Who owns our voices?

By Zeinab Hassan 


Media ownership concentration is the process in which fewer organizations control increasing media shares. Current research shows increasing levels of consolidation: many media industries are already highly concentrated and dominated by a very small number of firms.

Globally, major media conglomerates include ViacomCBS, ATT Inc., Sony Corporation, News Corp, Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, Fox Corporation, Hearst, MGM Holdings Inc., Grupo Globo, etc.

As of 2020, the largest media conglomerates in terms of revenue are Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, ATT, and ViacomCBS, according to Forbes.

The concentration of media ownership under the control of a few large corporations has been a problem worldwide, especially in relation to the media's ability to influence politics, public discourse, economy, and culture. Many argue that the concentration of media ownership primarily serves the needs, interests  and agendas of powerful owners of large media companies. Because media is concentrated under fewer owners, it means they have fewer voices and less variety of expression. When there is no diversity of opinion and variety of expression, public opinion and democracy would be undermined and cultural values ​​become shaped by these powerful media owners for capitalist gain.

In the political system, the media is equated with a kind of power that has more opportunities to influence people, can influence their behavior and form values. It is the key why media is called the “fourth estate”.

We can call it a full state control by political or indirect state, usually authoritarian, media ownership.

One of the negative manifestations of media in the political life of society is political manipulation. Political manipulation is the imposition of will, the hidden control of actions, thoughts, and the consciousness of society in order to force people to perform certain actions in the interests of the manipulator.

And if we talk about limiting media ownership we might have to consider some factors. The benefits of common ownership have been well-documented, pointing to a 2011 study examining the television industry which found that "broadcasting generally, and local news production specifically, are subject to strong economies of both scale and scope."

On the other side, not limiting Media ownership will not help the industry — it will only push it further into debt while also harming the production of quality local news. And here loses the media it's voice!

Comments

  1. NickApril 5, 2022 at 6:00 AM

    As a member of journalism, I always care about the question of media dominating. Just like these examlpes in your blog, these big companys itselves have become monopolist, this is a bad phenomena. When they have mdia hegemony, the have chips to exchange benefits with the ruling class. In my imagination, media need to weaken the exist of itself, just manage to communicate and convey information. And to achieve this goal, it's depend on every journalist just like you and me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 5, 2022 at 8:58 AM

    We should remember that limiting media ownership doesn't only affect private companies, but also estate ownership. The suppression of voices can occur from both sides. Therefore, in principle, anti-monopoly laws' aim is to allow the plurality of voices. (Bernarda Vasquez)

    ReplyDelete

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