The Role Of Media Ownership And The Concentration Of Ownership, Influencing The Representation And Content Of The News Essay

Media sources in current culture are construed as important as they communicate the dominant ideology promoted by the bourgeois which the lower-class public should adhere to as the correct social norm (Kress, 1988). The medium which these ideologies are shown in are important, as different medium are used by different cultures. This essay will focus on comparing print with online media through analysing the Guardian and the Australian from August 31st. This will be done by looking at the types of news shown in each, the constraints and advantages of each medium, advertising, the concept of ownership, and the way the media convinces the public of their ideologies through hegemony.

The “roots” of bias in the media date back to the nineteenth century, and criticism about bias partly reflects a controversial idea about what exactly is the media’s role and purpose. Newspapers and television alike are suppose to exist to relay objective, factual information gathered and communicated by journalists and reporters.

The surrounding environment easily and biologically affects human beings. Media is one of the aspects that people can easily approach. Today the media is so powerful that the development of communities depends on the influence of media to society. Now, the social issue, “can government control the media?” is brought up in our society. Since the society will casually follow the government, which will lead to the greater unity and stability, some people agree with the idea. However, the government should not control over the media. By referring to predications made by George Orwell in ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley in ‘Brave New World’, changing advertisement to propaganda and media supporting the government are the most rapid methods to become a communist

Today’s media is far too consolidated. In 1983, fifty companies owned 90% of the media, but in 2011, that same 90% was owned by just 5 (1). This is why I propose that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lower the limit on the amount of market share that an organization can own; moving us closer to an ‘ideal democracy’. I also add the stipulation that if media was struggling to find a foot hold in the market, the FCC could grant all media outlets non-profit status; however, this stipulation is simply a clause in case breaking up outlets had unintended consequences and this will not be explored through this paper.

Media was just as ever-changing as the society it was taking place within. During this time, media was just beginning to become a nationwide phenomenon. In May of 1874, the “Imperial Press Law” decreed that there would be freedom of the press. This opened the door not only for more forms of media to be readily available, but also for media to now be interwoven with politics. Newspapers

Newspapers are rooted together with the public sphere, globalization, and mass media. The newspaper and the public sphere give citizens an opportunity to examine public concern and global matters. Does this mean that those involved with the Canadian ownership and newspaper industry ultimately wield the power in Canadian society, by exercising this influence to mold the Canadian opinion of readers (Wagenberg & Soderlund, 1975)? Historically, multiple independent newspapers existed, but this had significantly lessened over time with the rise of concentrated ownership in the newspaper industry. Canada has the most concentrated ownership of any country in the free world, meaning that the ownership of newspapers are left into fewer and fewer hands. For example, there are 42 daily newspapers across Canada owned by PostMedia. This raises concerns about concentrated ownership, and if this impacts a Canadian society in having a free diverse range of voices in our national and local media in order to sustain a healthy democracy. The current issue is whether or not concentrated ownership is causing distrust in mainstream Canadian newspapers, creating a climate of insecurity, and if there is an effect on the quality of journalism.

Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and

The article states, how media is operated by the upper class, which gives them power over the American people and the way American’s proceed things. The wealth media operators use their power to shape our social class structure, by only telling us things to further help them. They put a bad taste in your mouth for welfare and convince us to resent the people below us for all America’s problems. Nevertheless, they are the elite privilege, who act as a ruling government with the media being their choice of weapon against the less fortune it.

Hegemony is the process by which the ideals of a dominant group become seen as social norms. It involves minorities subscribing to the values and beliefs held by those in power (Gramsci,cited in Hammell, 2011). A consequence of hegemony is that information is presented as

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?

Gramsci was convinced by Marx’s conclusion, yet Marx’s prediction did not come to fruition. Thus, Gramsci attempts to discover why the revolution was impeded. Contrary to Marx’s interpretation on the dual structure of society, Gramsci recognized society as being divided into three major areas, including economic relationships, political society, and civil society (Douglas). The first area implies that the economy influences political and social activity (Douglas). The second area includes coercive institutions, such as courts, law enforcement, military, prisons, and governments (Douglas). The third area includes non-coercive institutions, such as family, work, church, community organizations, and education (Douglas). He insists that these three components of society operate simultaneously in tandem to encourage inequality (Douglas). What drives the continuation of these of these components is hegemony, which is defined by Gramsci as, “The permeation throughout society of and entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs, and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo power relations” (Douglas). Ultimately, society’s individuals naturalize inequality and accept it as morally good, because the social institutions they were raised in taught them so

There are two major perspectives on what role the media occupies in the current political landscape: Pluralist and Marxist. Those who support the pluralist perspective see the media as performing two essential tasks, “(1) it informs the public and (2) it acts as a watchdog on those in power” (Edkins, and Zehfuss 157). The second perspective on the media, the Marxist perspective, takes the following view, “For Marxists, the ruling class uses the media as a tool of persuasion: they try and convince everyone that the hierarchical structure of society is serving everyone’s interests, not just their own” (Edkins, and Zehfuss 158). The unifying trait of these perspectives is the belief that media is influential in the formation of public

It is without a doubt that the Globalisation of the media has increased our access to information about people and events around the world. However, during the process it has also shifted issues on what should or should not be in the public domain due to media ownership led by Western media corporations. The media shape is reconstructing itself, forming a singular global body playing an essential part in our democracy socially, politically, economically and culturally. Due to this, the effects of globalisation towards Journalism have become very debatable to whether it is benefiting the practice of journalism or hindering it. During the course of this essay, it will explore the affect globalisation has on the media (especially journalism), the affect of media ownership and how new technologies have influenced journalism.

News Corporation accounted for six popular national newspapers in the UK. This level of ownership impacts the variety of ideas and values that can circulate. Concentration of media ownership threatens democracy in political journalism(Baker, 2007), leading to over-representation of political viewpoints, values that are favoured by media owners. There is a negative correlation between media domination and levels of pluralism which is needed in society, to sustain representation. The concentration of media ownership leads to less competing suppliers, thus leaving a gap in a democratic political system. Due to Rupert Murdoch’s large media empire, it has been said that he has wielded political power through his influence over headlines. It could be interpreted this way when considering the support given by News Corporation owned newspapers, to Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and Tony Blair in 1997. The impact of Rupert Murdoch can also be shown

Over the past century or two it has become quite evident that elite certainly hold all the cards when it comes to what the public should know through the media which initially was supposed to be autonomous of the government and the socially elite. This essay will mainly focus on the findings of Noam Chomsky and his postulations, the works of Harold Innis and his influence on the first application of the political economy approach within the media. And I will touch base on theories by Boyd Barrett then neatly wrap it up with a bow of how influence impacts public opinion in general.