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.

META

Conglomerate Ownership: Facebook, instagram, messenger, whatsapp, threads

Veritcal: Social media

Horizontal: AI glasses

Complications with government: Fined 

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. 

I agree, because if one company is too powerful it could cause inflation of prices which then causes it to be only accessible by the rich and not the poor. Someone would disagree because some people may be just better at running companies that other and it may be beneficial to only have your money go to one person/ company rather than 30 different ones.

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.

Production: filming, casting, costumes, acting

Promotion: adverts, trailers, sponsors

Distribution: uploading

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

• BBC
• Sky one
• ITV
• Mail online

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

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

Disney

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

Technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Yahoo are, by their very nature, at the forefront of change; they too have become ‘media institutions’:

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

Yes, they are not adapting to the changes of society.

7) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape? 

Increases profit

8) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media conglomerates maintain their control?

The audience will gain more power because if they are not pleased conglomerates wont make nay money.