Media Industry Theorists - Recap

MEDIA INDUSTRY THEORISTS

• Livingstone and Lunt (Regulation)
• Hesmondalgh (Cultural Industries)
• Curran and Seaton (Power and Industry)

LIVINGSTONE AND LUNT

They studied the work of OFCOM and regulation. ​

There is an underlying struggle in UK regulation between the needs to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material) and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition).​

The increasing power of global media conglomerates and the digital age have put traditional regulation at risk.

• Newspapers are SELF-REGULATED so L&L do not apply to newspapers. The regulatory bodies IPSO and IMPRESS are OPT-IN. ​
• Political Context- Press Freedom (There is no government body such as OFCOM to monitor News but Libel laws are applicable to Print News) ​

HOWEVER…The increasing power of media corporations (such as News International) together with the rise of convergent technologies and transformations in the production and distribution of media products, have placed traditional forms of media regulation at risk. ​

APPLICATION OF LIVINGSTONE AND LUNT

Originally applied to television and radio, but consumerism as defined in this study can be evidenced in the online editions of newspapers and increasingly in the print editions, with the traditional public interest news function being relatively marginalised (perhaps best illustrated by a comparison of a newspaper front page from the 1950s with its contemporary counterpart). ​

Examples of public debates about the role of social media companies in news and disinformation would support the idea of the difficulties of regulating globalised convergent media. ​

Examples of the new media operating in socially responsible ways in the public interest (as is starting to happen in 2018) would argue against this theory, as would the example of strongly regulated online content in authoritarian societies such as China.

CURRAN AND SEATON - POWER AND MEDIA INDUSTRIES

• They argue that the media is controlled by a small number of companies who, for the most part, are driven by money and power which is the normal pattern in a Capitalist society.​​
• Curran and Seaton state that such media concentration limits creativity, variety and quality.
• The counterpoint is that more socially diverse ownership would allow more varied and adventurous media productions which would be better for society. ​

APPLICATION OF CURRAN AND SEATON

Studies of concentration of ownership and control will validate this theory. ​

Examples of diverse opinions (e.g. in online news or non-mainstream print newspapers) would argue against this theory, as would examples of newspapers sacrificing profit for the sake of quality and creativity (e.g. the Guardian refusing to put up a paywall but instead calling for supporters to fund quality journalism).

HOW IS THE THEORY USEFUL FOR NEWS?

• Studying newspapers as an industry draws attention to forms and effects of ownership and control, journalists’ working practices, and issues of risk and profitability. ​
• Applies to the narrow range of political opinions expressed by British national newspapers, with bias to pro-capitalism. ​
• Applies to the long history of press barons owning newspapers for status and power. ​
• For online news, corrects over-optimistic views of the internet as an arena for freedom and unlimited creativity. 

HOW IS THE THEORY LIMITED?

• In prioritising the effects of ownership and control of newspaper content, this theory may not aid in understanding how ideologies, audience choice (see Jenkins and Shirky) or media language conventions can determine media content. 

HESMONDALGH - CULTURAL INDUSTRIES

• Cultural industries have an interest in making profit, without profit they would not survive and their products would not be made. ​​
• Hesmondhalgh focused on RISK. Risk is high so many media producers go for low risk projects such as sequels and re-boots. This could be seen as a commercialisation of culture. ​​
• Example: 10 years ago- the top YouTube videos would have been User Generated Content. Now, it is large music videos created by large companies who dominate the top lists. ​

Cultural industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration – cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk. ​

Risk is particularly high in the cultural industries because of the difficulty in predicting success, high production costs, low reproduction costs and the fact that media products are ‘public goods’ – they are not destroyed on consumption but can be further reproduced. This means that the cultural industries rely on ‘big hits’ to cover the costs of failure. Hence industries rely on repetition through use of stars, genres, franchises, repeatable narratives and so on to sell formats to audiences, then industries and governments try to impose scarcity, especially through copyright laws. ​

The internet has created new powerful IT corporations, and has not transformed cultural production in a liberating and empowering way – digital technology has sped up work, commercialised leisure time, and increased surveillance by government and companies.​

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APPLICATION OF HESMONDALGH

Examples of newspapers relying on predictable audience-pleasing low-risk news – such as royalty, celebrities, lifestyle and mainstream sport content – would count as evidence to support this theory. ​

Patterns of ownership and control that are not vertically integrated in large corporations, e.g. that of the Guardian, would count as evidence against this theory, as would evidence of the online media allowing a diverse range of new voices to be heard.

HOW IS THE THEORY USEFUL FOR NEWS?

• Draws attention to newspapers as an industry- the forms and effects of ownership and control, journalists’ working practices, and issues of risk and profitability. ​
• Applies particularly to the response of newspapers to competition for readers and advertising revenue from the ‘new’ media. ​
• For online news, corrects over-optimistic views of the internet as an arena for freedom and unlimited creativity. 

HOW IS THE THEORY LIMITED?

• In prioritising the effects of ownership and control of newspaper content, this theory may not aid in understanding how ideologies, audience choice (see Jenkins and Shirky) or media language conventions can determine media content. 

WHICH THEORIST WOULD YOU USE...

• ...to explore ownership and media concentration within the news industry and why?​
• ...to explore to prevalence of low quality, sensationalist news and why?​
• ...to explore the impact of the Leveson inquiry and why?​