Page 118 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Conglomerat on and Med a Monopol es |

1989; Schiller, Herbert. Communication and Cultural Domination. White Plains, NY:
International Arts and Science Press, 1976; Schiller, Herbert. Living in the Number One
Country. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2000; Thussu, Daya Kishan. International Com-
munication: Continuity and Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Victor W. Pickard

CongloMeration and Media MonoPolies

Conglomeration poses a range of issues for citizens and consumers. Does the
presence of prominent news outlets in multinational conglomerates influence
the coverage of contentious social and political issues? What effect does indus-
try concentration have on media content—motion pictures, television programs,
music, and so on? Does the loss of diversity in ownership result in the replica-
tion of money-making formulas that promote a corporate ethos at the expense of
original ideas? Overall, does consolidation make it impossible or at least improb-
able for independent voices and viewpoints to reach citizens and consumers?
These are just a few of the questions that surround the ownership controversy.
The focal point in the battle over media conglomeration is the concentration
of prominent news and entertainment firms in a handful of corporations. Free
market advocates argue that centralized ownership is necessary if companies are
to remain profitable. They point to the explosion in the number of programming
outlets, arguing that consolidation has not restricted the variety of media con-
tent. But opponents contend that conglomeration eliminates alternative view-
points and empowers corporate media to promote dominant ideas and frame
public discussion and debate.

DEFining CongLomEraTion

Conglomeration is the process through which distinct companies come under
common ownership within a single corporation. There are two different models
of conglomeration, and prominent media firms fall within each of them. The
traditional definition of conglomeration involves the grouping of wide-ranging,
unrelated businesses from various industrial sectors. This model involves unre-
lated diversification, which is the expansion into industries that are not related
to the core business of a conglomerate. The General Electric acquisition of NBC
in 1986 is a classic example of that type. A second model of conglomeration
builds through related diversification, which involves the acquisition of firms
that are connected to the core business in critical areas. The evolution of Viacom
is an example of that form. Cable television was its core business in the 1980s,
with ownership of MTV, Nickelodeon, and Showtime, before it expanded into
motion pictures and broadcast television with the acquisitions of Paramount
Pictures in 1994 and CBS in 2000.

monoPoLiEs
Conglomeration is one factor that leads to concentration, and ultimate con-
solidation results in monopolies. That structure exists when there is just a single