...Evaluate the pluralist view of the ownership and control of the mass media The mass media is the means by which messages and images are communicated to a mass audience, it does this through its various Mass Communication Technologies (MCTs), and for instance the Internet is a very powerful and influential MCT communicating worldwide. MCTs educate, persuade and inform as well as entertain their audience. Media is geographically dispersed and has no limits due to its global domination. It is also culturally diverse and socially mixed. Pluralists believe that the mass media is reflective of social reality, and acts as a 'mirror'. They state that it has a functional role in meeting the demands of its mass audience, and thus owes a duty to the people. Marxists on the other hand would argue that the media constructs desires and creates social reality. In other words it is a sculptor of a worldview and distorts social reality which is based on exploitation of a powerless majority, thus it is an ideological tool of the powerful bourgeoisie and reflects their interests. Over eighty percent of the media is owned by Trans National Corporations. But does ownership have any effect on the media coordinators? According to pluralists the answer is simply no. They back this by highlighting the fact that power is dispersed within society and that different pressure and interest groups all influence the media, which reacts accordingly. For instance Green Peace;...
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...The Control of the Mass Media Some nations can influence and control their media greatly. In addition, powerful corporations also have enormous influence on mainstream media. In some places major multinational corporations own media stations and outlets. Often, many media institutions survive on advertising fees, which can lead to the media outlet being influenced by various corporate interests. Other times, the ownership interests may affect what is and is not covered. Stories can end up being biased or omitted so as not to offend advertisers or owners. The ability for citizens to make informed decisions is crucial for a free and functioning democracy but now becomes threatened by such concentration in ownership. The idea of corporate media itself may not be a bad thing, for it can foster healthy competition and provide a check against governments. However, the concern is when there is a concentration of ownership due to the risk of increased economic and political influence that can itself be unaccountable. Global conglomerates can at times have a progressive impact on culture, especially when they enter nations that had been tightly controlled by corrupt crony media systems (as in much of Latin America) or nations that had significant state censorship over media (as in parts of Asia) (McChesney 2000, 22). The global commercial-media system is radical in that it will respect no tradition or custom, on balance, if it stands in the way of profits. But ultimately it is politically...
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...MC244S5A 2013916883 1 CONCENTRATION OF OWNERSHIP AND CONGLOMERATION AFFECTING MEDIA PLURALISM AND MEDIA ECONOMCS IN MALAYSIA. Media ownership occurs mostly in developed countries around the world, whereby lesser individuals or organizations regulate the shares of the mass media (McEwan, 2007). The concentration of media ownership and conglomeration has said to alter the truthfulness of media delivering information to people. In the United States, there are eight major corporations that controls the broadcast and cable networks (Steiner, 2015). Among the corporations are News Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, National Amusements, Comcast, Time Warner, Discovery Communications, E. W. Scripps Company, and Cablevision. The scenario is criticized to affect media pluralism and media economics. In 2012, a global performance-management consulting company, Gallup, Inc. has conducted a poll on American trust in the mass media. The result shows that the American distrust in the mass media had increased, with 60% of the respondents saying “have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly” (Morales, 2012). According to Valcke, Sukosd, & Picard (2016), media pluralism is derived from the word ‘plural’, which defined as an unclear measurable concept indicating the existence of diversity, and plurality itself shows a state of being various. Media pluralism therefore is a system where media outlets, organizations, and services are ...
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...2013 Media Conglomerate Ownership in the U.S. The United States is being greatly affected by conglomerate ownership of media properties in today's industry. A conglomerate is formed when a large company merges with separate and diverse small firms. By definition a media conglomerate is a large company or corporation that has merged with a number of different media outlets such as TV, radio, newspapers and Internet. Big companies have the tendency to expand by diversifying their holdings among different media products, never fully dominating a particular media industry. A decreasing number of organizations gaining control over an increasing amount of mass media, which defines media consolidation, leads to an oligopoly in the marketplace. Large companies create an oligopoly when only a handful of them dominate the industry and face little economic competition from small independent firms.[1] In 1983, a total of fifty corporations dominated most of the media industry. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, that number shrunk to twenty-nine by 1987. Twenty-three companies had control of the industry by 1990 and in 1997 that number was ten. Presently, media ownership has been concentrated in the hands of only six extremely powerful media conglomerates.[2] The six corporations that control media collectively in the United States today are Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, CBS Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom and News Corporation.[3] These corporate media giants...
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...VERTICAL INTEGRATION IN TV BROADCASTING AND DISTRIBUTION SECTOR IN INDIA: A COMPETITION AUDIT ___________________________ INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED BY: AAKSHITA BANSAL AMITY LAW SCHOOL, AFFILIATED TO GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF: Dr. K. D. SINGH DEPUTY DIRECTOR (LAW) ____________________________ NEW DELHI JULY 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report is an effort made by me with the astute guidance of my mentor,. His valuable inputs and constant encouragement has inspired me to carry out this research fruitfully. He gave me his valuable time to discuss the facets of this topic and guided me towards an enlightening and holistic research. I also put on record my gratitude towards the library staff, which has provided me help and access to all the resourceful material for my research. I am indebted towards Competition Commission of India, for providing me an opportunity to have a learning experience. AAKSHITA BANSAL 1 DISCLAIMER This project report has been prepared by the author as an intern under the Internship Programme of the Competition Commission of India for the period of one month from 1st July 2013 to 31st July 2013, for academic purposes only. The views expressed in the report are personal to the intern and do not reflect the views of the Commission or any of its staff or personnel and do not bind the Commission in any manner. This report is the intellectual property of the Competition Commission of...
