Dialectical view of media ownership concentration
Media ownership centralisation means that most media or media companies are owned by a small number of media groups or companies, thus forming a harmful and dangerous mass media ownership structure. In Britain, with the disappearance of traditional boundaries in the media market and the intensification of media owners' pursuit of rules and economy, the concentration of media ownership has become more and more obvious. The merger of Carlton and Granda, the acquisition of Consumer Media Group by Guardian Media Group, Willie and Son's acquisition of Blackville, and mergers and acquisitions in the media industry have led to the concentration of media ownership. There is a clear debate about the impact of the centralised ownership of the media. I think the concentration of media ownership should be viewed dialectically, not only to see that it can play an active role in some aspects in the short term, but also to realise the harm it has caused to socio-political, economic and cultural in the long run.
Analysis of the drawbacks of media ownership. When the Federal Communications Commission forcibly adopted a new policy aimed at easing the ban on cross-industry mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. media on December 18, 2007, then-presidential candidate Obama believed that the FCC did so completely ignored the will of the public. Regarding the harm of media ownership concentration, a research treasure sponsored by the Benton Foundation in the United States shows that "it is not in the public interest of the United States to hold media ownership in the hands of a few people". Specifically, there are drawbacks in media ownership, such as threats to the independence and impartiality of the media. Independence and impartiality are the soul of the media. Only by maintaining independence and impartiality can the media have credibility. However, the increasing concentration of media ownership poses a serious threat to the independence and impartiality of the media. In the face of pressure, large media groups often increase self-censorship of content products to meet the needs of major interest groups.For example, the South African media has gradually discussed topics of interest to urban life and consumers, while the attention to the poor and farmers has gradually decreased, mainly due to the poor media consumption capacity of the poor and farmers in South Africa.
Of course, I think the concentration of media ownership is conducive to promoting the effective allocation of resources in the media industry. Economic theory holds that under the condition of complete competition, the market allocation of resources can achieve Pareto's optimisation. However, there is no complete competition in the current media market, so it is impossible to achieve Pareto optimal allocation of media resources. However, moderate concentration of media ownership can not only improve the concentration of the media industry, but also promote the optimal allocation of media resources, improve the utilisation rate of media resources, and improve the market competitiveness of media companies. To some extent, it is also conducive to promoting orderly competition in the media market.
Indeed, monopoly ownership of the media, like state control over it, poses a major threat to the diversity and pluralism of the media, and thus to freedom of expression. Regulating competition is an important part of reducing monopoly, as is the professionalization and independence of the press. The diversity of forms of ownership contributes to the promotion of a plurality of viewpoints (public, private and non-profit ownership), as well as the provision of different types of media (print, radio, television, Internet,
ReplyDeleteYour topic is beautiful.
Independence and impartiality are the soul of the media.The media should maintain relative independence in order to better reflect social problems and guide people to think in the right direction.——He YiPeng（Bruce）
ReplyDeletemedia is made up by people. people will make mistake, and media also will. And government can be supervised by people and media. But who will supervise media? So, I think we need to weaken the subjectivity of media, just to convey information.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The concentration of media ownership is not terrible. The problem lies in who is concentrated, that is, who controls most of the media. For example, in socialist China, even though many media belong to state-owned enterprises, they still play a positive role in promoting society and economy.
ReplyDelete——Zheng Haoyuan(John)