NEWSPAPER OWNERSHIP & REGULATION
E.g. The Barclay's Brothers Press Holdings
E.g. News Corporation, Chairman & CEO Rupert Murdoch
E.g. Scott Trust Limited
E.g. Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail & General Trust plc
E.g. Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell
E.g. Trinity Mirror
E.g. Alexander Lebedev & Lord Rothermere
E.g. Daily Mail & General Trust plc
Within the UK's media ownership there may be concern as there is a small number of major businesses who own multiple media companies each, narrowing the range of opinions that are published. This isolation of power represents wealth rather than knowledge; therefore at the expense of quality and creativity. Similarly, this links in with the idea of London centric, where the majority of media products are produced in the capital and the local area; these products also, therefore, gain a much higher exposure. This results in a narrowing range of opinions, as the likelihood of the products produced in the area all derived form the same company. This agrees with Curran and Seaton's 'Power and Media Industries' theory, looking at how the internet doesn't offer a 'level playing field' for different voices to be heard. This discrimination of opinions which can be shared within newspapers creates a filtering affect on which readers are exposed to. Therefore due to the increasing number of different newspapers being owned by individuals, the differentiation in opinions is also decreasing.
In cultural industries, they follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration within the news. This production is owned by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to try and reduce the risk. This risk occurs as it is very hard to predict what will be successful and what won't be successful in the media. As well as this, there is also high production costs, again, increasing the pressure for the producer to excel with their media source - as media products are public goods. Within this cultural industry they also rely on 'big hits' to cover the other costs of failure. Companies like Netflix for example use this process, buying into television series which are more popular, creating more money for creating new plots to carry on an already popular media product. Therefore by investing more money and time into the products which are 'big hits', businesses are able to afford some media mistakes, where a product maybe wasn't as popular as expected, as it is hard to predict within the media industry.
Regulation
Owners are able to influence the editorial stance of a newspaper, as well as the motives and agenda. For example, the political view of the owner will be expressed throughout the paper; with articles supporting this opinion. Though there is a set of rules which newspaper companies much follow, created by an independent organisation - this is known as regulation.
Livingstone and Lunt studied four case studies of the works of Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, serving consumers and/or citizens. It found that consumers have wants and needs, are individuals, seek benefits from the media, use language of their choice and require regulation to protect against detriment. Whereas citizens also have needs, are social, though seek public or social benefits from the media, use the language of rights and require regulation to promote the publics interest.
Press complaints sometimes come from the opinions of journalists and editors, rather than the facts being reputed - this is known as bias. Bias is also the main reason for the regulation of newspapers, protecting from press intrusion or harassment.
"The Leveson Inquiry was a public, judge-led inquiry. It was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron to investigate the press after journalists at The News of the World were accused of illegally accessing the voicemail messages on other people's phones, without their knowledge or consent. They were also accused of bribing police officers. Some of those who had their mobile phones 'hacked' in this way were celebrities, sports people and politicians. The News of the World was closed down by its owner, News International, when this information became public. Lord Justice Leveson stated his recommendations on how the press should be regulated."
Following the Leveson Inquiry, new rules were stated for newspapers within the media industry. These include, that newspapers should continue to be self-regulated and that the government should have no say in what is published. The press industry should also create a new press standards organisation with a new code of conduct. As well as this, legislation should be provided to ensure this new press standards organisation is independent and effective, when dealing with public complaints.
I personally feel that the idea of a 'free press' has both positive and negative aspects. Firstly, it allows news articles to be un-restricted, making sure the opinions included are not narrowed. It also means that the audience can be educated on a wider range of topics, rather than those that the press may have been restricted to. This also means that the audience stays engaged with what is in the media as the topics covered are forever differing. The use of a 'free press' also helps to add more money into the media industry; with celebrities or businesses, for example, paying for coverage of an event where they feature. This also ironically, almost, aids the government; stories backing specific political opinions for example. The government and the press practically regulate each other, with each holding the other to account; especially the press questioning those in power.
Though I also feel that this use of a 'free press' has its downfalls, especially looking at the sources used and the ways in which the press gain information to fit into news stories. For example, here JK Rowling speaks out about how the press invade her personal life - looking for a news stories when they have nothing better to cover on...
