3. Competition
INTENSIFIED COMPETITION DOES NOT NEGATIVELY AFFECT THE QUALITY OF NEWS:
Intense competition amongst major conglomerates characterizes the new media landscape. Currently, there are significantly fewer news stations than there were in the past. According to the article 2007 Media Conglomerates, Mergers, Concentration of Ownership by Anup Shah, “In 1983, fifty corporations dominated most of every mass medium and the biggest media merger in history was a $340 million deal.” Today, the number of corporations dominating the media has reduced significantly. The big leaders in the industry are General Electric, Walt Disney, News Corp, CBS, and Viacom. These corporations control about $500 billion in revenue per year. If these numbers don’t say enough then maybe easily recognizable names will. For instance, Viacom owns MTV music television, MTV 2, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, VH1, Spike TV, CMT: Country Music Television, Comedy Central, MTV U, LOGO, and BET, to name a few. All these networks appear to be independently controlled since their brand footprint and target audiences differ. However, since all of these companies are owned by Viacom they have the power to filter what material is exposed to the public. Furthermore, media mergers have also increased in value significantly. For example, Viacom has offered a large sum of $37 billion to buyout CBS. (Shah, 2007)
Moreover, the consolidation of mass media has caused intensified competition to attract viewers. The “Big Six” also known as AOL-Time Warner, Disney, Viacom, NewsCorp, Bertelsmann, and General Electric are all publicly owned companies. Due to shareholder ownership of stock; these companies are pressured to compete vigorously against one another. Each is a “battle for the largest share of advertising revenues.” (Champlain & Knoedler, 2002) Part of competing for increased revenues means that these corporations are taking on more and more acquisitions and mergers. “A good example of these so-called synergies occurred with the film Titanic. The film was produced jointly by Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount, owned respectively, by NewsCorp and Viacom.” (Champlin & Knoedler, 2002)
This is great news for companies that are struggling to market their products. Vertical integration provides an opportunity for a business to “cross promote” through various sectors of the media corporate giants such as Bertelsmann own. For instance, through Bertelsmann, a marketing agency can have access to companies such as UFA Film & TV Production (Germany), BMG Publishing, AOL Europe, Barnesandnoble.com, and FM Radio Network.
mediagirlz4 said,
May 12, 2008 at 1:04 am
INTENSIFIED COMPETITION IS NONEXISTENT AND AS SUCH, THE QUALITY OF NEWS IS DWINDLING:
Unfortunately, since these synergies are primarily for the purpose of increasing revenue to please stockholders, the quality of media is dwindling. There are fewer competitors in the field, which means a decrease in the diversity and quality of news for the public to have access to. Moreover, news stations are competing for viewers rather than participating in responsible journalism, resulting in the tendency to report the same stories. New stations’ desire for sensationalism in their reports contributed to the lack of quality in the content that is delivered. “This results in the possibility of less diversity and the reduced quality of journalism as political interests may not allow certain topics to be covered.” (Shah, 2007) News stations continued to cover these stories to please viewers, even when there were no new developments in the cases. Intensified competition results in the possibility of less diversity and reduced quality of journalism. This brings a question of whether or not the media reflects the realities of the world in which we live. According to the 1998 article, Media as Mirror to the World, “Only 5% of their news output is devoted to news from other countries, and many of them do not even manage that…The selection of news is based on the principle ‘the more blood there is, the better it sells’”
mediagirlz4 said,
May 12, 2008 at 5:08 pm
OUR CONCLUSION:
In sum, intensified competition has caused an increase in the demand for acquisitions and vertical integration in order for companies to reach their primary goal of satisfying their shareholders. Providentially, this has created great benefits for large companies to reach more target markets within one company. In doing this companies are able to enhance profits, by reducing costs and risk. However, we feel this corporate advantage is in turn hurting the millions of stakeholders that are loyal to the “Big Six”: AOL-Time Warner, General Electric, Walt Disney, News Corp, CBS, and Viacom. Unfortunately intensified competition has caused both the quality and diversity of news to decrease. As a result the public is receiving a narrow perspective and are remaining badly informed of the current realities around the world.