
Entertainment America PlayStation 989 Sports Sony Connect Inc. Metreon
The Walt Disney Company is the third largest global media conglomerate. Its 2000 revenues topped $25 billion, with 27% derived from parks and resorts, 24% from studio entertainment, and 17% from media networks.
Television ABC, Disney Channel; Toon Disney; Soap Net; ESPN, ESPN2, Lifetime and
Lifetime Movie Network; Disney and ESPN channels in more than 140 countries; Production including Buena Vista, Touchstone, Walt Disney, ABC Entertainment
Magazines US Weekly, Discover, Family Fun, Disney Adventures, ESPN The Magazine, Talk
Books Hyperion, Talk Miramax, Disney Children’s Book Group, ESPN Books, ABC
Daytime Press Resorts
Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, ESPN Zone
Movies Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Film
Corp., Dimension, Buena Vista International Other
50 radio stations; ABC Radio Network; Radio Disney; ESPN Radio Sports teams: Mighty Ducks, Anaheim Angels Theatrical productions of Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Hunchback
of Notre Dame, and Aida; 741 stores and Disney catalog Licenses characters for clothes, toys, etc. and for teaching aids; videos/films for
schools; stakes in sites including NFL.com and Movies.com; markets cell art from Disney animated films; owns Celebration, FL (a 4,900-acre town)
"ESPN International dominates televised sport, broadcasting on a 24-hour basis in 21 languages to over 165 countries. It reaches the one desirable audience that had eluded Disney in the past: young, single, middle-class men. 'Our plan is to think globally but to customize locally,' states the senior vice president of ESPN International in Latin America. The emphasis is on soccer; in Asia it is table tennis; and in India ESPN provided over 1,000 hours of cricket in 1995." — Robert W. McChesney, "The Global Media Giants" in Extra!, November/December, 1997
In January 2001, the $165 billion mega-merger between AOL and Time Warner was the largest media merger in history.
The new company promised integrated communication, media and entertainment across all platforms.
But shares of the company fell off sharply in the two years following the merger.
Heading into 2003, U.S. Justice Department has opened inquiries into AOL's accounting practices prior to the 2001 merger.
Employing an estimated 84,900 employees, AOL Timer-Warner earned USD 43.7 billion in 2005.
As can be observed, this media conglomerate owned different media businesses which operates worldwide.
Television and Cable WB, HBO and Cinemax, Comedy Central, Court TV, E! and Style, TBS, TNT, Cartoon
Network, Turner Classic Movies, CNN, Headline News; Second largest provider of cable
Movies Warner Brothers, New Line, Fine Line, MGM, RKO, Warner Home Video, UCI, WF
Cinema, Castle Rock Music
Warner Bros, Atlantic, Elektra, London-Sire, Rhino Records, majority interest in Alternative Distribution Alliance, Quincy Jones Entertainment, Warner/Chappell
Books Warner Books, Little, Brown, Time-Life Books, Book-of-the-Month Club
Internet America Online, CompuServe, Netscape, ICQ, aol Instant Messenger; websites
include MusicNet, EMI, RealNetworks, Mapquest, Winamp, RoadRunner cable Magazines
More than 64 magazines including the 3 best selling: Time, Life, and People; Fortune, Sports Illustrated, DC Comics; IPC (leading in Britain)
Other Sports teams including Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, Goodwill
Games, Phillips Arena; Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Park, Time Warner Telecom, Warner Bros. Studio Stores, DC Comics, Hanna Barbera characters, WB properties
Cable Broadband Potential to solve AOL’s broadband
strategy Powerful means to deliver content
Publishing Industry Brand extension opportunities:
Online sites Music Industry
Potentially huge market for music downloads
Cable Industry AOL TV: capitalize on our TV habit Platform for other media devices
Film Industry Promotion: movie clips, plot tests Interactive HDTV
Television and Cable WB, HBO and Cinemax, Comedy Central, Court TV, E! and Style, TBS, TNT, Cartoon
Network, Turner Classic Movies, CNN, Headline News; Second largest provider of cable
Movies Warner Brothers, New Line, Fine Line, MGM, RKO, Warner Home Video, UCI, WF
Cinema, Castle Rock Music
Warner Bros, Atlantic, Elektra, London-Sire, Rhino Records, majority interest in Alternative Distribution Alliance, Quincy Jones Entertainment, Warner/Chappell
Books Warner Books, Little, Brown, Time-Life Books, Book-of-the-Month Club
Internet America Online, CompuServe, Netscape, ICQ, aol Instant Messenger; websites
include MusicNet, EMI, RealNetworks, Mapquest, Winamp, RoadRunner cable Magazines
More than 64 magazines including the 3 best selling: Time, Life, and People; Fortune, Sports Illustrated, DC Comics; IPC (leading in Britain)
Other Sports teams including Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, Goodwill
Games, Phillips Arena; Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Park, Time Warner Telecom, Warner Bros. Studio Stores, DC Comics, Hanna Barbera characters, WB properties
Created in December. A merger combined Vivendi's telecommunications assets with Universal Studios and Canal+'s programming and broadcast capacity.
