Please respond to the following short answers. Each answer should be at least have two paragraphs long. The quiz is open book, you can use the information from lectures, readings, class discussion and

Media ownership and regulations Activity•Think about this questions: •Would you say your media diet isdiverse?•What’s your definition of media diet”diversity”?•How many different media owners do you consume media contentfrom (in youropinion)? Increase inCHOICE?◦Number of media outlets available to thegeneral public has increased dramatically◦Do we have a greater degree ofchoice?◦It depends on how you definechoice 3 Networks era: 1948-early1980s Emergence of cableTV Streaming and digitalera Concentration ofownershipIn 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media inthe USA,In 1992, 22 companies owned 90 percent of themedia In 2018, 10 companies owned 90 percent of themediaIf the USA media were owned by separate individuals there would be 25000 owners Big 5 TechGiants Who ownswhat? Direct Public control over media in the U.S.•Broadcast to U.S. militaryposts•US Armed ForcesRadio•TV Service department ofdefense•Foreign media sources that spread valuesabroad•Vo i c e of America: audience of 141 million with 1200stations Semipublicsystem•Public Broadcasting Act of1967•CPB (Corporation for publicbroadcasting)•Administrative side, should be separate fromprogramming•NPR: radio programming with 1,065affiliates•PBS: televisionprograms•Small, nice audiences (2% of TVviewers) Funding of the semi-publicsystem•Hybridsystem•Federal and Local governmentfunding•Private foundations and big business(25%)•Donations(31%)•Some degree of advertising and commercial programming (from the1980s)•Pressure towards cutting funds and limiting federalfunding Problems with Public ownership ofmass media•Censorship•Control overcontent•Politicalinfluence•Limitedviewpoints Positive aspects of publicmedia ownership•Focus on publicservice•Less ”entertaining”content•Space for programming targeted towards minoritygroups•Space for views that are out of themainstream Concentration of US private media ownership4 distinctfeatures:◦Horizontalintegration◦Ve r t i c a lintegration◦Diversification◦Global mediaconglomerates Horizontal Integration (crossmediaownership)•Big corporations own a variety of media companies NewsCorp◦Newspapers◦FoxNews◦CenturyFox,◦StarTV VerticalIntegration•Somemediacompaniesare increasinglytryingtocontrolallaspectsoftheirindustryinorderto maximise theirprofits.•E.g. Time Warner makes its own films and distributes them toits own cinema complexes Diversification•Companies diversify into new business areas (outside of media) tospread risks.•Losses into one area may be compensated by profits in another (VirginMedia) (Global)Conglomerations•Media companies have taken advantage of the erosion of traditional boundariessurrounding mediamarkets.•Example: NewsCorp –owns newspaperws in australia, the UK and theUSA. But…•Some independent owners stillsurvive•NYT-Ochs-Sulzbergerfamily•(Washington Post,Bezos)•Regional mediachains•Gannett company: 109 media companies including USTo d a y Costs and benefits of big businesscontrol? Benefits of big businesscontrol•Big scale companies can absorb losses andcrises•Ta k i n g morerisks•More focus on talent and creativeenterprise•Competition could increasequality•(Theoretically) different viewpoints could bepresented Costs of big businesscontrol•Focus on content thatsells•Infotainment is privileged over ”Hard”news•Alternative viewpoints tend to be disregarded (focused onmainstream positions)•Problems of editorialinterference Has the emergence of new media changed thisphenomenon?•Costs to start a media company are lower than in thepast•Opportunities for small media outlets toflourish•Viewpoints outside of themainstream Are new media companies breaking the monopolies? Or are part of theproblem? Is mass media diverse in the US? •Go back to your original question: •Do you think that mass media is diverse in the US? •What do we mean with the word diverse?