We can safely assert that media concentration and its in. Media ownership and concentration in america oxford scholarship. Local radio ownership rule, national tv ownership rule enacted. Contents data are machine generated based on prepublication provided by the publisher. How media ownership threatens press freedom free press. Compaine and others published eli noam, media ownership and concentration in america find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Concentration of media ownership linkedin slideshare.
The dimension of ownership and control of media springerlink. I view media ownership as a tiered structure of influence. The influence of media ownership and control on media agenda setting in nigeria international journal of humanities social sciences and education ijhsse page 38 3. To put so much power into the hands of so few is against the principles of democracy. An oftrepeated statistic is that 90% of the media is controlled by just six companies. This chapter describes media ownership and concentration in south africa. Media ownership and concentration diversity index mocdi number of voices active in an industry high diversitypluralism medium diversitypluralism low diversitypluralism monopoly 0900 9011250 12519999 0. America and a fellow at the stanford law school center for internet and. Media ownership and concentration in south africa oxford. It may be in the form of television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, recordings, movies, and the internet lane. According to a report released this week by freedom house, a u. Media ownership victor pickard university of pennsylvania, usa although. Concentration and consolidation of the media undermines localism53.
Concentration of media ownership leads to a stifling of voices and lack of diversity of coverage. Media ownership and concentration has major implications for politics, business, culture, regulation, and innovation. While the full story is a bit more complicated, its nevertheless a pretty decent representation of whats transpired in our media landscape. It also shows that dispersal is likely to result in more owners who will reasonably.
Media ownership and concentration in america is a very important book on a topic of continuing controversy. Media concentration as such is not a phenomenon exclusive to contemporary societies, but one of its new features is an almost incestuous relationship between politics and the media. After a quick look at the south african media scene, the chapter analyzes print media newspapers, book publishing, magazine publishing, audiovisual media radio, broadcast television, multichannel tv platforms, video channels, film, telecommunications media wireline and wireless telecom, and internet media internet. After examining 100 separate media and network industries in detail, noam provides a powerful summary and analysis of concentration trends across industries and major media sectors. Analyzing the concentration of us media ownership market.
Concentration of media ownership and freedom of expression. Concentration, regulation and sustainability are the. Media concentration and ownership in global comparison. The current debate over media ownership limits this book presents a critical view of the current state of commercial mass media in america. A panel, featuring three of the nations top editors, was held on media ownership, media bias. A broadcaster cannot own television stations that reach more than 35% of the nations homes. Televisa has been accused of taking cash for positive coverage of politicians in mexico. Crossmedia ownership when a company which produces two or more types of media. Concentration of media ownership essay example graduateway. Concentration of media ownership also known as mediaconsolidation or media convergence is a process wherebyprogressively fewer individuals or organizations c slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. It examines the media through the lens of the public policy debates about limits on the number and type of media outlets that a single firm can own.
Regulation of broadcasting to address ownership concentration in latin america. It has been axiomatic since the emergence of a press that is not irredeemably allied to the interests of the state or to party political factions that plurality of media ownership is an essential element of a. Firmly rooting its argument in democratic and economic theory, the book argues that a more democratic distribution of communicative power within the public sphere and a structure that provides safeguards against abuse of media power provide two of three primary arguments for ownership dispersal. A research that works with authors from 30 countries in the world about media concentration using a common methodology. Significant obstacles also remain in respect of pluralism and diversity, including ownership concentration and a persistent digital divide, neither of which have been helped by the global economic downturn. Contemporary research demonstrates increasing levels of consolidation, with many media industries already highly concentrated and dominated by a very small number of firms. Concentration of media ownership media is said to be the medium used to transmit information to a single person or to a large group of people. Measurement issues article pdf available in javnost the public 173. Media ownership and concentration in america researchgate. In 1983, 90% of us media was controlled by 50 companies. Over the past decade global press freedom has experienced an alarming downward spiral. Media ownership and concentration in america 2009, which painstakingly. Noam sets out to explain the state of the media in america today through a comprehensive analysis of the past twenty. The columbia institute for teleinformation at columbia business school.
In conclusion, the concentration of media ownership is an issue that must be addressed. Noams goal is to examine whether, where, and how american media are becoming more or less concentrate p. Table of contents for media ownership and concentration in. Over time, both the number of media outlets and concentration of ownership have increased, translating to fewer companies owning more media outlets. In order to be able to analyse media ownership, and resulting media concentration, one has to know the right questions. Media ownership patterns the ownership of the mass media namely. These media officials are the individuals that have perhaps the strongest influence over the public out of all of the people in positions of power. He also looks at local media power, vertical concentration, and the changing nature of media ownership through financial institutions and private equity. Bibliographic record and links to related information available from the library of congress catalog. Our study identifies as one of the major issues in global media concentration the concentration of media in the emerging countries. He served as new york states public service commissioner regulating the telecommunications and energy industries, on the white house presidential board on information technology, and on private sector and ngo boards. The crossmedia ownership laws brought in by the federal labor government in 1987 was the start of modern media change.
