Media Giants..will rule the world

In today’s society, a powerful force haunts our surroundings; a global commercial media system dominated by a small number of super powerful transnational media corporations.

The current era in history is characterized as one of globalization, technological revolution, and democratization. In all three of these areas, media and communication play a central, perhaps even defining, role. Economic and cultural globalization would be impossible, I feel, without a global commercial media system to promote global markets and to encourage consumer values. However, one question stands clear. Is this standardization of the media healthy? When the media is standardized does the general public global opinion become standardized as well?

The global Media system…

Between ten and twenty years ago national media systems were typified by domestically owned radio, TV and newspaper industries. There were major import markets for TV shows, films, music, books etc and were mainly dominated by U.S. based firms. All of this however, is changing at an intensely rapid pace. Media systems in the past were primarily national but in recent years a global commercial-media market has emerged. It happened to the oil industries earlier this century and now it is happening to the entertainment industry.

The overwhelming majority of the world's film production, TV show production, cable channel ownership, cable and satellite system ownership, book publishing, magazine publishing and music production is provided by fifty or so firms but nine media giants dominate these sectors. The five largest are Time Warner, Disney, Bertelsmann, Viacom, and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The rule of thumb for global media giants is, ‘Get big very quickly or get swallowed up by someone else.’ Firms like Disney and Time Warner have almost tripled in size this decade. Media industries are becoming more and more concentrated. The level of mergers and acquisitions is breathtaking. By any standard of democracy, such a concentration of media power is troubling, if not unacceptable. Not only in enormous media power concentrated in few hands, but the profit orientation of these firms ensures that low income groups will receive little attention, news and public affairs will be underfunded and the interests of advertisers will predominate. In a society where most people get all their news and information from the broadcast media, how can we have a strong democracy when that medium is concentrated in the hands of a few people?

Killing the Competition...

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is currently facing police investigation in Australia. The Sun and The Times stands accused of running a secret unit to sabotage competitors according to 14,000 emails released to the Australian Financial Review. He told his 207,894 followers on Twitter of ‘Enemies many different agendas, but worst old toffs and right wingers who still want last century’s status quo with their monopolies.’ His comments were made in response to the claims of corporate hacking as News Corporation attempted to take control over another TV network in Australia. Mr Murdoch said on Twitter: "Let's have it on! Choice, freedom of thought and markets, individual personal responsibility.’

Without competition capitalist markets turn into oligopolies, and that is what's happening in media today. When you lose small businesses you lose big ideas. They know they can’t compete my imitating the big guys so they have to innovate. They are quicker to seize new technologies and opportunities and steal market share from the bigger companies creating competition leading to increased capitalism - higher product and service quality, lower consumer costs and increased employment. Quality, localism and democracy itself have all suffered as a result. Unless we allow more independent media companies to survive, a dangerously high percentage of what we see--and what we don't see--will be shaped by the profit motives and political interests of large conglomerates.

Looking Forward....

The Media has become the most powerful force in shaping public opinion and this public opinion will become a standardised one if Media Corporations continue to merge. The quality of our public life will suffer. We have gone past the stage of trying to keep media giants from expanding, they are already too big. I believe a new set of rules and regulations need to be conducted with the intention of breaking these huge companies to pieces. This is the only way we can prevent ourselves from becoming a standardised human race in the future.