Public V Private
Broadcasting
There are two types of broadcast media, media funded by the national public and
media funded by big business and investors; I will use the BBC and Sky as both
public and private examples…
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
In the United Kingdom, the British Broadcasting Corporation supports
multiculturalism and serves to everyone’s best interests with different radio
stations and television programmes for all ethnicities and cultures. This
has contributed to the corporation’s notoriety, the BBC are praised
internationally for its services. The BBC employ roughly around
23,000 people, it also has a subsidiary BBC Worldwide, which has turned over
successfully. The subsidiary reached a net profit of £160.2m in the year to 31st March
2011. These BBC funded worldwide domestic networks operate in
various parts of the world, sealing their recognition as a longstanding,
democratic source for imparting information:
· BBC
America
· BBC
Canada
· BBC
Entertainment
· BBC
Lifestyle
· UKTV
in New Zealand and Australia
· BBC
Worldwide (contributed £182million from the year 2010/2011 returned from
investment in programming)
There
are many advantages to this form of broadcasting
- The BBC provide a truthful and impartial service their journalists
work in the best interests of the public always acquiring their
information fairly and legally.
- They offer a wide spectrum of broadcast entertainment catering for
people of different cultures with different interests.
- There is also a forum for their audience and it’s not
infrequent for the public to post responses via The BBC’s webpage, or
share opinions through the BBC's broadcast radio stations or post via
Facebook and Twitter.
- The BBC cover everything from your local news, to national news and
world news, always operating inside the journalistic truth.
But with advantages also comes disadvantages… with
the BBC being publically funded in times of austerity and financial crisis, the
institution has made cutbacks in order to fund and produce programming
practically.
In 2010 there was an online networking campaign via Facebook and Twitter in the
duty to fight against the scrapping of BBC Radio 6 which eventually proved
successful the radio station is currently operating and is something of a cult
phenomenon, catering to a more alternative target audience.
It was also reported in the fall of 2011 that the BBC were expecting a
potential 2,000 job cuts by 2017. Overall the expenditure runs as follows TV
broadcasting covers 66% of the BBC’s budget, Radio covering 17% other costs
covering 11% and finally online funding costing 6%. This means that it is
essential for the corporation to monitor its income and expenditure in order
for the machine to keep turning. This would of course mean the BBC would have a
much smaller estate by 2017.
In 2012 the board of directors were planning to cut spending for local radio
stations, the cuts were expected be a total £15m that year and 280 job cuts in
broadcasting for radio at the BBC. Thousands of listeners, authorities and MPs
complained about the cuts claiming these stations played a vital role for the public. It
was also reported in fall 2011 that the BBC is expecting a potential 2,000 job
cuts by 2017. Overall the expenditure runs as follows TV broadcasting covers
66% of the BBC’s budget, Radio covering 17% other costs covering 11% and
finally online funding costing 6%. This means that it is essential for the
corporation to monitor its income and expenditure in order for the success of
its programming and service to the public.
PRIVATE BROADCASTING
Private broadcasting assumes a different agenda to that of public broadcasting,
private broadcasting is driven by profit and a lot of up-to-date market
research on what is chic and most loved for example ‘structured reality
television’ it is integral that viewing figures meet their criteria, if not
advertisers may lose interest and programs are usually scrapped. Rupert
Murdoch's BskyB regulates worldwide media in the UK and Ireland. Rupert Murdoch
(BskyB's creator) is essentially the kingpin of British media. His father was a
regional newspaper magnate, after some shadowing of his father's efforts and
with encouragement to carry on the family business; Murdoch went on to succeed
his father. He bought off the struggling 'Sunday Times' newspaper (in
Australia) and soon after other tabloids in order to improve their services in
order to make their revenue grow. In 1968 Murdoch entered the United Kingdom
with the aim to expand there. He bought the struggling daily broadcast 'The
Sun' from IPC he turned it into a tabloid featuring scantily clad women on
almost every page, important foreign issues often ridiculed and celebrities
uncovered, usually accused of something profane and illegal.
In 1997 The Sun had a reported 10 million readers, making the newspaper
immensely popular. Exercising his belief that profit comes first his aim once
was to force the BBC to cut their licensing fee and charge for its content.
While some people may argue that they could do without their TV Licensing Fee
the BBC regulate well and act impartially cementing their humanitarian values.
In regards to world news you can update and share news interactively in the UK
and overseas via the BBC News home page.
BskyB was logged at a net worth of £11.47 billion on the London Stock Exchange
as of 2011. However Murdoch’s enterprise has since come under legal scrutiny
through the ‘News of the World phone hacking Scandal’ a trial followed and
James Murdoch (Rupert’s son and successor) stepped down as a result. It was
reported that News of the World journalists had been hacking worldwide
recognised celebrities.