Vivendi Universal's subsidiary Universal Music Group is the world's top music company, with roughly 22% of the global market share in 1999.
Heading into 2003, the company plans to sell off $16 billion in assets because of massive debts.
USA Network, Sci-Fi Channel; Universal Studios; Leading French publisher; Houghton Mifflin publishers, medical & reference books and CDs; 27% of US music sales: Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Island, Def Jam, MCA, Mercury, Motown, Universal; Universal Studios, StudioCanal, PolyGram Films, Gramercy; info technology and medical journals; theme parks (Universal Studios & SEGA Game Works), stores inc. Spencer Gifts; Second largest private water rights owner in the world; 151 recycling facilities, 119 landfill sites, 83 incineration plants worldwide
June 14, 2000 Announcement that Vivendi and Seagram in merger talks. It was reported as one more global media merger, creating a $55 billion group, Europe's version of AOL Time Warner.
October, 2000 Mario Monti, EU Competition Commissioner, clears merger. Terms include selling Vivendi's stake in BSkyB and making Universal's library available to rival media groups on fair terms. Company to also sell 55 percent held in ISP AOL France. After Seagram and Canal Plus shareholders agreed on merger, Vivendi Universal began trading on December 11, 2000. A month later shares in the company had fallen by 12 percent.
TELEVISION and FILM Canal 14 million subscriptions to pay-TV in 11 European countries. Main companies include CanalSatellite; StudioCanal; Canal ; Spain Telepiu; Canal Digital.
Universal Studios; Universal Pictures; Universal Studios Home Video; Universal Television & Networks Group (4,000 film titles, 24,000 television episodes of such series as "Kojak," "Miami Vice," "Columbo"). Several theme channels, including SciFi (U.K.) Action and Suspense Channel; 13ème Rue; USA Network.
