Prompt: the issues raised by media ownership and funding in contemporary media practice
Stuart Hall, one of the most influential social theorist’s of the 20th century, argued in his representation theory that events themselves have no fixed or specific meaning, until the media chooses to represent them and give them meaning. By that logic, for better or for worse, the media dictates how events, people, and places are represented and portrayed to the general public, so the power the producers of these media outlets hold on public opinion cannot be understated. On top of that, virtually all facets of contemporary mass media are owned by just a handful of parent companies known as conglomerates. Since media outlets usually act based on the agenda of their parent conglomerates (because the conglomerates are who fund them), it is worth arguing that most mass media portrays events in a way that fits the agendas of just a handful of conglomerate owners/executives, who are known as the hegemonic elite. A number of issues arise in contemporary media practices from the hegemonic elite’s ownership and funding, which include stereotypes resulting from a lack of diverse representation, various forms of media bias, and monopolies on the different facets of media. To begin, one of the largest issues regarding contemporary mass media ownership and funding is the reinforcement of stereotypes for certain groups of people, which is caused by the lack of diverse representation for them. For example, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities have had a history of being portrayed in a stereotypical way by films and tv, often for comedic purposes but sometimes due to genuine prejudice. Because of the homogenous nature of media subsidiaries that are owned by a common parent company, these stereotypes are often the only way these minority groups are represented in the mass media. When applied to Stuart Hall’s representation theory, this means that these minority groups have no fixed meaning, until the media chooses to represent them and give them meaning. However, when this meaning is stereotypical/negative it causes the aforementioned stereotypes to become the dominant perception of these groups in the public conscious, leading to an unfair perception/understanding of them over time. The root of this problem is the fact that the vast majority of mass media conglomerate owners are straight white men who are on the older side, and as a result possess outdated and stereotypical views of minority groups, perhaps without even realizing it. Regardless, a conglomerates’ ownership and funding of smaller media outlets often causes those media outlets to perpetuate the same stereotypes of minority groups, and due their non-diverse and homogenous representation of them shape the public’s perception of those groups in a negative way over time. To continue, these stereotypes also apply to journalistic and news media, as media outlets may portray groups, people, or events in a biased way to appease the agenda of their parent company. Because media outlets want to continue to receive funding from their parent companies, as well as reap the benefits of being owned by a conglomerate like cross-promotion, they are unlikely to say/report anything that goes against the political or social agenda of that parent company. This serves as a form of control these conglomerates possess over the mass media, and causes several types of media biases. The first type of media bias is inclusion, and involves the specific coverage of news that fits the interest/agenda of the parent company. There is also revision, or the revising of information that could potentially hurt the reputation of the parent company. The last type is omission, or the complete removal of information that could hurt the parent company. While these practices in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, there is a conflict of interest that results from news media outlets trying to both report the news and keep their parent company happy. This more often than not results in very biased news, where the media outlet is more so manipulating/creating the truth than actually presenting it. This is especially the case with political media outlets that are very left or right leaning, as they often represent the other side of the political spectrum in a very negative way to fit the political agendas of their parent companies. This causes the general public to consume a large amount of heavily biased news that is falsely portrayed as the truth, which misleads them. Lastly, another issue that results from media ownership and funding is that these large conglomerate companies often possess a monopoly over the many different media forms they possess. For example, virtually all facets of mainstream media are produced under a media outlet owned by just one of six conglomerates, those being Walt Disney, Comcast, CBS, Time Warner Cable, Viacom, and News Corporation. Whether it be a film, tv show, news station, magazine, or music, chances are the media you consume on a daily basis is owned by one of these conglomerates. There are some benefits to these conglomerates, for example the immense amount of materials they have at their disposal allows them to produce high quality, big budget entertainment for the consumers. If it weren’t for these conglomerates, texts like the Hollywood blockbuster would likely be few and far between, so in that regard conglomerates are beneficial to the consumers. However, the true issue of these media giants arises when they are so wealthy and powerful, that they essentially have a monopoly on the media forms they create. This is because these monopolies remove the need for healthy competition among studios, and oftentimes conglomerates will just buy out studios they are competing with. When one particular conglomerate or outlet has a monopoly over a particular media form, they do not need to keep the wants/needs of the consumer in mind as much, because they know there are less alternatives for the consumer. This more often than not leads to the creation of uninspired and unoriginal texts, and these conglomerates can also charge the consumer higher prices to consume them because they know they can. In summation, in the world of contemporary media practices the influence and power of media ownership and funding is unparalleled. Most media outlets are owned and funded by a much larger parent company known as a conglomerate, of which there are only a handful that dominate all of the media world. While these conglomerates are not entirely bad, for example their wealth allows for the production of big budget texts that would otherwise be impossible, a variety of issues have arisen because of them. For example, media outlets often represent minority groups in a similarly stereotypical way because of their common parent company, which causes the general public to perpetuate the negative stereotypes surrounding these groups. Also, because media outlets are both owned and funded by conglomerates, they often partake in various forms of media bias to act on the agenda of those parent companies, and to avoid making them look bad. This causes them to distort the representation of people and events that they are pitching as “truthful”, leading to a less informed and more biased public. Not only that, but the monopolies these conglomerates have on the different media facets removes the need for competition, often leading to lazy and expensive texts that the public has little to no alternatives to.
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