Page 187 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

P1: JZZ
0521828317c07.xml CY425/Esser 0521828317 May 26, 2004 15:56

Local Political Communication

daily newspapers (Tzankoff 2001, 85). When the WAZ group bought the
Media Holding AG in 1997, it owned 80 percent of the Bulgarian daily
10
paper market (Tzankoff 2001, 85). In the Czech Republic as well, the
local print media market is dominated by German publishing houses
(Lambrecht and Schroeter 2001, 174). Papers that under the communist
regime were published by the local authorities were converted into re-
gional dailies with diversified local sections (Lambrecht and Schroeter
2001, 177). In Hungary, the German Axel Springer media company has
amonopoly on dailies in nine of the nineteen regions and publishes
them with diversified local inserts, thus forming what some critics term
grand “regional power centers” (Bajomi-L´ az´ ar 2001, 195). At present,
we still lack empirical studies as to how these ownership transferals have
influenced profiles, news content, and working conditions of these local
papers.
Economic concentration processes, however, do not only take place
between formerly independent print media, but also take the shape of
cooperation and mergers between different media in local publics. Pub-
lishing houses attempt to diversify and at the same time consolidate their
operations by investing not just in the print media market, but also buy-
ing local radio and television stations. The underlying intention is to
foster cost-effective cooperation and promote synergies in the daily op-
erative business. At present, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in the United States is about to abandon a provision that had been
established in 1975, banning cross-ownership of television and print
media outlets in the United States. Increasing multimedia concentration
will produce radically different working conditions for journalists. The
idealmediaworkforceofthe future ismadeupof“allrounders”who have
knowledge and experience in all stages of media-related production pro-
cesses and are flexible enough to be put onto any job, be it investigation,
writing,presentation,andtechnicalproduction.Theimaginedjournalist
is able to develop, write, and present stories for the print media as well as
radio and TV (Franklin and Murphy 1998, 17). But even without further
mergers the homogenization of local news content is in full swing: Radio
and television in particular have drastically decreased resources to de-
velop their own news stories, and compensate by buying or simply repro-
ducingnewsstoriesfromthepress.InGreatBritain,theBroadcastingAct
of1990statesitbluntly:“Thereisnorequirementfor(independent)local

10
After intervention of the Bulgarian government the WAZ group agreed to sell
40 percent of its shares in the Media Holding AG to Austrian and Swiss investors.

167