Distribution Cineplex Odeon Corporation (42 percent) Cinema International Corporation (49 percent) United Cinemaa International (49 percent)
Television NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, A&E, History and Biography channels (shared), Snap
TV, AMC, Bravo, WE, and Independent Film Channel; regional news, sports, and entertainment channels; Canal de Noticias NBC and TV Azteca; Production including NBC Productions, Radio City Television, Bravo Original Programming, IFC Productions, Next Wave Films, Satellite DBS Provider
Internet Snap, NBC.com, CNBC.com, Salon.com, polo.com
Other Ammonia plants, Nuclear reactors Aircraft engines; GE, Hotpoint & other appliances; light bulbs 14 communications satellites, cars, computers MR and CT scanners, X-ray and ultrasound machines Health, accident, and long term care insurance; investment and
retirement plans; mortgages, home equity and commercial real estate loans, car loans,
Credit card application processing, sales authorization, and collection services for retailers in 23 countries
Owns stock in retail, financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, food and beverages, cable and broadcasting industries; leases 1,000 aircraft, 190,000 railcars, and about 1 million cars, trucks, and tractor trailers
Television CBS, UPN, MTV, MTV2, VH1, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nickelodeon GAS,
TV Land, Comedy Central, TNN, CMT, The Movie Channel, Sundance Channel, FLIX, BET
Movies Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films, BET Arabesque Films;
Blockbuster; about 1,800 screens in theaters in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America
Books Simon and Schuster, Pocket Books, Scribner, The Free Press, Arabesque Books;
divisions in Britain and Australia Internet
MTV.com, VH1.com, Nickelodeon Online, stakes in iWon, Sportsline.com, MarketWatch.com, hollywood.com
Music 184 Infinity radio stations; CBS Radio Network; Westwood One, Sportsline
Radio; Famous Music holds copyright to more than 100,000 musical works Other
Paramount theme parks in US and Canada including Star Trek, The Experience, House of Blues, theme restaurants, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment
Exclusive advertising rights on buses, subways, trains, kiosks, billboards, and other venues in New York, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, and 82 other US cities and cities in Mexico, Canada, Britain, Ireland, and throughout Europe
Television CBS, UPN, MTV, MTV2, VH1, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nickelodeon GAS,
TV Land, Comedy Central, TNN, CMT, The Movie Channel, Sundance Channel, FLIX, BET
Movies Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films, BET Arabesque Films;
Blockbuster; about 1,800 screens in theaters in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America
Books Simon and Schuster, Pocket Books, Scribner, The Free Press, Arabesque Books;
divisions in Britain and Australia Internet
MTV.com, VH1.com, Nickelodeon Online, stakes in iWon, Sportsline.com, MarketWatch.com, hollywood.com
Music 184 Infinity radio stations; CBS Radio Network; Westwood One, Sportsline
Radio; Famous Music holds copyright to more than 100,000 musical works Other
Paramount theme parks in US and Canada including Star Trek, The Experience, House of Blues, theme restaurants, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment
Exclusive advertising rights on buses, subways, trains, kiosks, billboards, and other venues in New York, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, and 82 other US cities and cities in Mexico, Canada, Britain, Ireland, and throughout Europe
Essentially, all activities of the media industry centered around the creation and packaging of intellectual property with the aim of maximizing revenues by selling it as many times as is feasible to the widest audience.
Given its aim of revenue maximization, the media industry have focused on the vertical integration business strategy.
This term describes a style of ownership and control where a group of companies are united through a hierarchy and share a common owner where each member of the hierarchy produces a different product or service, and the products combine to satisfy a common need.
The idea behind vertical integration is that all activities of an industry are ordered in a sequence which starts ‘upstream’ at the early stages in the production process, works its way through succeeding or ‘downstream’ stages where the product is processed and refined, and finishes up as it is supplied or sold to the customer.
Also known as vertical supply chain.
Production:creating media
content
Packaging: content is collected together & assembled as media product
Distribution:delivering Product to customers
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Ltd. Has media holdings in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin America and Asia.
As of September 30, 2000, its assets totaled $38 billion and total annual revenues approximate $14 billion.
In 2003, the company is seeking to acquire DirectTV, a U.S. satellite tv company.
Television FOX, FX, FMC, Fox News Channel, National Geographic Channel, Speedvision
and Outdoor Life, Fox international sports channels, Golf Channel, Health Network, Television Games Network, TV Guide Channel, internationally extensive holdings in cable, broadcast, and satellite TV in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Australia
Production including Twentieth Century Fox, Regency Television among others Books
HarperCollins (and all its imprints), Zondervan (largest commercial Bible imprint)
Newspapers & Magazines TV Guide, NY Post, the Star, the Boston Herald; in Britain: The Sun, the London
Times, News of the World, the Australian, the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun Movies
Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight, Fox Animation Studios, New Regency, Fox Home Entertainment, Fox film library
Other Weekly Standard, TV Guide, stakes in internet sites including ChinaByte.com
and broadsystem.com, licenses for The Simpsons, X-Files, and other Fox properties
Sports including New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Liberty, New England Seawolves, Hartford Wolfpack, Madison Square Garden, management of Hartford Civic Center; Los Angeles Dodgers and Staples Center, Dodger Stadium and Dodgertown; National Rugby League
Murdoch Soccer Deal Sets Up Bigger Play Goals for Media Empire Motivate $1-Billion Purchase of Famed Team MARJORIE MILLER, Times Staff Writer LONDON--There is one reason media mogul Rupert Murdoch would spend $1 billion and change to buy Britain's most revered soccer team--more than three times what he paid for the Los Angeles Dodgers--and it is not just to tweak the noses of Manchester United fans. Even more than potential profits, owning one of the leading teams in the world's most popular sport gives Murdoch's News Corp. enormous clout with broadcasters worldwide, while guaranteeing that its games never leave the company's flagship satellite service, British Sky Broadcasting, an international cable news and entertainment network that is the dominant pay television source in Britain.
