Corporate Media Concentration

LIS 636_Tollison_Michealene_Corporate Media Concentration

What is Corporate Media Concentration? Media concentration is the process whereby fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media with less and less influence from individual forms of information. Mass media meaning information presented to the public through newspapers, radio, magazines, or television. This concentration is a result of one Media Company or individual acquiring a media group through purchasing the media through a buyout or through force. The result allows one corporation to control larger amounts of information presented to the public. “In this scenario, while individual outlets typically act independently, they are accountable to the same parent organization.”(Wise Geek) These corporation can then decide exactly what they wish the public to know. The Corporations can control the manner and time information is made available to the public. “The past decade's wave of media mergers has produced a complex web of business relationships that now defines America's media and popular culture. These relationships offer a massive opportunity for cross promotion and selling of talent and products among different companies owned by the same powerful parent corporation.”(Business Insider, 2012)

“When we talk about concentration, we usually refer to at least five different phenomena: four with an economic basis and the fifth of a political nature. The first phenomenon usually refers to concentration operations and business integration, i.e., corporate takeovers or mergers. Secondly, when we talk about concentration we often refer to ownership concentration; thirdly, we refer to market concentration and fourthly we sometimes refer to audience concentration. The fifth and possibly most commonly accepted meaning of concentration is political in nature and is understood to be the centralization or accumulation of power in one or a few organizations arising from their dominant position. ” (Media Concentration, Carles Llorens)

There are currently five major commercial media groups controlling ninety percent of the media content globally. AOL bought out Time Warner putting it first in global information. Followed by Disney second, Bertelsman third, News Corporation fourth, and Viacom fifth.

Some issues arise when you have major corporations controlling the media the public receives. Controlling large amounts of the media by one corporation can result in limited information to the viewers or public. The big corporation may lean towards presenting the viewpoint of the executives of the company. The information given to the public may lean towards the viewpoint of the companies that sponsor or put money into that particular corporation. “We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.” (Michael Eisner, CEO, The Walt Disney Co., (Internal Memo). Quoted from Mickey Mouse Monopoly-Disney, Childhood & Corporate). The information is sometime delivered according to political viewpoints that the corporation thinks may advance the companies cause. An example would be if the owner did not like the wording presented in the news the news article could be reworded. This re-wording may mean essentially the same thing, but allow the person or public to form a slightly different opinion of what is being reported. Thus a slant towards the owner’s way of thinking. Freedom of the Press is going by the wayside with these big corporations controlling what can and cannot be presented to the public. “In the early years of our democracy the "free press" was all that stood between greedy corporate interests, government corruption, you and I.”(Wise Geek). With large companies controlling more and more of the media outlets, the less and less the public can expect to receive truthful and unbiased information. The five companies mentioned previously have control of visual media, radio media, and printed media. With all forms of media covered under one company the freedom of the press seems to be going to the wayside. Editorial pieces in newspapers have long been edited to the point the author no longer recognizes the piece as his original work or thought. These companies present material to the public that lead the consumer in the direction they the company chooses. Consumers are at a disadvantage because they are led by these companies and have not way of knowing if the information is the truth, or just the viewpoint or spin the particular corporation wants to present. The public can expect less diverse ideas to flow to them as the larger corporations continue to control the media. “Concerns about media concentration surround the potential for the control of access to information, as well as the influence media outlets can have on events like elections. In nations with highly balanced independent media, it can be more difficult for a single media entity to have a significant influence on an election. If, on the other hand, most citizens get news from the same company through a series of seemingly different publications and broadcasters, they may be under the impression that they are getting balanced information, when in fact all the news outlets they encounter advance the same editorial policy.”(Media Reform) Corporate Media concentration is not limited to radio, newspapers, and television. These same corporations also have control of other means of media as well. All have shares or outright own Magazines, Television and News Stations, Movie Theaters and producers, Newspapers, Radio Stations, Cable Television, Book Companies, Music Producers and the Internet. Surprisingly these companies also have shares in companies producing the food we eat, utilities we use, the automobiles we use and support political parties and candidates.

With these five outlet controlling the majority of global information one might wonder how we as the public are being influenced. Are we being influenced politically, are we just getting the news deemed suitable for us, and are we being exposed to limited information? How are we being led and encouraged to think a certain way? Corporate Media Concentration often times focuses on current political issues, on what pays the bills or gets the best ratings and leaves the lowly local issues unheard. If a show gets the ratings then the sponsor’s will invest their money in advertising with that show thus influencing which material the media will release to the public in general.

With such a small number of big corporations controlling the vast amount of information provided to the world can the public be assured they are not being guided or controlled by political views, individual and corporate views or views of the people controlling the money to these corporations, or is it all just an illusion. No there is no way to know what viewpoint is being presented to the populous or how these corporations are using the media to influence us on a daily basis. ”The very news stories that you are fed by the mainstream media are manipulated to mirror the public relations campaigns of companies that operate nuclear plants, sprawling theme parks that gobble up wetlands, defense contractors, oil companies and even Saudi Princes.”(Who Owns the News?)

There are however some advantages of a concentrated media corporation. When breaking news is only handled by a few individuals or businesses the news doesn’t seem to be diluted or changed as much as it would if a great number of sources were reporting on the same issue. Like the game where a whisper starts out in one ear of the player and is passed down the line of the players. By the time the whisper gets to the end of the line what comes out is nothing like what was originally whispered. With fewer outlets reporting news or an event the less likely the information will be distorted. Another advantage of media concentration is that these large corporations have funding and means to distribute the news or information globally, thus reaching a larger audience than would be touched if the news or information were to be reported locally. “In conclusion, the concentration of media ownership is an issue that must be addressed. To put so much power into the hands of so few is against the principles of democracy. These media officials are the individuals that have perhaps the strongest influence over the public out of all of the people in positions of power. News should come from neutral, unbiased sources to be delivered in the absolute purest form, and the way that it is currently being distributed is neither of the two.”(J. Morreale. Wordpress,2011),

This brief concludes that advantages and disadvantages result in Corporate Media Concentration, but the growing power of a few Corporations controlling media should be watched since the general public is unaware of just how much information is controlled by these entities and by how much influence the Corporate Media Concentration groups have on the attitude of the populous.

Works Cited

Llorens, C. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.cac.cat/pfw_files/cma/recerca/quaderns_cac/Q16llorens_EN.pdf Lutz, A. (2012, June 14). These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America. Business Insider. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

The seven capital sins of corporate-owned media: how ownership concentration curtails media freedoms in Europe - Media Reform Coalition. (n.d.). Media Reform Coalition. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.mediareform.org.uk/blog/the-seven-capital-sins-of-corporate-owned-media-how-ownership-concentration-curtails-media-freedoms-in-europe McMahon, M., & Skola, S. (2014, April 20). .

WiseGeek. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-media-concentration.htm Who Owns The News? Media Ownership By Corporations.. (n.d.).

Who Owns The News? Media Ownership By Corporations.. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.whoownsthenews.com/ Concentration of Media Ownership. (n.d.). COMM 264. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://jmorreale.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/concentration-of-media-ownership/