The History of Media Ownership
The process of homogenization of the industrial sectors during the 20th century didn't spare the media sector. In fact, it has become common nowadays to find important industrials in charge of media groups. We have entered the era of new “Press Barons” (Curran, 2011) and the consequence of this oligarchic tendency of democracy applied to media streams is that the message transmitted in the press or radio is not politically or economically neutral (Halimi, 2005).
The sociological analysis of those powerful media corporations appeared with the rise of mass media in the 20th century. Media are omnipresent in our everyday life; therefore it is necessary to understand the impact of such force - the “Fourth Estate” as Edmund Burke famously called it - on individuals’ opinion and their political positioning (Curran, 2011).
In this essay we will try to understand how the concentration of the media power influences the public sphere. In order to be realistic in terms of achieving this objective, we will narrow down our research on French television and written press and analyse its underlying structure. We will see why we can describe French television media as a conglomerate and then explain the effects of its oligopolistic structure on citizens’ perceptions and behaviours.
The majority of French press is held by industrials. Serge Dassault owns Le Figaro, Edouard de Rothschild owns Libération and the Lagardère group owned Le Monde until 2010. Thus, the written press is under the direction of influential businessmen and that all have interests in what is written or said due to its impact on the public sphere and the consumers.
According to the Critical Political economy (CPE), it is n...
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Michael Parenti (2002) declares media in the United States is no longer “free, independent, neutral and objective.” (p. 60). Throughout his statement, Parenti expresses that media is controlled by large corporations, leaving smaller conglomerates unable to compete. The Telecommunications Act, passed in 1996, restricted “a single company to own television stations serving more than one-third of the U.S. public,” but is now overruled by greater corporations. (p. 61). In his opinion, Parenti reveals that media owners do not allow the publishing of stories that are not beneficial and advantageous. Parenti supports his argument very thoroughly by stating how the plutocracy takes control over media in multiple ways: television, magazines, news/radio broadcasting, and other sources.
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398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
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One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy.
The Mass Media Social Institution is a Secondary Social Institution. The power of media, any sort, or any kind; is undeniable. Within a culture, or society, everyone has at one time or another been faced with some time of advertisement, or propaganda. Even if you never purchased the item, you were still faced with the issue of “should I try it, or not?” It’s stunning at how much we fall into a trap when dealing with the media’s influence on a society’s particular way of thinking. The Media can turn a murder trial, into a televised event, which can generate revenue, that shows how media can help out the economy, as well as openly test the law. Media has been around for centuries, and has always created a buzz in one way or another throughout a society, but the cunningness of it all is how society relies so greatly on media as our entertainment and pleasure. Society is constantly bombarded with ads and ideas that were generated to bring in revenue, while the society constantly succumbs to the pressure of the outside nature.
...de to advertisers. For example commercial television and radio depends on its revenue and then in effect were promised the advertisements products. Media appeals to every class. Of course the higher class has more of advantage involving mass media. Since the very beginning of new ways of communication, ideas, knowledge, and profit have mixed. Media doesn’t necessarily need to be watched it can be read as well. Journalism is also another way media is used. Journalism has been used as an independent institutional source of political and social power that may watch and track the actions of other higher powers such as religion, economics, and politics. Conflict theorists say the media is controlled so those whom control the media are able to manipulate what is real by changing the things we see, hear, and read on a daily basis.
This book discusses the governments role in the media. Although Chomsky’s views might be considered somewhat extreme by some standards, his message s important. We have discussed the government manipulation of the media. For example, President Roo...