the salzburg academy on media and global change
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The Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. Program Overview. 3-week-long summer session for rising undergraduate students and for graduate students still in course work 2010: 25 July - 14 August 50 students from 10+ Countries - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change
Program Overview• 3-week-long summer session for rising undergraduate students
and for graduate students still in course work
• 2010: 25 July - 14 August
• 50 students from 10+ Countries
• Students will attend classes, eat and live in residence at the Salzburg Seminar, in Salzburg, Austria
• 2 for-credit, upper (400/700) level courses: “Global Media Literacy” and “Global Change, Global Cooperation, Global News.”
In & Around the Schloss
ACCESS
• Can anyone “own” information?
• Who has access to this information?
• What are the barriers to entry?
• What are the implications of media concentration?
• How has the Internet changed ownership?
• From the Digital Divide to the Participation Gap
Regulators vs. De-Regulators
&
MR. MEDIA
you
FOUNDATIONS OF THE EXPLORATION
• Who are the big Media Companies, and what are the implications of their growth?
• Do we (citizens) really have a voice? If so, what does it sound like?
Who is Mr. Media?
Can you name the 6 media conglomerates that own and operate over 75% of the mass media messages you see today?
World’s Largest Media companies (total revenue in 2008)
Company Revenue (in Billions)
• General Electric $183*• Walt Disney Co. $37.8• News Corporation $33• Time Warner $29.8• Viacom $14.6• CBS $14
* approx. 25 USbillion revenue from media ventures
Table 1: World’s Largest Media Companies
Source: FreePress Ownership Chart: http://www.freepress.net/resources/ownership
How Do they Grow?
• 1996 Congress passes Telecommunications Act.
• FCC continues to ease ownership regulations.
1. Merge & Acquire
Merger Media
Approximate number of daily newspapers in North America
1800
Approximate number of magazines in North America
11,000
Approximate number of radio stations in North America
11,000
Approximate number of television stations in North America
2,000
Approximate number of book publishers in North America
3,000
Number of companies owning a controlling interest in the media listed above in 1984
50
Number of companies owning a controlling interest in the media listed above in 1987
26
Number of companies owning a controlling interest in the media listed above in 1996
10
Number of companies owning a controlling interest in the media listed above in 2002
6
2. Synergy & Branding
Synergy
Definition: refers to the dynamic in which components of a company work together to produce benefits that would be impossible for a single, separately operated unit of the company
Branding
If a brand is associated with a quality or image that a consumer likes, the consumer tends to choose the branded version of a traditional product or to try a new product from the same brand
Branding
• Spin offs: ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Classic
• Publication: ESPN, the magazine
•Web site: espn.com
•Retail outlet: ESPN, the Store
•Sport-themed restaurant: The ESPN Zone
Owned by…
3. Globalization: Growth/Expansion Globally
One product, that is adapted to be viewed in the following countries: …
GlobalizationIndia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Japan, Brunei, South Korea,
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Papa New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, UK, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Greece, Israel, Romania, 30 territories including: Russia, Middle East, Egypt, Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova.
And…Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Bolivia, Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, United States (select Hispanic markets) Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Russia, many countries in Africa…and on and on and on: totaling MTV being tailored for viewing in:
164 Countries!
Cultural imperialism
4. DEREGULATION Markets and the General Electric
Conundrum…
World’s Largest Media companies (total revenue in 2005)
Company Revenue (in Billions)
1. General Electric $157.2*2. Time Warner $43.73. Walt Disney Co. $31.94. News Corporation $23.95. Bertelsmann $22.26. CBS $14.57. Viacom $9.8
* 14.7 USbillion revenue from media ventures
Table 1: World’s Largest Media Companies
Source: FreePress Ownership Chart: http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart.php
And they also own
Military Production: Manufactures and maintains engines for the F-16 Fighter jet, Abrams tank, Apache helicopter, U2 Bomber, Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), A-10 aircraft, and numerous military equipment including planes, helicopters, tanks, and more.
GE COMMERCIAL FINANCE GE HEALTHCARE GE ADVANCED MATERIALS GE INFRASTRUCTURE
GE CONSUMER & INDUSTRIAL GE INSURANCE
GE MONEY GE TRANSPORTATIONGE ENERGY
What are the ethical implications of GE’s portfolio of companies?
• Is there autonomy across their sectors of business?
• Can they maintain neutrality with their portfolio?
• How do their holdings help & harm them produce information?
Markets (De-Regulators) vs. the Public Sphere (Regulators)
A comparison of models
The Market Model (deregulators)
“society’s needs can best be met through a relatively unregulated process of exchange based on the dynamics of supply and demand. This model treats the media like all other goods and services” (15).
