Chapter 3 Synopsis

Chapter 3 Synopsis:
Media Ownership: Concentration and Conglomeration

In this chapter the topic being discussed is media ownership. Media ownership structures have a direct effect on media content. The structures if the ownership can be non-profit, public, or private. This relationship in the changing structure of media ownership and media content is something that is being focused on. Radio, e-zines, blogs, and newsletters are considered to be non-profit groups. These groups target only a small audience and are able to function on a small budget. Media can either be owned by the state or by a private company. Examples of state ownership are the control of newspapers, television, and radio. Private organizations may own smaller newspaper companies and local radio stations.
The next topic discussed is conglomeration, concentration, and content. Mainstream media ownership has become dependent on fewer people and organizations because of mergers, takeovers, deregulation, privatization, globalization, and technological change. Many companies have been merging into larger companies become conglomerates. A conglomerate is a large scale corporation that operates at both a national and transnational level. These corporations are made up of several corporations that tend to have monopolistic qualities and tendencies. Media corporations are a larger part of media conglomerates. This has been increasingly becoming a problem for media scholars. The media output may be effected by this because of the distribution of power among the individual media entrepreneurs. Media ownership is being shaped by both concentration and conglomeration. These conglomerations run on a local, regional, national, or transnational level. The concentration of the conglomerate can either be vertical or horizontal. Vertical conglomerates own and control a bunch of companies, who are involved in the construction and circulation of media. Horizontal conglomerates control a large number of media companies. These companies that the conglomerates own create and sell products that are associated with the media. Some examples of this type of conglomerate are Bertelsmann, Vivendi Universal, and Time Warner.
Synergy has become a slogan for the media conglomerates and their ability to keep the position of power. Synergy is defined as “the co-ordination of parts of a company so that the whole actually turns out to be worth more than the sum of its parts acting alone, without helping one another” (p. 95).
The political economy perspective is a way to comprehend and evaluate the proposition of media concentration and conglomeration. This theory is concerned with studies how the capitalist class encourages and holds their power and position in society. The main concern is unequal power relations. In regards to concentration and conglomeration, this perspective says that there will be several repercussions that follow for media content and media audiences. The audiences are believed to only be consumers of media, instead of being seen as normal citizens. The theory also states that in order to understand the media to the full extent you need to observe and study media ownership and where the power is held in the media industries.
The Internet is seen as “having a major potential as a media-based public sphere” (p. 108). On the Internet there is very little that cannot be done. After examining the Internet one can find some flaws, and people may not be using the internet for the media. The internet has been taken over by mass-media conglomerates and oligopolies. On every internet page you can find somewhere that there is an advertisement or something about what is happening in the world at that time. In conclusion, this chapter sums up and stresses the significance of understanding how media ownership has been changing over the years.