Ownership and Control of Media (AQA A-Level Sociology): Revision Notes
Ownership and Control of Media
What is media?
The media refers to all different forms of communication that society uses to share information with the public. This includes newspapers, websites, radio, cinema, advertising, and television. Media serves several important functions in society:
- Delivering news to keep people informed about current events
- Educating the public on various topics and issues
- Informing people about important developments
- Providing entertainment through various forms of content
However, sociologists debate what exactly counts as 'media'. Some theorists include all mobile phone technology, while others only include it when used to communicate with large audiences. For example, texting a friend wouldn't count as media, but subscribing to a news service that sends updates to your phone would.
Since the 1980s, there have been significant changes in media landscape. There are now many more specialist media outlets that communicate with smaller, niche groups rather than the whole 'mass' public. Examples include subscription TV channels for specific sports fans, special interest magazines, and podcasts about particular topics.
Research methods for studying media
Sociologists use several methods to analyse media and understand its effects on society.
Content analysis
Content analysis involves measuring how often specific words, phrases, or themes appear in media content. This is a formal, quantitative method that can reveal patterns in media reporting. For example, researchers might count how many times certain words appear in news reports about an 'economic crisis'.
Content analysis can also investigate relationships between different themes by examining how often they appear together.
However, this method has limitations - it takes considerable time to complete and doesn't account for the context in which words or themes appear.
Semiotics
Semiotics involves studying the signs and codes used in media content. A sign can be anything that conveys meaning beyond its literal form - words, images, colours, or sounds. Semiotic analysis examines the deeper meanings and associations that signs create in media.
Advertisements are particularly suited to semiotic analysis because they use signs to associate products with positive concepts like attractiveness, happiness, and success. The goal is to make consumers believe that buying the product will bring these benefits.
However, semiotic analysis is open to subjectivity and bias. The researcher's own values may influence how they interpret signs, and they might place different levels of importance on various signs within the same piece of media.
Experiments
Researchers also conduct experiments to study how audiences actually respond to media content. For example, they might monitor people's behaviour after viewing violent films.
However, short-term experiments don't reveal long-term media effects, and people often behave differently when they know they're being studied.
When conducting audience research, researchers must formulate good interview questions to gather useful and meaningful data while avoiding bias in their findings.
Concentration of media ownership
Few companies control most media
Media content is produced and transmitted by various outlets including film studios, TV channels, and radio stations. However, the same companies often own different types of media - this is called cross-media ownership. Media companies also diversify by purchasing other companies that produce different kinds of media, and they buy companies in completely different business sectors.
Examples of Major Media Conglomerates:
- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - owns TV stations, newspapers, book and magazine publishers, and websites
- Silvio Berlusconi - owned three national TV channels in Italy, an advertising agency, a magazine publisher, a banking company, and a cinema firm (plus football club AC Milan)
Some media companies operate across multiple countries. News Corp owns newspapers in Australia, Britain and the USA, and TV networks in Australia, Europe, Asia, North and South America. Research by Bagdikian (2004) found that American media was primarily owned by just five huge corporations - TimeWarner, Disney, News Corp, Bertelsmann and Viacom. More recently, Comcast and CBS have joined this group, and together these companies own 90% of the media in the US.
Power and influence of media owners
Individuals who own and control major media companies possess enormous power and influence in society. They can control the information that people receive if they choose to do so.
Case Study: Silvio Berlusconi
Berlusconi provides a clear example - he was voted in as Italy's prime minister three times and remained in power until 2011. He owned numerous media outlets and used them to control reporting about his political party and opposition activities.
Censorship and content removal
Censorship refers to the process of controlling media content by removing certain messages before audiences receive them. Media content that is considered harmful or offensive to society can be removed for moral, political, or security reasons.
This demonstrates that not all information reaches the public - some messages are filtered out through various control mechanisms before they can influence public opinion or behaviour.
Theoretical perspectives on media control
Marxist views
Traditional Marxism argues that media owners use their position of power to manipulate media content. According to this view, media owners tell news editors what stories to cover and what perspectives to present. Miliband (1969) argued that these messages encourage the working class (proletariat) to remain subordinate and content while serving the interests of the ruling class (bourgeoisie).
Neo-Marxism presents a more complex analysis, suggesting that media reflect the ideas of the ruling class, including media owners. This theory argues that control over media is indirect rather than direct. Neo-Marxists believe that the worldview of the elite class is broadcast and reinforced through media content, with the values and ideas of the ruling class presented as natural, common-sense views. This is called cultural hegemony - one set of ideas dominating over alternative perspectives.
Neo-Marxists argue that media workers are trained to present a particular view of the world that appears neutral and obvious to audiences. However, both workers and audiences remain unaware that media is promoting a specific viewpoint.
Neo-Marxists don't claim that alternative views are completely suppressed - they argue these views are allowed, creating the impression that all perspectives receive fair coverage. This makes the system appear perfectly fair while still serving dominant interests.
The Frankfurt School (neo-Marxists) argued that advertising in media makes people feel they need goods produced in the capitalist economy, creating what they termed 'false needs'.
Pluralist perspectives
Pluralists argue that society consists of many different and interacting groups, each producing their own opinions and perspectives. They contend that media reflects the values and beliefs of society rather than being controlled by powerful elites.
Pluralists emphasise several key points:
Consumer choice: Audiences can choose what media to consume. If people don't like particular content, they can select different media sources, causing the original source to lose money and potentially change their approach.
Market competition: Media organisations want to remain profitable, so they typically publish content that won't offend their readership. Extreme views often don't get published because they might alienate audiences.
Professional independence: Journalists and editors make decisions about media content, and postmodernist pluralists argue this limits owners' power and creates more media diversity. Journalists follow professional codes ensuring objective, unbiased reporting, making it difficult for owners to interfere.
State regulation: In the UK, numerous groups and organisations regulate media to ensure owners don't have excessive power and journalists act responsibly. Public service broadcasters like the BBC are publicly funded and legally required to represent multiple viewpoints.
Postmodernist pluralism
Postmodernist pluralists argue that consumption is extremely important in contemporary society - the cultural products and media people buy and consume shape their identity. Since people can choose to consume different media outlets, these produce diverse content that reflects what audiences want to read and purchase.
New media sources like Twitter and YouTube enable more people to publish their opinions, adding to media diversity and reducing the power of traditional media owners.
Criticisms of pluralist views
Some sociologists have criticised the postmodernist pluralist perspective:
Curran (2003) disagrees with pluralists, arguing that owners continue to interfere in media production for various reasons. Curran also points out that UK media has been controlled by a small number of individuals for extended periods - in 1937, four men owned nearly 50% of all UK newspapers.
Miliband (1973) argued that owners who support capitalism have ultimate control. He suggested that issues presenting capitalism in a negative light are rarely mentioned in media - problems like inequality and poverty receive minimal coverage.
Key Points to Remember:
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Media ownership is concentrated among a few powerful companies and individuals who can potentially influence content and public opinion
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Censorship involves removing content deemed harmful or offensive before it reaches audiences, demonstrating that not all information is freely available
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Marxists argue that media owners directly or indirectly control content to serve ruling class interests and maintain cultural hegemony
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Pluralists believe media reflects diverse societal views and that audiences have choice, professional codes protect independence, and state regulation prevents excessive control
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Research methods like content analysis, semiotics, and experiments help sociologists study media influence, though each has limitations regarding objectivity and scope