Another resurgence of cultural significance this year was the Hillsborough
disaster of 1989 where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death it was estimated
that 41 out of the 96 victims could have been saved if the failings had been
addressed correctly. New inquests were launched in 2009, never before seen
documents were released to the Hillsborough Independent Panel this could lead
to the original verdict of 'accidental death' being overturned in light of new
evidence. The inquest found that police reports were altered and evidence was
manipulated by a number of police officers and constables. The Sun, Murdoch's
tabloid newspaper printed a front page headline 'The Truth' four weeks after
the massacre in April 1989. The tabloid went on to state Liverpool football
fans "viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive
victims" this was of course a slight, Liverpool fans were said to have
stretchered many of the victims to safety and them themselves gave first aid to
many of the injured. Kelvin McKenzie went ahead with the article which also
stated a dead girl was abused during the disaster. Much controversy has
followed as McKenzie was one of Murdoch's closest editorials at The Sun
newspaper during the 1990s.
Kelvin McKenzie later confessed that his BBC Radio 4 apology was a "hollow
apology" forced upon him by Rupert Murdoch. The Sun did release a new
front page edition called "The Real Truth" (published 13/09/12) which
detailed the truth about the disaster the article featured photos of family
victims as the inquest concluded that '41 of those who died could have been
saved if emergency services had not been guilty of a series of tragic
mistakes'.
THE BIG 6
The big six are six conglomerate
organisations that own all of world’s internationally recognized media. In 1983
90% of the media spectrum were regulated by around 50
corporations but since companies have been subsidized and liquidized
or have merged or failed, due to mass consumption and the rise of
media monopolies. As of 2011 the same 90% of companies are ran by
only six media conglomerates. These conglomerates own, air and control the
content consumers are received they control radio, cable television, wireless
and telecommunications, film and print publications worldwide. The majority of
these companies are vertically integrated they will constantly find new ways to
appeal to their target audience to increase their profits and turnover usually favouring
synergy producing a line of products and/or services that are interlaced with
one another, this happens with many mergers. After a takeover takes place both horizontal
and vertical integration maximises a media conglomerates’ profits and
stimulates control over labour, goods and services.
· General
Electric (GE) ($230b)
· NEWSCORP
($5b)
· DISNEY
($31b)
· VIACOM
($5b)
· TIME
WARNER ($13b)
· CBS
($190m-$250m)
GENERAL ELECTRIC
The
multi-national conglomerate General Electric (GE) established in 1890 by Thomas
Alva Edison the inventor of the light bulb it is now the only standing company
from the 12 listed business corporations on Dow Jones's industrial average of
1896. Some of General Electrics subsidiaries are Concast, NBC, Universal
Pictures and Focus Features.
NEWSCORP
Newscorp was founded in 1979 by Rupert Murdoch In terms of revenue Newscorp are
the world's second largest media group as of 2011. This company is controlled
by Rupert Murdoch and some members of his family. Some of the subsidiaries ran
by Newscorp are Fox, Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
DISNEY
The Walt Disney Company, founded in 1926 is
the hallmark of childhood memoriesfor most, but unfortunately Disney's dream
wasn't just making children smile with sublime emotions but was to make money.
In 2004 the company made $5.8bn in retail sales worldwide. Subsidiaries of the
Walt Disney Company are ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Miramax and Marvel Studios.
VIACOM
Viacom
were established in 1971 the company were originally titled CBS Films inc. The
company operate mainly in television some of its subsidiaries are Paramount
Pictures, MTV, Nick Jr, BET and CMT.
TIME WARNER
Time Warner
was founded in 1972 originally entitled in the mid to late 1970's the spin-off
company made alot of money from Atari's gaming industry. As a result the
company expanded over the decades investing in entertainment productions and as
of May 2012 there was a reported profit of $583 million for the yearly quarter.
Subsidiaries of Time Warner include CNN, HBO, Time and Warner Bros.
CBS
CBS were founded
in 1927 as a radio broadcasting station, as the decades passed CBS made a conscious
effort to offer a level of diversity to their programming. Leo Fender sold his
company to CBS in the 1960s due to health issues. The company went on to invest
in musical instruments further and even formed their own record label Columbia
Records. CBS's subsidiaries are Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, NFL.com,
Jeopardy, 60 Minutes.
The
Disadvantages...
The disadvantages of media ownership
are becoming more prevalent and its negative effects on the
industry are often debated by social commentators and intellects across
the globe. Media mergers have become an increasing concern as they become more
concentrated and eradicate competition in the industry. This stabilizes their
state control over what media is shared and consumed with usually bias
interpretation, imposing political, economic and moral beliefs and sometimes
skewed point of views which will affect how their audience react especially in
the news and publishing industry, this will usually accommodate
the interests of those who exist in the financial sector and not general
people.
The
Advantages...
The advantages to media ownership would be access
to pooled resources, connectivity, forging new markets which would stimulate
growth in the economy and create job opportunities.