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...power and influence the media has in contemporary Australian politics. Arguments for, suggest that the concentration of media outlets is too great, with too few parties having a controlling interest in the industry. Consequently, leading to a misrepresentation of political parties in accordance with the interests of the media owners. Others however, argue that the transition away from traditional methods of media promote a greater level of diversification in the industry, deeming the concentration of media irrelevant. Valid arguments stand for both positions on the issue, unfortunately it is difficult to depict a clear favourable position, this is due to complications in drawing a correlation between media publications and political...
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...Kairotic Moment of Gun Control On July 20, 2012, The Dark Knight Rises was formally released in the U.S. It could have been a grand festival for Batman fans, unfortunately, the tragedy happened. In the cinema of Aurora, Colorado, a man named James Holmes, who wore a gas mask and dressed up as the super villain in the movie, threw tear gas into the theater and shot at people during the showing of the film. Twelve people were killed and fifty-eight people were injured in the incident. As one of the most serious shooting cases in the U.S., the issue of gun control has once again attracted public attention, rushing people into pro and con camps. The controversy around the issue is whether it is better to strengthen the laws for gun control or not. Major media around the world have made extensive covers and reports of the Denver shooting case; they also joined the discussion of gun control because it has significant effects for people’s lives and safety. There are three articles from different media responses to the hot topic. The article titled “Gun-control, gun-rights groups’ ready for renewed debate after Colorado shooting” by Michael Martinez was published on CNN.COM. CNN is one of the most influential global media and authoritative news sites, which can be seen or read by over 100 million U.S households and viewers in over 212 countries. This article notes that both sides were engaged in a renewed debate about the issue of gun control in the aftermath of the shooting tragedy...
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...Importance of Media and Democracy: Media democracy is a set of ideas advocating reforming the mass media, strengthening public service broadcasting, and developing and participating in alternative media and citizen journalism. The stated purpose for doing so is to create a mass media system that informs and empowers all members of society, and enhances democratic values. It is a liberal-democratic approach to media studies that advocates the reformation of the mass media with an emphasis on public service broadcasting and audience participation, through the use of citizen journalism and alternative media channels. A media democracy focuses on using information technologies to both empower individual citizens and promote democratic ideals through the spread of information. Additionally, the media system itself should be democratic in its own construction shying away from private ownership or intense regulation. Media democracy entails that media should be used to promote democracy as well as the conviction that media should be democratic itself; media ownership concentration is not democratic and cannot serve to promote democracy and therefore must be examined critically. The concept, and a social movement promoting it, have grown as a response to the increased corporate domination of mass media and the perceived shrinking of the marketplace of ideas. The term also refers to a modern social movement evident in countries all over the world which attempts to make mainstream media more...
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...Media in America has long been a source to gain information on what is happening in the world. Of course, the media may have conflicting roles for instance, it is a main source of information and it also provides entertainment with the hopes of generating some type of profit. In addition, the media is not exempt from government regulation and must adhere to federal laws. With this in mind, the focus of this essay is to explore the way government regulates the media and how they attempt to regulate the internet. As a result, I will also mention if I personally agree with federal government regulating the internet. In any case, why should the media be forced to regulate under the federal government in the first place? To begin with, the aspects of the Federal Government to regulate the mass media involve technical considerations, ownership, and content. Moreover, in 1934, Congress passed the Federal Communications Act which in turn, created the Federal Communications Commissions. Subsequently, the Federal Communications Commission is an independent federal agency that regulates interstate and international communication by radio, television, telephone, telegraph, cable and satellite. Consequently, the FCC contained certain powers to regulate the media by...
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...Bond Law Review Volume 15 Issue 1 Special Issue: Comparative Corporate Governance 7-1-2003 Article 13 Corporate Governance in Malaysia Kamini Singam Recommended Citation Singam, Kamini (2003) "Corporate Governance in Malaysia," Bond Law Review: Vol. 15: Iss. 1, Article 13. Available at: http://epublications.bond.edu.au/blr/vol15/iss1/13 This Article is brought to you by the Faculty of Law at ePublications@bond. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bond Law Review by an authorized administrator of ePublications@bond. For more information, please contact Bond University's Repository Coordinator. Corporate Governance in Malaysia Abstract This article examines the corporate governance system in Malaysia. A sound corporate governance system should help create an environment conducive to the efficient and sustainable growth in the Malaysian corporate sector. Since the Southeast Asian financial crisis in 1997 – 98 (‘financial crisis’), corporate governance has become a key policy issue confronting many Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia. This article considers the distinctive problems of corporate governance in Malaysia, despite several steps for reform that have taken place since the financial crisis. There will be a brief discussion on the meaning of corporate governance and an overview of the present status of corporate governance in Malaysia, in particular after the financial crisis. Keywords corporate governance, Malaysia, Southeast Asian financial...
