Media Ownership“Fraudcast News”
Simpsons
Conglomerates
A conglomerate is a corporation that is made up of a number of different, seemingly unrelated businesses. In a conglomerate, one company owns a controlling stake in a number of smaller companies, which conduct business separately. Each of a conglomerate's subsidiary businesses (a company that has a parent company) runs independently of the other business divisions, but the subsidiaries' management reports to senior management at the parent company.
The largest conglomerates lessen their business risk by participating in a number of different markets, although some conglomerates elect to participate in a single industry - for example, mining
Issues:
1. If the companies dominating a media market choose to suppress stories that do not serve their interests, the public suffers, since they are not adequately informed of some crucial issues that may affect them. If the only media outlets in town refuse to air a story, then the question becomes, who will?
2. Critics of media deregulation and the resulting concentration of ownership fear that such trends will only continue to reduce the diversity of information provided, as well as to reduce the accountability of information providers to the public. The ultimate consequence of consolidation, critics argue, is a poorly-informed public, restricted to a reduced array of media options that offer only information that does not harm the media oligopoly's growing range of interests.
3. Another concern is that consolidated media is not flexible enough to serve local communities in case of emergency. This happened in Minot, North Dakota, in 2002, after a train filled with anhydrous ammonia derailed. None of the leading radio stations in Minot carried information on the derailment or evacuation procedures, largely because they were all owned by Clear Channel Communications and received automated feeds from the corporate headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Scores of people were injured and three people died
Washington Post in 2003. The Post stated:
When a train derailment in the middle of the night released a frightening cloud of anhydrous ammonia, Minot police sought to notify the citizenry of the crisis. They called KCJB, the station designated as the local emergency broadcaster, but no one was home; the station was being run by computer, automatically passing along Clear Channel programming from another city.
Clear Channel argues that only a technical glitch prevented word from getting through. But glitches aside, the six stations now have only one news employee among them.
CITIZEN MEDIA:
On the other hand, a massive diversification of media, thanks to the Internet, materialized by millions of websites, blogs and wikis is taking place. That evolution, often labeled citizen journalism or citizen media, it possible for practically everybody to be a media creator, owner and actor, instead of a passive user.
Citizen media gradually take audiences out of the traditional media and weaken the role of information professionals. Traditional media are slowly trying to adapt by becoming more "participative", asking their readers or watchers to send their own news.
Directions: Watch “The Simpsons” episode titled “Fraudcast news.” After the episode, answer the following questions:
1. How is Mr. Burns’ company a conglomerate?
2. How does Mr. Burns use the media to spread his own agenda?
3. What is the message of this episode?
4. Do you believe it’s possible for the masses to think independently? Why or why not? Do you see bloggers making any sort of impact on the dependence on mainstream media?
Note: Mr. Burns says the following at the end of the episode, "one cannot control all media unless one is Rupert Murdoch." (in 2004 Murdoch owned 35 American television stations that reached 40 percent of America’s population).