Sociology: Media Ownership 2

-For example, The Guardian, which has a relatively low printed readership, has the second highest readership out of any newspaper in the UK when online readership is included (has the highest online readership out of any newspaper in the UK).

-The Daily Mail, which has a similar printed readership to its online readership, has the highest newspaper readership overall.

-The Metro is most read print newspaper.

-We live in a pick 'n' mix society - individualism and choice mean that the power of the media owners is diminished.

-There is a 'myth of truth' - no one ideology can dominate.

-We live in a media-saturated society - this leads to 'hyper-reality' where we cannot always distinguish between real and unreal content.

-The movement of media around the world and between individuals means that it is difficult for one dominant view to have power.

Evaluations:

-The arguments are often vague, impressionistic and frequently based on anecdotes rather than research-based evidence.

-They likely exaggerate the impact of the 'information explosion' on ordinary people's capacity to bring about change.

-The evidence suggests that media saturation has produced passive participation in a mass culture in which more choice simply means more of the same.

-They simply fail to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence for the existence of structural inequalities in wealth and power relations, which makes it difficult for powerless groups, whatever access they might have to the media, to bring about any meaningful change to their everyday lives.

-Owners directly control media content.

-They manipulate that content to protect their profits but also to spread the dominant ideology of elitism and capitalism.

-Media editors, managers, journalists run the media within these boundaries as they depend on the owners for jobs.

-Therefore, the media produces biased content that protects the dominant class and maintains the status quo.

-Assumes the audience is passive - easily manipulated and unquestioning.

Evaluations:

-They rarely explain how an owner's media manipulation works in practice - the evidence they present tends to be anecdotal and partial rather than based on empirical research.

-Feminists argue that they ignore the role of media owners in transmitting patriarchal ideology.

-They assume that ruling-class ideology has an effect upon its audience in the form of false class consciousness although there is little evidence for this.

-Neo-Marxists such as Gramsci argue that the working-class are likely to experience 'dual consciousness'. They may agree with aspects of ruling-class ideology but their experience of everyday life and work means that they have the ability to see through and reject the ideology transmitted by owners of the media.

-They fail to acknowledge that many journalists and media publications still see themselves as the guardians of the public interest and dedicate their careers to exposing members of the establishment who abuse their powers.

-It is argued that the growth of the new media, especially social networking sites like Twitter (X) and Facebook, means that media owners and the ruling-class elite are now subject to more surveillance and criticism from ordinary people - this citizen journalism allegedly means that the actions of those in power, including media owners, are under constant public scrutiny.

-A pluralist society is one where many ideas are available and accepted.

-Pluralists argue that power in democratic, free-market societies is spread out among many competing interest groups, and not concentrated in the hands of a minority economic elite.

-In terms of the media, this means that the media is a market of competing products trying to get audiences to buy them.

-Control over media content ultimately lies with consumers, because the owners need to provide the kind of content those customers want in order to make a profit and survive.

-Due to the complex media industry, they argue owners do not have time to interfere in the day-to-day.

Evaluations:

-Curran argues that there is plenty of evidence that media owners have undermined newspaper independence and balance in subtle ways by choosing the editors that they want and getting rid of editors and journalists that 'fail' to toe their owner's line. Moreover, he observes that journalists deliberately self-censor their reports to omit controversial issues that might draw the owner's attention to them. Conforming to the owner's requirements brings rewards in terms of interesting assignments and promotion, whilst dissident journalists are often sacked.

-Trowler (2004) observes that 500 journalists were embedded with British and American troops during the invasion of Iraq. This resulted in one-sided, rather than balanced, reporting of the conflict as journalists formed personal attachments with the soldiers with whom they were living.

-Feminists are critical of this sociological perspective as they argue that the range of female voices made available in the marketplace is actually very narrow. They argue that media content is very male-oriented and that this can clearly be seen in media representations of females, which on the whole are defined by sexual objectification, domesticity or motherhood. Little space is afforded to alternative representations of this critique of women and, as Thornham (2007) notes, all too often feminist perspectives are dismissed by journalists as extreme and threatening.

-It is difficult for ordinary people to decide what they want to see or hear if the media provides their only source of information. Powerless groups do not have the resources to set up media companies to communicate their points of view. Consumers therefore do not have access to a diversity of media reflecting every conceivable opinion because particular views are deemed unacceptable or too extreme by owners and media professionals. Media consumers therefore cannot make genuine choices because the media have constructed a highly censored marketplace.

-The media managers, editors and journalists are part of the dominant hegemony - White middle-class men - and therefore deliver ideas and media supporting their own values - the hegemonic ideology.

-They will sometimes appear to be 'on side' with audiences to make money.

-However, through gatekeeping and agenda setting, they will control the consensus on what counts in society and what society should think about certain people and issues.

-Therefore, audiences experience a limited range of assumptions and ideas.

-Compare this with 34% of the same age group using any internet for the news.

-Compare this with 51% of the same age group using print newspapers for the news.

-Legal limits: for example, competition law such as the Competition Act 1998.

-Regulatory bodies: for example, Ofcom (regulates media content and ownership) and The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).

-The Government: for example, The Leveson Inquiry (2011).

-This, too, consolidates concentration of media ownership because in the past these media delivery systems would have been produced by distinct companies that specialised in those products.

-However, transnational media companies are increasingly investing in and working closely with companies such as Samsung (producers of smartphones), Apple, Orange, Microsoft and Facebook to explore ways to bring about even greater technological convergence, so making their media products - music, films, television, apps and games - more accessible to a global audience.

-47% of UK adults use social media for news nowadays.

-84% of 16-24 year-olds consume news online.

-The BBC has its content reaching 39% of 12-15 year-olds.

-TikTok, YouTube and Instagram reach 28%, 25% and 25% of 12-15 year-olds respectively.

-For example, a film will often be accompanied by a soundtrack album, a computer game, a downloadable ring tone, toys and so on, produced by different arms of the same media company.

-The film may be marketed by advertisements in newspapers.