1. CH3028 Media Processes & Influences
INTERNATIONAL BACHELOR COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
CH3028 Media Processes & Influences
Media Production
Rhythma Kapoor
Seminar 2 1

2. CONTENTS Production perspective to media
Media concentration and conglomeration
Profit-driven logics of media production
Effects of advertising
Political factors
Media Regulation Debate
Regulation of Ownership
Regulation of Content and Distribution
Informal Pressure

3. A Production Perspective on Media
Economic Perspective
Study of media production within the economic constraints
Media products are a result of social and economic processes

4. Economic factors - Trends in Ownership
Concentration of ownership
What does it mean?
How was it possible?
Which are the ‘big four’?
What are effects and consequences?
2. Integration
vertical and horizontal

5. Concentration of ownership

6. Changing Patterns of Ownership
Concentration of Ownership
Today, only a handful of firms dominate the mass media industry
Magazines
Newspapers
Movies
Book publishing
Music
Online services

7. Number of Firms that Dominated the US Mass Media
In the last 50 years the number of corporations that control majority of US media has declined drastically

8. Media Ownership- USA 2012

9. Changing Patterns of Ownership
The BIG FOUR (USA):
Time Warner /
The Walt Disney Company /
Viacom /
News Corporation /
Europe: Bertelsmann AG
So, what does this imply?
“This gives each of the five corporations and their leaders more communication power than was exercised by any despot or dictatorship in history” (Bagdikian 2004: 3)

10. Bertelsmann (TV/radio stations)
53 TV channels and 29 Radio stations in 10 (European) countries  
Its TV channels reach around 170 million viewers in Europe
Each day, more than 170 million viewers in Europe watch TV channels operated by RTL Group: RTL Television, Super RTL, Vox or N-TV in Germany; M6 in France; Antena 3 in Spain, RTL 4 in the Netherlands; RTL TVI in Belgium; and RTL Klub in Hungary to name only a few. The programs are undeniably compelling, offering up-to-date information and gripping entertainment for all ages and interest groups.

11. Bertelsmann (TV content production)
produces and sells 9,200 hours of TV programming per year across 58 countries
more than 300 programmes on air or in production worldwide
Each day, more than 170 million viewers in Europe watch TV channels operated by RTL Group: RTL Television, Super RTL, Vox or N-TV in Germany; M6 in France; Antena 3 in Spain, RTL 4 in the Netherlands; RTL TVI in Belgium; and RTL Klub in Hungary to name only a few. The programs are undeniably compelling, offering up-to-date information and gripping entertainment for all ages and interest groups.

12. How does ownership take place?
through regulation/legislation
through mergers, acquisitions
through conglomeration & integration

13. Media Conglomeration & Integration
Media companies have become part of much larger businesses.
-multinational
-diverse business areas
Integration:
-horizontal
-vertical

14. Conglomeration
Firms become involved in a variety of diverse business activities.

15. Vertical Integration
Cross-industry ownership, or the degree a single firm owns its upstream suppliers and its downstream buyers.
Here one firm engages in different aspects of the process,from production to distribution.
Example: a firm hires an artist, records them, distributes them on stations they own and features them in clubs they own.

16. Paper Mill and printers
Vertical Integration
Newspaper Business
Journalists
Editors
Paper Mill and printers
Distributors
Integrate all aspects of media production and distribution.
Top-down control

17. Horizontal Integration
Consolidation of many firms that handle the same part of a production process. When a firm buys out other firms doing the same thing, it is seeking horizontal integration.
It seeks to increase its share of the market. Most anti-trust laws are aimed at horizontal monopoly.
Example: When MTV’s Viacom buys other cable channels, magazines, and other distributing means it is seeking horizontal integration in distributing.

18. Horizontal Integration
across the media
Time Warner
Time, People, Enter. Weekly
Warner Bros Pictures
Warner Music Group
Online Services
Example of Harry Potter
Cable Networks
Moviefone

19. Consequences of Conglomeration and Integration
Integration and Self-Promotion
increase of products suitable for cross-promotion, self-promotion
difficult for small companies to compete
Synergy
Cost minimization
Profit maximization
Impact of Conglomeration
“Hollywoodization” of news

20. Consequences (contd.) Media Control and Political Power
Concentrated media ownership often leads to political power
Media outlets may promote specific political agenda of the owner
Media barons can easily become influential politicians
Media Owners’ Influences on Media Contents
FOX TV & political coverage

21. Consequences (In)direct political consequences
promoting a political agenda
political resource
excluding certain ideas to avoid controversy
corporate voice
Example 1: GE refused to let NBC report on GE corruption in the nuclear industry.
Example 2: Big Media has yet to cover the Iraq invasion from anything but a moderate or a right- wing perspective.
IN the old days all profits were stacked up over each other in large books for accounting; and at the bottom of the stack was a line to denote the separation of the additions and the final count. The bottom line refers to the total of monies added up for the day or the week, for the month or the quarterly report or the fiscal year.
Synergy refers to the dynamic where components of a company work together to produce benefits that would be impossible for a single, separately operated unit of the company. If the company has a loss the bottom line is written in red ink. If the company has made profits then underneath the bottom line it is written in black. Hence the reason for the old saying " the company is in the red" or " they're in the black". So .. this sentence "bottom line pressure" means that they will do whatever it takes to make the bottom line black! And if cheap news and glitzy nonsense will sell better than the truth then the quality of news coverage is going to go down.

22. Consequences (contd.) Media Ownership and Content Diversity
The Homogenization Hypothesis
Media owned by a few lead to products that lack diversity.

