Industries - Ownership and control

Media conglomerate research

1) Type up your research notes from the lesson - what did you find out about your allocated media conglomerate? Selection of companies: Alphabet, The Walt Disney Company, National Amusements, Meta, News Corp, Time Warner, Comcast. If you were absent or didn't have time in the lesson to make these notes, research any one of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blogpost.

2) Do you agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant? Write an argument that looks at both sides of this debate.

Yes as they will gain more and more power until they basically own everything and run society, becoming more powerful than authorities and governments.

Media Magazine reading and questions

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9 to read the article 'Two Key Concepts: The Relationship Between Audience and Institution'.

1) Briefly describe the production, promotion and distribution process for media companies.

The production process provides audiences with the media products they want. It needs to consider the audience’s desires and should provide the gratifications the audience expects.

• The promotion process researches and identifies the target audience for the product, and uses advertising and marketing strategies to inform and persuade them of the value of the media product.

• The distribution process uses the most appropriate methods for getting the product to the audience and making it as easy as possible for them to access it.

2) What are the different funding models for media institutions?

BBC, Sky One, ITV, The MailOnline

3) The article gives a lot of examples of major media brands and companies. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them. 

 Itv relies on income generated by advertisers. This means that appeal to a large audience are seen as more valuable than ones with smaller niche audiences

Because the Bbc is funded by a licence fee and it has a public service remit, it is more likely to screen

 Mail online receives more income the longer a reader stays on the site, so stories will

feature lots of images and videos, and sensationalised or controversial

4) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution?

Marvel and disney

5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?

Google now owns YouTube, and has revolutionised the way we access music and moving-image entertainment and information.

Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo now create, produce and ‘broadcast’ their own TV shows, such as Transparent, Orange is the New Black and Community.

Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift (see MM51); one potential benefit for audiences is that it allows users to ‘attend’ and ‘experience’ events without leaving their own homes.

6) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive?

Yes as large conglomerates are taking ownership and ruling the media and controlling everything.