"Our reach is unmatched around the world. We're reaching people from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep. We give them their morning weather and traffic reports through our television outlets around the world. We enlighten and entertain them with such newspapers as The New York Post and The Times (of London) as they have breakfast, or take the train to work. We update their stock prices and give them the world's biggest news stories every day through such news channels as Fox or Sky News ... And when they get home in the evening we're there to entertain them with compelling first-run entertainment on FOX or the day's biggest game on our broadcast, satellite and cable networks. Before going to bed, we give them the latest news, and then they crawl into bed with one of our best-selling novels from HarperCollins." — Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation, 1999 Annual Report
Television NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, A&E, History and Biography channels (shared), Snap
TV, AMC, Bravo, WE, and Independent Film Channel; regional news, sports, and entertainment channels; Canal de Noticias NBC and TV Azteca; Production including NBC Productions, Radio City Television, Bravo Original Programming, IFC Productions, Next Wave Films, Satellite DBS Provider
Internet Snap, NBC.com, CNBC.com, Salon.com, polo.com
Other Ammonia plants, Nuclear reactors Aircraft engines; GE, Hotpoint & other appliances; light bulbs 14 communications satellites, cars, computers MR and CT scanners, X-ray and ultrasound machines Health, accident, and long term care insurance; investment and
retirement plans; mortgages, home equity and commercial real estate loans, car loans,
Credit card application processing, sales authorization, and collection services for retailers in 23 countries
Owns stock in retail, financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, food and beverages, cable and broadcasting industries; leases 1,000 aircraft, 190,000 railcars, and about 1 million cars, trucks, and tractor trailers
By controlling the media vertical supply chain, a conglomerate can generate enormous profit out of its media products.
Therefore, if a media conglomerate has a successful movie, it could promote the file through its broadcast properties, and then use the film to spin off TV programs, musical CDs, books, merchandise, etc.
As Viacom’s CEO Redstone put it: “When you make a movie for an average cost of $10 million and then cross promote and sell it off of magazines, books, products, television shows out of your own company, the profit potential is enormous.”
For example, Disney’s 1994 animated film The Lion King generated over USD 1 billion in profit. It also led to a lucrative Broadway show, a TV series and all sorts
of media spin-offs. It also led to 186 items of merchandising.
The common parlance for such practice is ‘synergy’ which attempts to boost sales by promoting products across media where for every ‘hit’ movie (or any other media product) there is a TV series, soundtracks, books, plastic mugs, etc.
In another example of ‘synergy,’ Disney takes its lucrative ESPN cable channel and use the name to generate other
products, including ESPN radio network. In 1996, Disney launched ESPN Magazine to compete directly with AOL-Timer Warner’s Sports Illustrated. Using incessant promotion on ESPN, the magazine exceeded initial estimates with a circulation approaching 500,000 after a few months. This resulted in the launch of ESPN Grill restaurants to appeal to those who wish to combine sports with dining out.
