1. Mass Media Part 3 The Ownership of the Mass Media

2. Ownership of the Mass Media Mass Media=BIG BUSINESS!!! The ownership of the main mass media in Britain is concentrated in the hands of a few large companies, which are mainly interested in making profits as they are all privately owned.

3. DEMOCRACY A form of government where the majority of the people in a country hold the power to decide who rules.

4. DICTATORSHIP A form of government where a country is entirely controlled by one person.

5. Ownership of the Mass Media At the turn of the 20 th Century (1900s), the rise of the press barons such as Lord Northcliffe (who founded the Daily Mail in 1896) made people fear that they would restrict the flow of information and debates in a DEMOCRACY. Some people thought that the owners could promote their own political beliefs and criticise politicians and parties and views that they disagreed with.

6. Ownership of the Mass Media Today, because of the concentration of ownership (meaning: a small minority have ownership & control over the main mass media in Britain), it still means that, in theory at least, some individuals have a lot of power to influence the views of others. Four companies own almost 90% of all newspapers.

7. Key Facts 86% of total circulation of daily / Sunday newspapers are owned by just four companies. One man, Rupert Murdoch, of News International (owns The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times, The Sunday Times) owns 33% of all daily newspaper sales in Britain. He also owns 40% of BSkyB and all of Harper Collins (the world’s largest book publisher). Thus, the same few companies control a wide range of different media and, therefore, a large part of what we see and hear in the media. This gives these people a lot of power and they are neither elected nor accountable to the public.

8. Task: Use the pie chart on P.209 to answer Q. 1 & 2. 1,a) In September 2007, Trinity Mirror had ___% of the market share of daily newspapers. b) In September 2007, the Telegraph Media Group had ___% of the market share of daily newspapers. 2) Together, ___________ and __________, account for over 50% of national daily newspaper sales.

9. Q.) Do you think that the ownership of the press is spread out widely or is it concentrated (meaning: owned by a select few)? Task: Answer the question below using the space on P.25 of your booklet. Explain your opinion in detail and use statistics to back up your view.

10. Why might the concentration of press ownership be a problem in a democracy? Only hearing a single viewpoint. Leads to a one-sided debate Eg. Newspaper owners follow a political party and praise this party and criticise the rest. In elections people vote for the party that has been praised.

11. There are 2 views: PLURALISTS CONFLICT Pluralists believe in freedom of the press. If we don’t like the message we don’t have to listen!

12. Table: Reading of national daily newspapers by social class (APRIL 2002-MARCH 2003)