Media 's Impact On Society And The Individual

This article written by Leslie Picker and Cecilia Kang primarily focuses on the issue regarding the merger of cellular phone giant AT&T with the entertainment conglomerate Time Warner. In late October the New York Times broke the news of these two joining and many industry annalists viewed the merger with skepticism as well as, outraged consumer groups. Individuals believed that AT&T and Time Warner would terminate any competition and create unfair pricing in order to encourage more mass media consolidation resulting in a market that would be strikingly similar to a pure monopoly.

Is it not slightly alarming that Comcast has managed to grow at such an alarming pace? Although it is at the same time truly amazing how well they are able to gain ownership of successful business ventures and re distribute

In a subsequent section, Turner explains the vital role of big corporations and how it can be compared to the vital role of small corporations. These smaller corporations are the ones with the big ideas – such as Turner’s idea with the Atlanta Superstation or CNN – and when the small corporations are not allowed to thrive as they are overshadowed by the big corporations, then the emerging ideas cease to exist. Another factor that contributes to the lack of big/small corporation interaction are the rules set upon by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that sets rules to the amount of smaller business the big corporations can own. It goes back to the loss of the smaller, innovative corporations that are not allowed to thrive because they have no means to do so on their own – even if corporation owners have houses to mortgage, the financial implications are a lot more than what they were in Turner’s earlier times. It is through Turner’s times that we have a seen a major change in media as it became more commercial than about journalism, another threat for the smaller corporations, and another threat to

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”. In the media industry everyone is always wanting to gain more power, the more power you have, the larger audience mass you gain. “Comcast” as a type of organisational company owns many media sectors and these include; video, high speed internet, phone, advertising, franchise fees, cable, corporate, NBS cable networks, NBC Broadcasting television, Universal Filmed Entertainment, Universal Theme parks and NBC Universal. Here is a chart demonstrating their revenue income

The Act will prevent a single broadcast group owner from dominating the national media market (The American Presidency Project, 2016).” The problem with this statement is that in today’s society this is not true. Currently, 90 percent of the media is owned by just six companies: Viacom, News Corporation, CBS, Comcast, Disney, and Time Warner (Corcoran, 2016). These six companies shape global political views and cover Presidential elections in America. AT&T whom which currently owns Directv has now purchased Time Warner Inc. (De la Merced, 2016). This purchase is still pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Department of Justice (James, 2017). AT&T would own HBO, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Turner Classic Movies, TNT, TBS, Tru TV, SNY, Peachtree TV, and The CW. AT&T would sell cable service and own cable content. The interesting thing about AT&T is that they were the sole provider of telephone service in the United States. An anti-trust lawsuit broke up the Bell system phone companies to relinquish the monopoly that AT&T had on phone service (New America, 2010).

Until the 1980s, the control of the media was in the hands of the national government. From then, the control shifted to private outlets and by the 1990’s, there were more than fifty multinational companies who controlled it (“Mass Media”). Today, only about six major companies control the larger fraction of media in America (Williams, Par. 1). Norman Solomon wrote in the New Political Science Journal that most reporters and editors work for just a few huge companies. These journalists and editors are on the payroll for “mega-media institutions”, of which, only about six exist (Solomon 297). How much will the public learn if these companies generally control the output of information?

Time Warner INC is considered one of the biggest conglomerate. Starting out as a publishing company that now own networks like HBO, AOL, Cartoon Network, CNN, TBS, etc. This company also owns magazines such as Sports Illustrated, TIME, and PEOPLE. According to Lutz (2012), “178 million unique users read Time Warner News every month” (Lutz, 2012). Media conglomerates have both advantages and drawbacks. One of the advantages is that they have a huge power base to push their agenda with minimal government control but must be ethical in their approach. One of the drawbacks is most of these conglomerates are more concern with sponsors than their

In order to further emphasize the amount of power that truly lies within these nine dominating companies I would like to bring into light the most profitable, AOL Time Warner. “Time Warner makes 20 percent of its money from the music business, another 20 percent from the news division (magazine and book publishing and cable television news), 10 percent from its US cable systems and the rest from its film, video and television holdings.”3[3] This is an incredible amount. Not only does AOL Time Warner make twenty percent profit from the news division of media, but they also have a vertical integration throughout our nation. There should be warning lights going off in every American. If one single company can have this much control over so many aspects of our life, there

is a varied global media/entertainment corporation that works in the industry segments of Cable Network Programming, Television, Filmed Entertainment, Direct Broadcast Satellite Television, and Other, Corporate and Eliminations. Within its most important domestic (US) assets you can find, Differently, Time Warner Inc. is a media and entertainment company that classifies its businesses into three main assets: Turner, Home Box Office, and Warner Bros. Even though Time Warner and Fox are different conglomerates, some risk factors are similar, and others vary. Due to the variety of assets within each company there are many aspects that may put at risk revenues, as well as competition between each one. As for Time Warner, it must respond to changes in technology and consumer behavior to remain competitive.

For over 40 years, Viacom, the American media conglomerate has been able to successfully reach millions. Viacom sits as one of the six major media companies, but has been rapidly falling to the wayside. The organization struggles publicly with maintain and executive that can effectively lead them, their stock prices are down 50% of its high in 2014, and the viewing habits of the consumer are no longer the same.

“The third largest media company in the United States is 21st Century Fox. It has a market capitalization of ~$70.36 billion as of May 22, 2015. The Walt Disney Company (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA) are the two largest media companies in the United States. Walt Disney had a market capitalization of ~$187.08 billion on May 22. Comcast had a market capitalization of ~$145.37 billion on the same date. Time Warner (TWX) is the If you want to take a diversified exposure to 21st Century Fox, you may invest in the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY)

A conglomerate is a large company that owns several media products. The conglomerate I have chosen is Disney/ ABC. headquartered in Burbank, California. It is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world in terms of revenue. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (SEGD 2014). Widely known and bringing in a lot of revenue, this company continues to grow.

Much change in the global media by means of mergers and increased concentration has resulted in the limited diversity of content. In addition, the media consolidation does not only effect the content but the ownership and employment opportunities. Winseck (2011) and Havens (2014), both discuss the media mostly in the United States and other parts of the world; comparisons can be drawn to relate to Canadian media. Different theories have been developed around the capitalistic nature of the media corporation on the creativity and diversity of media (Havens, 2014). The following will examine the current standings of the large media corporations in the United States and other countries. In addition, the focus will be put upon the effects of consolidation

Media ownership today can be traced back to five main companies: AOL Time Warner, Viacom, The Walt Disney Company, Vivendi Universal, and Sony (VC, 2010). The chart provided below summarizes the more popular media.

When you are young you don 't realize that what you are watching on the television is shaping many of your beliefs, distorting what is fictional and what is reality. The media plays a huge role in stereotyping black people compared to white people which has a major impact in how we view the people in our world. When we are watching tv or listening to the radio and it is constantly relating the color of a person 's skin to their actions. This causes the audience to associate these actions with a certain racial group. It is important to note the ¨danger of a single story¨ because we can 't let one perspective be our only perspective.