Media ownership and democracy in the digital information age. And when the media owners are in league with business and political elites it can serve to disenfranchise citizens and help entrench those elites in power the opposite of the watchdog role that media is supposed to play in a democratic. Media ownership and concentration in america ebook por eli. He begins by presenting a model of the dynamics of media concentration. Media ownership patterns of media ownership studying how. A longtime professor of economics and finance at columbia university, and a prolific author, noam has worked on this study and its data for more than a dozen years, the result being a vitally useful book on the ongoing debates about. The theory why is concentration of media ownership so routinely condemned.
In italy, silvio berlusconis companies have dominated italian politics. But for most media intellectuals around the world arguing in favor of media pluralism, the focus of attention. Media ownership and concentration in america ebook by eli. Media ownership and concentration in america 9780195188523. Media ownership and concentration in americawill be essential reading and a trove of information for scholars and students in media, telecommunications, it, economics, and the history of business, as well as media industry professionals, business researchers, and policy makers around the world. In the us, the media ownership issue involves not only concerns about ownership concentration and its anticompetitive effects in the economic marketplace and in the marketplace of ideas. Media ownership and concentration in america eli m. Eli noam, media ownership and concentration in america. He has written over 400 articles in economics, legal, communications journals and is the author of media ownership and concentration in america. Media ownership the argentine media market has a diversity of owners in terms of numbers, but few dominate the largest portion of the market, both in audiences and in number of media outles.
Senator richard blumenthal dct, a member of the judiciary committee, participates in a conversation on the future of media ownership in america and the proposed sinclairtribune merger. They discussed the concern about media concentration and the effects of. The concentration of private power over media has been the subject of intense public debate around the world. Concerns over ownership of media and their effects on pluralism first arose in the late nineteenth century with the development of politically active press barons in the united kingdom and the united states, but ownership did not become a policy issue in most countries until choice about ownership of broadcasting emerged in the first half of the twentieth century. Download citation media ownership and concentration in america the concentration of private power over media has been the subject of intense public. The laws strictly prohibited the control of more than one commercial television license or newspaper or commercial radio license in the same market, thus aiming to reduce the potential for undue media concentration. Professor noam focuses on the economics, management, and policy of media, internet, and communications, both in america and around the world. Media ownership and concentration in america by eli m. Media ownership and concentration in america will be essential reading and a trove of information for scholars and students in media, telecommunications, it, economics, and the history of business, as well as media industry professionals, business researchers, and policy makers around the world. Media ownership elizabeth hart editorial independence the concentration of media ownership also matters because of its potential for the control of editorial matter, news and other information throughout the media. Download citation media ownership and concentration in america the concentration of private power over media has been the subject of intense public debate around the world. Monitors media ownership and the impact on media pluralism in southeastern europe and eu member states. The influence of media ownership and control on media. Critics have long feared waves of mergers creating a handful of large media firms that would hold sway over public opinion and endanger democracy and innovation.
Media ownership 2006 research studies archive 73107. Compaine and others published eli noam, media ownership and concentration in america find, read and cite. Media crossownership in the united states wikipedia. Th is endeavour to map the patterns of media ownership is the. Dominant economic agent, which is the economic actor or economic group that participates with at least 50 percent in the national. But others believe with equal fervor that the internet and deregulation have opened the media landscape significantly. Pdf pluralism and concentration of media ownership. Individual owners the leading media owners in argentina are businesspeople from the media sector who have diversified their interests in other economic activities overtime and. Concentration of media ownership the process by which an increasingly smaller number of companies own most media outlets. Noams latest book media ownership and concentration in america. It is also a highly contentious subject of public debate in many countries around the world. Undue concentration of media ownership and how it affects the free flow of. Media ownership, concentration and corruption in bank. Media ownership and its impact on media independence and.
Concentration of media ownership also known as media consolidation or media convergence is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Overall, digitization has only partly impacted on the media landscape in chile. The commission used the evidence collected in these studies, as well as the comments, to guide and support its decisions in the 2006 ownership proceeding. The current volume, media ownership and concentration in america, is especially ambitious, with its origins going back more than a decade.