24. Mass Media for Profits Prime-Time Profits Effects on News Media
Logic of Safety and Profits
Economic considerations lead to similar programs across networks
Cost minimization logics lead to proliferation of a certain type of programs
Effects on News Media
Scaled-back international news coverage
Entertainment-oriented news

25. Impact of Advertising Growing Advertising Influences Product placement
Product integration
Branded entertainment

26. The Impact of Advertising
Advertising as a key source of revenue
example: product placement

27. Consequences of Advertising
commodification of the audience
adaptation of content
Corporate voice
Cross/ self promotion

28. Media and regulation

29. The Public Interest and Regulation Debate
Media deregulation approach
Free market principle
Deregulation is actually “selective” regulation
Media regulation approach
Public interest principle
Regulations in international perspective
United States is typically more “deregulation” oriented
In many European countries, media are public owned

30. The Issue of De-Regulation
Big Media claims that de-regulation brings freedom and diversity to the market.
In fact, it has done the opposite.
This is because de-regulation has allowed large corporations to concentrate, eliminating smaller media outlets. This brings monopoly and oligopoly, which violate the public interest.

31. The Telecommunications Act (1996)
Milestone media regulation
Easing of restrictions through deregulation
Changed limits on the number of media outlets a single company can own
Increased concentration of ownership
Criticism: May be detrimental to free flow of ideas

32. Regulating Ownership of Programming
oversees:
TV (cabel and satelite)
Radio
Broadband
Internet
broadband,
mobile networks,
wireless networks.
Federal Communications Commission
Financial interest and syndication (“fin-syn”) rules
Forcing networks to buy programming from independent producers
founded in 30ies to protect the public's "interest, convenience, and necessity"
in the past decade has shifted from Public Interest to Market-oriented model
Structure – has 5 commissioners (mostly appointed by US president)
more info :
It is difficult to summarize the societal impact of the Communications Act, just as it is hard to discuss briefly the broader social changes in American life since Whether the FCC has effectively pursued its responsibility to protect the public's "interest, convenience, and necessity" is a debated question. Perhaps inevitably, the FCC has adopted an essentially corporate model of regulation. The Commission, albeit with notable exceptions, has moved steadily toward a market-based interpretation of its mission. In recent years, the FCC has abandoned its fairness doctrine, which required broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on public issues. It has weakened ownership limitations, allowing corporate media conglomerates essentially to monopolize particular markets through the acquisition of television, radio, newspaper, and cable providers.

33. Regulating Content: 4 Dimensions
Diversity
Morality
National Interest
Accuracy

34. Regulating for Diversity
Regulations asking media companies to provide diverse perspectives
Regulation on programming, media-access

35. Regulating for Morality
Concerns for sex and violence in media
Obscene vs. Indecent materials
Obscene material is illegal
Indecent material is legal, but limited
Controversies in definitions
3-pronged test to determine obscenity

36. Regulating for Accuracy
Protect the public against fraudulent or deceptive advertising
Regulating ads for potentially dangerous products

37. Regulating Content Diversity: Morality: National Interest: Accuracy:
regulation on programming, media-access
Morality:
self-regulation, censorship
National Interest:
press pool, pr
Accuracy:
laws on advertising
time devoted to ads and infomercials
Accuracy:
laws on advertising: regulating tobacco and alcohol advertising but also correctness
Kellogg’s had to pay 5 million, recently for misleading customers

38. Regulating for National Interest
Government control on press coverage of war
Vietnam war case
The press pool system (aka Embedded journalism)
Government controls and manages the flow of information
Government control resulting from terrorism
USA PATRIOT Act
Increased the ability of law enforcement agencies to search and telephone communications

39. Industry Self-Regulation
Industry self-regulations to avoid external control
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings system (1968) G PG
PG-13 R
NC-17

40. Net Neutrality A recent media technology regulation issue
One of the most important and controversial media policy issues
Preserving open access to the Internet and a level playing field for all websites
Often hard to implement the true ideal of net neutrality in reality

41. Regulating content on Internet
AT&T the largest mobile network provider in the US, with more than 100 million users. - has blocked for its iPhone/iPad users access to video calling App FaceTime (costs of app 0,89 €) - to still use the App, users first have to subscribe for the expensive service (having unlimited minute bundle, costs annually extra 1000$ annually)
THIS IS CURRENT ONE, so I did this instead of ACTA
At & T violetes net neutrality and open internet principle
Activists group are calling FCC to stop AT&T.
more info on this

42. Companies that lobbied for SOPA For: The Walt Disney Company,
SOPA (a bill against online piracy that was lobbied by entertainment industry leader companies as well as other big corporations like procter and gambels) which was giving US right to block sites if they included links to copyrighted material. So actually even Youtube and Facebook could have been subject of pressure.
What helped reject the Bill was a huge online protest as well as support of internet companies, who themselves whould have been victims of this bill. (e.g. YouTube could have been shut down because somebody uploaded cartoon of Waltdisney, so not users, but sites itself)
After what came to be called the first online protest on 18 january 2012, 26 senators refused to support the SOPA bill!
One of the most well known episode was a day when around 1800 website went blank, among them Wikipedia, Magazine Wired
Companies that lobbied for SOPA
For:
The Walt Disney Company,
Time Warner Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment,
Against:
Mozilla, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia,  Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch
Currently there are another Bills being proposed, similar to SOPA.

44. Freedom of Press

45. Influence from Nongovernment Sources
Political role played by other actors
Directly influencing the media
Prompting government to act on media
Players in the debates over the media
Media critics and think tanks
Citizen activists
Media advocacy organizations

46. Conclusion Economic and Political factors are (partly) interdependent
have an impact on form and content
differ per medium

47. Next Week Seminar 3 –Media Ideology Readings:
Croteau& Hoynes Chapter 5 (pp )
Hirschorn,M. (2007)