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...Media Inequalities Abstract Today as in the past, mass media plays a very significant role in our lives. Individuals get information about people and places they have never actually met or seen. My research explains the media inequalities shared by minorities and media ownership. It also explains the influence a few companies have over the media industry and how minorities make little progress, whether in front of the camera or in influential positions behind it. In addition, much work has been done to bring forward this issue. With the help of special interest groups and other agencies there is a push to bringing diversity into the mainstream media business. Thesis Analysis of the mainstream media reflects inequalities for minorities and women. Of grave concern is the mass media’s negative approach to educating our society through what we perceive is open knowledge in the media, and poor media oversight. The media is undoubtedly important and there is extensive evidence that it both reflects and shapes society and individuals in both positive and negative ways. The issue of control and ownership of the media, and the extent to which this affects society, remain problematic and predominately white male media ownership. According to the article (Media Stereotyping, 2010) “media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information.” The passage...
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...Introduction to Media and Society 1. (a) Can you describe the information problem that we are facing? Our culture is oversaturated with information information-saturated culture 130+ million books published and 1,500 new books published each day Radio stations broadcast 65.5+ million hours of original programming each year Television broadcasts 48+ million hours of original programming each year 35+ billion indexed Web pages (b) What is automaticity? The automatic processing of information without conscious consideration of each option Our minds operating without conscious effort from us Automaticity is subject to manipulation (c) How did automaticity develop in society? Automaticity became necessary as our culture became information-saturated We wouldn’t be able to make quick decisions without automaticity We would be overwhelmed with information (d) What are the advantages and disadvantages of automaticity? Advantages allows us to get through a great deal of decisions with almost no effort Disadvantages we miss a lot of messages and often make poor exposure decisions (e) When do we consciously process information that is derived from the media? When we know what we are looking for and consciously seek out that information (f) How do advertisers and producers try to get around automaticity? Try to reinforce certain behavior patterns until they become automatic routines 2. (a) What are the two ways we use the media? Which of these...
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...believe quite strongly in property ownership. If you create something, they would argue, then you are entitled to control it. How else are you gonna get compensated for it? I of course agree to this extent, but I don't quite agree with the typical progression of this argument which sees the fact that most Free Software is given away or distributed under terms which allow free copying and sharing to be an affront to this right to compensation. Ignoring for the moment the fact that the software developer still gets to choose whether to distribute under those terms (something (s)he'd be able to do to a large extent even if copyright was abolished today), this argument fails to take into account the fundamental nature of software which excludes it from the possibility of being owned, unless you consider a program as one with the medium. Software cannot exist on its own. It always needs a medium. Software are simply arrangements of ones and zeros represented one way or another by physical properties of a medium such as micro or nanoscopic dents in a compact disk. If you consider software as distinct from the storage media or memory in which it remains you're essentially using one medium, your brain, to conceptualize the arrangements within another. Without either the brain or the other mediums the software could not exist to begin with. How do you own something that doesn't really exist? This leads us to an interesting point: pretending that ownership of software is possible and thus...
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...age, the only media source they had was newspapers, radio, and television. Back then phones only had one function which was to communicate by voice and then came text. Now days our phone is a one stop shop for all media. All together though we do have: TV, phone, newspapers, radio, and the internet for our source media source. I personally don’t have cable anymore because of the dreaded news on each channel you turn to these days. I normally get my news from yahoo in whom I get an update in the morning and again in the evening. While serving in the Military, they told us that the only news we can really trust to be accurate was CNN and the Military News Network, that everyone else was exaggerated for higher program ratings. Should I be held accountable for their information? No. They should be, because the public values the truth and sometime the severity of it. According to Spark notes (http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/american-government/the-media/section3.rhtml) Printed media and Internet are unregulated. They can print whatever they want as long as they don’t slander anyone’s name. Broadcast Media is under strict regulations by the government. The FCC acts as a police agency over the airwaves. “Since the 1980s the government has loosened restrictions on media ownership, and Congress passed the Telecommunications Act in 1996 to allow companies to own even more media outlets. Due to the loosening of ownership restrictions, more and more media outlets are falling...
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...THST 1200 Languages of Media Exam 4. In what ways does your assessment of the American Presidential election reflect how you live in a filter bubble, as described by Eli Pariser? Eli Pariser describes a filter bubble as “personal unique info [that] you live in online” (Pariser). The American election reflects how we live in a filter bubble because the way that we perceived the entire election was through the media. Whether it was television, radio, or the internet; the media was used to represent what was happening at all times during the election process. If a person has predominantly democratic views, and has been voting for democrats for much of their lives, most of their online searches will depict democratic interest. When browsing...
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