Ownership and Media Concentration
How the concentration of media ownership into a few large conglomerates affects diversity, democracy, and the range of available voices.
Definition
Media concentration is the consolidation of ownership and control of media outlets into a small number of large firms; the study of media ownership analyzes who controls media and the implications for diversity and democracy.
Scope
This topic examines patterns of media ownership and the trend toward concentration and conglomeration, along with their consequences for content diversity, journalism, and democratic communication. It covers classic critiques of the 'media monopoly', the politics of media regulation and deregulation, and the analytic frameworks of critical political economy.
Core questions
- How concentrated is ownership of major media?
- What are the consequences of concentration for content diversity?
- How do regulation and deregulation shape ownership patterns?
- What does concentration mean for democratic communication?
Key concepts
- Media concentration
- Conglomeration
- Diversity
- Deregulation
- Corporate ownership
Key theories
- The media monopoly thesis
- Bagdikian's documentation of the shrinking number of corporations controlling most media, and his argument that this concentration narrows the range of voices.
- Rich media, poor democracy
- McChesney's argument that commercial concentration and deregulation undermine the journalism and diversity that democratic self-government requires.
- Critical political economy of mass communication
- Murdock and Golding's foundational program for analyzing how ownership and economic structure shape the production and distribution of media.
History
From the 1970s, critical political economists such as Murdock and Golding argued that media ownership and economics deserved systematic study. Bagdikian's successive editions of The Media Monopoly tracked rising concentration, and McChesney connected ownership and deregulation to democratic decline, making concentration a central concern of media political economy.
Debates
- Concentration versus abundance
- Whether digital media have reduced the dangers of concentration by multiplying outlets, or whether ownership and gatekeeping have simply shifted to a few dominant platforms.
Key figures
- Ben Bagdikian
- Robert McChesney
- Graham Murdock
- Peter Golding
Related topics
Seminal works
- bagdikian2004
- mcchesney1999
- murdockgolding1973
Frequently asked questions
- Why is media concentration a concern?
- Because when a few firms control much of the media, critics argue it narrows the diversity of voices and viewpoints available to citizens, with implications for democracy.
- Has the internet ended media concentration?
- It has multiplied outlets, but many scholars argue concentration has reappeared in dominant digital platforms, so the concern persists in new forms.