Media ownership or media consolidation is the phenomenon of a few corporations/ conglomerates controlling most aspects of media. These conglomerates achieve this by purchasing smaller outlets and shares. This process eliminates competition because they gain more control and prevent other companies from profiting from the entertainment industry. One huge issue that arises from media ownership and funding in contemporary media practice is conglomerates have lots of control over what people see and think, which can lead to less diverse opinions and biases. Not only that, media ownership limits people to fewer media outlets; therefore, people have fewer options to choose from. Lastly, media ownership can perpetuate the director's own agenda and lead to less funding in projects that they deem wildly different from their viewpoint.
Media ownership has lots of control over what people see and think. Since conglomerates control generous portions of the entertainment industry, they have access to many entertainment outlets. For example, Time Warner owns CNN and TMZ, and Time Corp owns most media outlets. These companies can severely cut down on the type of news we view and sway our preconceived representation of the world. This is known and Stuart's Representation theory. This theory goes as follows media represents reality, social group, and places large conglomerates can distort how reality is perceived. For instance, conglomerates can choose to show negative and violent imagery this can make people unconsciously believe that the world is more dangerous than it seems. These companies can choose which stories get the limelight and which remain quiet. This bias is known as inclusion, the conglomerate only covers stories that interest them, most of these stories are shocking and increasing ratings. Therefore, there is a monetary motive. In this case, this leads to less diversity and a limited representation of the world. These companies do not consider that people are diverse and can lead to the alienation of certain ethnic groups. Companies can also choose to ignore issues that regard themselves, this is known as an omission. They do this because they do not want to hurt their reputation. The final form of biasness is revision, conglomerates will revise information that can potentially harm them because they do not want to lose viewership. In short, few conglomerates own all entertainment media and control how you feel about something ( i.e.. Ethic groups, social issues, and real-world problems) because they influence/sway your opinions regarding an issue. This creates biases and a lack of diverse opinions because everyone is getting their information from the same source. Another critical issue of media ownership is audiences have fewer options to pick from. Entertainment conglomerates like Walt Disney own most entertainment subsidiaries like ABC, ESPN, Hulu, and much more. Walt Disney and other conglomerates like them narrow down entertainment options and prevent people from viewing different forms of content. For instance, if a consumer chooses to boycott a conglomerate because of a differing viewpoint, it would be almost impossible to do so because of their overwhelming number of subsidiaries. This can also apply to production, distribution, and advertising. Synergy is the practice of conglomerates and subsidiaries cooperating for a primary goal. Cross-promotion is promoting a station through its outlets. This form of production allows a conglomerate to promote its idea in multiple stations without people knowing. This gives people fewer options to choose from because they are presented with the same options over and over again. Cross-promotion works to manufacture this idea by taking an original product and mass-producing it in multiple forms. For example, DC and Marvel characters have had toys, movies, and shows made off of them. This severely limits the superhero market because most people only know of these two companies. After all, the level of manufacturing and promotion prevents people from looking at other options in entertainment. This can eliminate other competitors and lead to less diverse options. Lastly, cross-advertising is when an outside company plans to advertise through a conglomerate. This can give them access to multiple outlets and they use this form of technology to gain recognition through the masses. Overall, these elements can potentially feel limiting because people are being presented the same options repeatedly but on different channels and streaming sites. Media ownership can perpetuate the director's agenda and lead to less funding in projects that they deem wildly different from their viewpoint. These directors can affect how we take in their perspective and they can achieve this by omitting and adding key elements in their work. Stuart Halls's reception theory states that media text has encoded and decoded messages. For example, a producer can put their unconscious biases in the media by inserting explicitly said ideologies, and some audiences can develop a similar mindset due to similar cultural principles, this is known as dominant. Sometimes the audience can understand the meaning and intention of the producer’s message but may need to adapt to it to alight with their own beliefs. The last element is oppositional the audience ignores the producer's ideology. This process is heavily influenced by new technological advances that have been made in recent past decades. The introduction of smartphones, the internet, and computers have allowed these forms of media to prevalent's conglomerates have created streaming sources like Netflix, Hulu, AND YouTube. These technological advances allow people to access entertainment in various places and perpetuate the idea that people are moving from tv to the internet. So, it is imperative that these companies move online. For example, Walt Disney implemented a new streaming service called Disney+ they implemented this system because they want to expand their reach to a wider audience. Therefore, they want to move their agenda and unconscious bias by partnering with other networks so they can move online. Growing I’ve witnessed that many news outlets only report a small scope of the world. They tend to favor one side of an argument over the other, they report on stories that will garner attention and tend to let their unconscious opinions manipulate their neutrality. I have also learned about media ownership in school and how a lack of diversity creates issues. A lack of diversity prevents innovative ideas from forming because people get comfortable with what they see. People do not go out of their way to look for other sources. Personally, I find it hard to support smaller companies because a majority of them are owned by someone bigger. Not only that, I’ve seen a shift to online content, and that conglomerates are hoping to monetize on this trend. Media ownership is definitely a big issue because I cannot imagine how limited it will be in the future considering these conglomerates tend to buy out their competitors,
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AuthorA highschool student in her senior year. Archives
April 2021
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