The Public Sphere (regulators)
“media are more than simply profit-making components of large conglomerates. Instead, they are our primary information sources and storytellers” (20).
Are the media different than Other Industries?
“Profit seeking and public service are not either/or propositions. Instead, the civic responsibilities of media have historically been met within the framework of commercial business…[in the 80s] that delicate balance shifted even further in favor of pursuing greater profits over concern of public service” (31).
What is the Public Interest?
Market – Whatever the public is interested in
Sphere – Media responsibility to….
a. Promote diversity (Avoid homogenity)
b. Provide Substance (w/out Elitism)
“The media’s role in facilitating democracy and encouraging citizenship has always been in tension with its status as a profit making industry…” (38)
Which side do you fall on?
Are these part of Mr. Media, or part of you?
2006 Most Visited Site, USA
2007 Most Visited Sites, US
1. Yahoo.com - Yahoo! Inc.2. Google.com - Google Inc.3. Myspace.com - News Corp.4. MSN.com - Microsoft Corporation5. ebay.com - eBay Inc.6. YouTube.com - Google Inc.7. Facebook.com - Facebook8. wikipedia.org - Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc.9. craiglist.org - craigslist, inc.10. live.com - Microsoft Corporation
11Amazon.com - Amazon.com, Inc.12. Blogger.com - Google Inc.13. Go.com - The Walt Disney Co.14. AOL.com - Time Warner15. microsoft.com – Microsoft Co.16. CNN.com - Time Warner17. Comcast.net - Comcast Co.18. IMDb.com - Amazon.com, Inc.19. Flickr.com - Yahoo! Inc.20. Photobucket.com - Photobucket, Inc.
http://www.freepress.net/content/top20websites alexa, 2007
2009 Most Visited Sites, US1. Google (6.79%)2. Facebook (4.99%)3. Yahoo! Mail (4.26%)4. MySpace (3.06%)5. Yahoo! (2.82%)6. YouTube (1.76%)7. Windows Live Mail (1.66%)8. MSN (1.53%)9. Yahoo! Search (1.43%)10. eBay (1.10%)11. Gmail (0.92%)12. Bing (0.73%)13. AOL Mail (0.57%)14. AOL (0.55%)15. Google Image Search (0.47%)16. My Yahoo! (0.44%)17. Wikipedia (0.43%)18. Amazon.com (0.39%)19. Yahoo! News (0.38%)20. Craig's List (0.36%)
http://www.businessreviewonline.com/internet-weblog/archives/2009/08/top_20_websites.html
Most Visted Sites, Globe
Internet is shifting our fundamental Access to Information
“You” as information gatherers
http://video.winzy.com/play/1042416194030http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1114772555
Kevin Sites in Yahoo’s Hot Zonehttp://hotzone.yahoo.com/
How are the major News Outlets using this phenomenon?
• CNN – IReports– http://www.cnn.com/exchange/
• Yahoo – YouWitness News – http://news.yahoo.com/you-witness-news
• MSNBC – Citizen Journalism Report– http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6639760/
• Neighborhood America – http://www.neighborhoodamerica.com/
You as expressive….
“I think that understanding that there might not be any difference between what people are doing online and offline is something really important”
(M. Zuckerberg, 2006)
Facebook facts
• Originated on February 4, 2004• Originator: Mark Zuckerberg• Microsoft owns 1.6% of Facebook (240m)• Estimated Total Worth – 15 Billion• More than 57 million active users • Sixth-most trafficked site in the United
States (comScore) • More than 65 billion page views per month • More than half of active users return daily
Changing Communication
“Facebook members invariably cite its usefulness for keeping up with friends, but clearly one of the reasons that the site is so popular is that it enables users to forgo the exertion that real relationships entail.” (Me Media, 2006)
Zuckerberg on Facebook
What does facebook change about how we think of:
• Access and Trust• Privacy• Expression of real selves• New forms of social interaction
You as Movers…
“When Social Media Become movers”
“The collapse of transaction costs makes it easier for people to get together—so much easier, in fact, that it is changing the world” (48)
Shifts in Access
“We now have communication tools that are flexible enough to match our social capabilities, and we are witnessing the rise of new ways of coordinating action that take advantage of that change” (20).
Shifting Information Flow
1. Sharing
2. Cooperation (Production)
3. Action (Collective)
“Ridiculously easy group-forming matters because the desire to be part of a group that shares, cooperates, or acts in concert is a basic human instinct that has always been constrained by transaction costs” (54).
New media and new Access are not always strengthening diversity and choice…
How do/should/will corporations respond to trends in new media?
How does new media shift the access we have to information? – For better or for worse?