Understanding the structure and ownership of the media sector

Who are the big companies?

LIN Media Corporate

Governance, Editor
Deputy Editor - ENDS Europe
SEO Manager, The Sun
Civil Service World
Mondiale Publishing
Vertical integration?The production company has the ownership of the means of production, as
they gather all the profit, the have to know all distributions of every film,
and article that one company make. Using all members of the supply chain
produces a different product or service. Which means there is less chance
of having a hold-up problem. It is also the growth of media production and
business enterprise used for the economic system in countries. But it does
also have its down falls, it has a rigid organizational structure. Examples of
this would be apple, and Telecommunications & computing. Apple is an
example of this because it sells on a variety of different products such as
iphone, mac, the watch, which expands the chances of them getting a
high profit, and reaching a higher target market.
Horizontal integrationThis is when the company expands themselves into different areas of that
one industry, this means the company can develop themselves and would
more likely get a higher profit from having knowledge in other fields. A
company can own a Magazine, Radio station, Newspaper, Television
service and Books, helping to create more funds within the business, and
makes the company more popular amongst viewers, and also be able to
reach a wider audience. Benefits of this is that it provides a strengthened
presence in the reference market. Studios seek content that can move
fluidly across media channels. Example is BBC, dragons den, Sky, The sun
and the Sunday times. BBC would be an example of this as there are
many different genres of television starred by one company, this gets
them more ratings from the amount of people watching it, and increases
profit.
ConglomerateMedia group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of
companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing,
movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates exist in Europe and Asia,
as well as Latin America. It is said as a quote strive for policies that

facilitate their control of the markets around the world.

MultinationalHaving operations, subsidiaries, or investments in more than two

countries. Something that shows information from both countries and has
a link between them. It could be a large business company, or a small
corporation that wants to expand themselves.

Research piece for my chosen sector- Multimedia journalism

Private ownershipPrivate ownership has the merit of giving the media the opportunity or freedom
to criticize the ills noticed in the government unlike the ones owned by the
government. This would make it very difficult for employment or atleast a mass
of employment. Privately owned newspapers include The Gannett Company
which ones over 100 daily newspapers and on top of that having 20 television

stations, this is a corporate conglomerate. There is actually a News and Media

production called independent which holds enjoyment from 22 countries, with
200 print titles, over 100 commercial websites and radio stations, adding a lot of
billboard locations.
MultinationalsAn organization that owns or controls production of goods or services in one or
more countries other than their home country. In Centreline-design, the research
found is sourced from China, which is then sent to the UK. This is also a way of
selling products over from different countries and selling them on the UK sites or
newspaper.
IndependentsIndependent media refers to any form of media, such as radio, television,
newspapers or the Internet, that is free of influence by government. An example
of this would be the maidenhead advertiser, this is just one of the common
newspapers that are located around the Berkshire area, including Twyford,
Burnham, Slough, and Windsor Eton. This would only exploit information and
news from the local area, and who ever would read this would know the location
they are reading about well rather than having the bigger news of the country, or
the world. This is commonly sourced by the government.
ConglomeratesMedia institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in in a
variety of Medias such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.
An example of this would be news corp which is the 5 th biggest conglomerates
in the world. Having a share in Century fox, having a high cable news network in
America, but also owning the gold standard of journalism with Wall Street journal,
( Biggest paper in America) while also owning The Times of London. Giving out
news and stories every 24 hours, it has a very, very high earning rate.
Cross- mediaMarketing, and promoting companies commit to traditional advertising to
appeals their products more to the public, this could be letters, billboards, emails, web pages etc. An example of this would be WWW which started to use
different types of services and media techniques to get their news across to their
viewers. Mainly based on the internet to be able to hit a larger target market and
make people read their stories. Because of the changes in the technology sector,
this could be seen as easy as its better access to the public, and would see the
advertisement more; while also publishing a hard copy for those that enjoy that
form of media more.
Vertical and horizontal integrationHorizontal holders include Fox Business, or Fox News. This owns 14 cable
channels, striving to grab the attention of a very high amount of viewers. This is
done by reporting the global financial situations and economic status. Vertical
integration is a strategy that expands the production and distribution roles of a
company in the supply chain of a particular industry. VB is an example of this.
This is because it offers more than just world news, and strives to get all different