Corporations cross-promote products
Dreamworks Shrek ignored by Disney media
CNN plugs Turner Classic Movies
NBC promotes GE-backed airplane
Average American heard 42 mentions by time film opened
Batman Synergy
2002 Time-Warner-AOL film Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Location of key scene changed from New York Times to Time magazine
HBO showed Media show 28 Days almost daily
Sometimes followed by HBO Behind the Scenes: The Ya Ya Sisterhood
Time magazine gave the film a mediocre review
Media synergy doesn't influence all content
Not yet . . .
Disney owns ABC
How does ABC cover Disney?
How does Time-Warner-AOL cover its many interests?
The study of power relations forms the basis of the study of media and communications.
Power and knowledge are closely interlinked.
Power is the means by which certain individuals and groups are able to dominate others
Power is potentially or actually part of all social relationships
Usually a person who has control also has power
Media Power is exerted by controlling the informational environment, system of influences, commands and feedback
P ress m an ag er C ircu la tion
S u b -ed ito rs
C h ie f s u b -ed ito r
N ews E d ito r
R ep orters
C h ie f R ep orte r S p ec ia l c orres p on d en t
P h o tog ra p h ers
P h oto E d ito r
C h ie f o f N ew s B u reau
R ep orte rs / su b -ed ito rs
S p o rts E d ito r
C orresp o n d en ts
F ore ig n E d itor
E d ito r A d ve rtis in g m an ag er
P rop rie to r
Traditionally = Editors Now?
Competition in the market place? Interest groups? Advertisers? Audience? Readers? Government? Owners?
Operational: Control of editors / reporters
Allocative: Through the allocation of funds / personnel for certain programs or certain sections of the newspaper denial of funds for other sections or programs
External: Pressure from advertisers / consumer groups
Media diversity is when media outlets are owned by a number of persons making diversity of opinion a realistic expectation.
Democratic governments attempt to ensure diversity and are wary of concentration in media ownership.
Governments attempt to ensure diversity and are wary of concentration in media ownership
Corporations own a variety of media outlets and shops
TV, radio, movies, books, magazines newspapers, Internet
In effect this reduces choice and diversity
Or
Mergers limit number of independent voices in media
Limits free exchange of ideas
Facilitates censorship Profit imperative,
rather than quality, determines programming
Rupert Murdoch as Mao
Airwaves are in the the public domain
Radio /TV bound by public service requirements.
BUT Governments are reducing limits on media consolidation
More choice at lower prices?
Fewer media businesses = less choice of opinion?
Corporations control more culture industries
This drags down standards
Leads to more “trash”
Future of freedom of speech
Monopolies are non-competitive
Hypercommercialize content without fear of competitive retribution
US commercial radio = 18 minutes of ads per hour
Low quality populist output
‘Media moguls” are persons who own and operate large media corporations in a personal or eccentric style
Moguls occur when there are one or a few players in the media scene
Gives rise to fears of the reflection of one point of view.
Rupert Murdoch's (News Corp.) HarperCollins cancelled publication
of book by Chris Patten former British Government of Hong Kong
Why? Patten critical China Fact. News Corporation has huge
interests in China
Self-censorship an even greater concern
Historically speaking, the origins of what we term as the media has its roots in newspapers that proliferated in the 19th century.
The function of newspapers was to inform and educate its readers on the issues of the day as well as disseminating ideas.
However, the 20th century have witnessed the gradual evolution of the media that moves away from news to entertainment.
And the trend in media ownership in the past twenty years is simply accelerating the media’s move towards entertainment.
With the emphasis towards profitability, rather than social responsibility, media content have increasingly been watered (some would say dumbed) down in an effort to entertain us rather than inform and educate us (or what Neil Postman calls as “Amusing Ourselves to Death.”
And given the pervasiveness of the media in our lives, its influence is undeniable.
We are what we read, see and hear through the media. And the message of the media is simply this ‘Resistance is futile. Become part of the mindless audience hive that consumes what we offer.’
Can the internet and other new technology break the hold of the media giants?
Is the influence of the media giants benign or harmful to democracy and freedom?
Is too much power in the hand of too few?
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The Future??
For the next 3 days, you will keep a log of the media that you spend time with together with a brief note of the content of such media.
Please create a blog (weblog) of all your media consumption