- The Daily Telegraph
- The European
- The Scotsman
- Sunday business
E.g. News Corporation, Chairman & CEO Rupert Murdoch
- The Times
- The Sun
E.g. Scott Trust Limited
- The Guardian
- The Observer
E.g. Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail & General Trust plc
- The Daily Mail
E.g. Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell
- Daily Express
- Daily Star
E.g. Trinity Mirror
- Daily Mirror
- Leicester Mercury
E.g. Alexander Lebedev & Lord Rothermere
- London Evening Standard
E.g. Daily Mail & General Trust plc
- Metro
Within the UK's media ownership there may be concern as there is a small number of major businesses who own multiple media companies each, narrowing the range of opinions that are published. This isolation of power represents wealth rather than knowledge; therefore at the expense of quality and creativity. Similarly, this links in with the idea of London centric, where the majority of media products are produced in the capital and the local area; these products also, therefore, gain a much higher exposure. This results in a narrowing range of opinions, as the likelihood of the products produced in the area all derived form the same company. This agrees with Curran and Seaton's 'Power and Media Industries' theory, looking at how the internet doesn't offer a 'level playing field' for different voices to be heard. This discrimination of opinions which can be shared within newspapers creates a filtering affect on which readers are exposed to. Therefore due to the increasing number of different newspapers being owned by individuals, the differentiation in opinions is also decreasing.
In cultural industries, they follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration within the news. This production is owned by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to try and reduce the risk. This risk occurs as it is very hard to predict what will be successful and what won't be successful in the media. As well as this, there is also high production costs, again, increasing the pressure for the producer to excel with their media source - as media products are public goods. Within this cultural industry they also rely on 'big hits' to cover the other costs of failure. Companies like Netflix for example use this process, buying into television series which are more popular, creating more money for creating new plots to carry on an already popular media product. Therefore by investing more money and time into the products which are 'big hits', businesses are able to afford some media mistakes, where a product maybe wasn't as popular as expected, as it is hard to predict within the media industry.
Regulation
Owners are able to influence the editorial stance of a newspaper, as well as the motives and agenda. For example, the political view of the owner will be expressed throughout the paper; with articles supporting this opinion. Though there is a set of rules which newspaper companies much follow, created by an independent organisation - this is known as regulation.
Livingstone and Lunt studied four case studies of the works of Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, serving consumers and/or citizens. It found that consumers have wants and needs, are individuals, seek benefits from the media, use language of their choice and require regulation to protect against detriment. Whereas citizens also have needs, are social, though seek public or social benefits from the media, use the language of rights and require regulation to promote the publics interest.
Press complaints sometimes come from the opinions of journalists and editors, rather than the facts being reputed - this is known as bias. Bias is also the main reason for the regulation of newspapers, protecting from press intrusion or harassment.
"The Leveson Inquiry was a public, judge-led inquiry. It was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron to investigate the press after journalists at The News of the World were accused of illegally accessing the voicemail messages on other people's phones, without their knowledge or consent. They were also accused of bribing police officers. Some of those who had their mobile phones 'hacked' in this way were celebrities, sports people and politicians. The News of the World was closed down by its owner, News International, when this information became public. Lord Justice Leveson stated his recommendations on how the press should be regulated."
Following the Leveson Inquiry, new rules were stated for newspapers within the media industry. These include, that newspapers should continue to be self-regulated and that the government should have no say in what is published. The press industry should also create a new press standards organisation with a new code of conduct. As well as this, legislation should be provided to ensure this new press standards organisation is independent and effective, when dealing with public complaints.
I personally feel that the idea of a 'free press' has both positive and negative aspects. Firstly, it allows news articles to be un-restricted, making sure the opinions included are not narrowed. It also means that the audience can be educated on a wider range of topics, rather than those that the press may have been restricted to. This also means that the audience stays engaged with what is in the media as the topics covered are forever differing. The use of a 'free press' also helps to add more money into the media industry; with celebrities or businesses, for example, paying for coverage of an event where they feature. This also ironically, almost, aids the government; stories backing specific political opinions for example. The government and the press practically regulate each other, with each holding the other to account; especially the press questioning those in power.
Though I also feel that this use of a 'free press' has its downfalls, especially looking at the sources used and the ways in which the press gain information to fit into news stories. For example, here JK Rowling speaks out about how the press invade her personal life - looking for a news stories when they have nothing better to cover on...
I hence feel that if the information being sourced is in the public interest then it is acceptable, though if not then it should be forced. This makes sure that no invasion of privacy is used just to gain information for mere entertainment.
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