age groups involved in the company, meaning that there is a lot of different
types of stories involved.
Share of ownershipThis is where a variety of different people have their opinion and choices in the
type of media, and reinforces the business to be the best they can. It is also the
investment of the different mass-media properties in just one market. A lot of
time and money is spent in these type of sectors. In newspapers one person
would have less than 20 per cent share national circulations. This is to protect
diversity at a regional level. This means that each group gets the freedom for
opportunities within the company.
Mergers and takeoversThey are separate firms joining together into a single grouping. This could be
filming productions coming together, or a newspaper joining stories and names,
so that the same information is still put across but, more of it and from a
different point of view. A bigger investment really. An example of this would New
York World Journal Tribune originally this was published as New York Journal
American, but joined with the telegram, sun, and New York Herald Tribune to try
get away from the chances of closing down. The merged resulted in a 140 strike
from the employees and delayed the newspaper going out during the summer
months, this is an example because it is two companies coming together to gain
more revenue and benefit from each other for the same outcome.
Take overs mean where a business is overrun by another one and at a price, has
a new leader of it. An example of this is Birmingham mail taking over Local
World This is described as the biggest regional newspaper, and brought out
220 million for the value of Local World. It means that thew two organisations
together can bring the combination of regional and national brands to the public.
This is an example of a take over as they werent originally together but, can get
a bigger income because so.
Cross-media regulationThis is defined as ownership within multiple media businesses by one person, or
a corporation. These businesses can include broadcast and cable television, film,
radio, newspaper, magazines, and book publishing. An example of this would be
Murdochs New Corporation owning 20% of ITV. This is to advance the use of
news market share, and getting a bigger investment so that the business doesnt
shut down. This would be an example because it is two different operations
coming together to help each other
Sources of incomeThis is where publications have to find the money to source their stories out, and
make them public. Without this, the business wouldnt have any money to
provide staff, resources, and publishing ability. More than 60% of news revenue is
given from advertising, which is around 60 billion. For newspapers the total
revenue tied to journalism is from television, this is from the broadcasting of
local shows involving worldwide, and local affairs.

This is how advertisement is sold

within newspaper companies.
Product diversityProduct diversity is the organization going into different and new markets
to sell a product of a service. This could be to increase the market power,
from the expectations of powerful stakeholders, or the response to
environmental changes. A project for journalist of product diversity is
MagNet. This helps people sell different types of products, and gives them
a fair chance of getting published for the different stories they have to
give.

Profitability of product rangeThis is defined when the company work out the amount of money they
are able to access from the different products sold, and the difference
between the revenues gathered, minus from the total cost. An example of
this would be The Daily Mail and General Trust by targets from the
MailOnline, seeking investors from the daily mail newspaper online, which
could be accessed from a range of target audiences.
Organisational objectivesA company objective is a goal or outcome they would like to achieve by a
set time frame. This could be for them to achieve a sales, add revenue or
other measurable aspirations of the company. Within journalism, their
objectives can range from factuality, fairness, and any of the global issues
to get their message across. Within any newspaper they need accurate
and responsible objectives to make it through their business.
License and franchises-

Depending on the country you are from, it will change the law on
whether you need a license to be within journalism. But within the UK it is
not needed. It is advisable that all journalists join the NJ union for
solidarity, mutual benefit, protection and fast-track accreditation for
various local government parliaments, courts, conference etc. Franchises
are based within different sectors, there is CityDirect franchise, which
focused on bringing together local buyers and local sellers. Another
example would be the Easychair Media Franchise making it accessible for
expanding publishing network. The reason for franchises is to expand the
profits within the business, and make them have a security safety net to
fall back on from people that have an interest within the business.
CompetitorsAn organization or country that is engaged in commercial or economic
competition with others. The would be an example of The Sun, against The
Guardian. This is because theyre both trying to get the most audience
ratings as possible, and make the most money from that. If there was a
story, both companies would want to jump on that to get the best story
possible, but if the other newspaper got it, which would create tension
between each other, and could possible mean the other business misses
out on profit.

CustomersThe people that are interested in the newspaper, and regularly buys them,
adding to their revenue. This is the audience themselves, and why the
business is created to get the message across to them.
National and Global competition and trendsCompeting organization that serve international customers, having the
ability to have global customers by improved communication, improved
finical authorities. National competition would be things such as the
Guardian and the daily mail competing with each other, whereas globally
would be the example of the Guardian having a business based in the UK,
America, and Australia. This is to have a different voice type and get a
bigger audience type rather than just from the UK. This means also that
people from the UK, will have an easy access to find out news from the US,
and find out things that are happening national there. This gives the
Guardian more cultural and would appeal to a bigger range of people. The
daily Mail also do this by having a large relent apron the Americans for
their information/gossip. The mail online is very different to the printed
copy, it has a bigger range of stories to grab the attention of different age
groups, such as The Kardashians, Models falling out clothless from a club,
embarrassing celebrities in which would make the younger generation
more involved with the newspaper, and make them have a higher viewing
rate because technology is the future.