The news industry (Conglomerate Case Study: News Corp)

The news industry (Conglomerate Case Study: News Corp)

Media Plurality- Ensures that there is a diversity of viewpoints available and consumed across the media. Media Plurality is important as, people are able to see media content which is created by a range of people. This allows news to be unbiased as, consumers can read articles which are written from a different perspective.
Power without responsibility-  In their book James Curran and Jean Seaton argue that the press holds a lot of power, but has little responsibility.
-The concentration of ownership (Oligopolies) can make this worse.

1. Who are news corp?
-News corp is a huge subsidiary company who was owned by Rupert Murdoch. The original company 'News corporation' (a conglomerate) was split into 2 big companies. These companies are called 'News corp' and '21st century fox'. Both companies cater different things to their consumers e.g. '21st century fox is ideally know for entertainment purposes while, 'News corp' owns more newspaper companies, financial news services and wireless media etc. 

2. Who is Rupert Murdoch and why are people scared of him?
-People are scared of Rupert Murdoch as, he was part of a huge phone hacking scandal. Employees of the newspaper companies will phone celebrities and get into their voicemails so they can listen to their messages. The reason why the employees did this is, to write more interesting and intriguing stories about celebrities which other news companies won't be able to find out. Another reason why people are scared of him is his dominance in society. This is because he owns 39% of sky but, he wants to own the entirety of Sky. Numerous people might fear of what he would do to the media as, he is well known for airing controversial stories which made many viewers very angry. An example of this is Bradley as, he said that if Rupert Murdoch owns the rest of Sky he would make the 'company weaker overtime and reduce media plurality' which can be a potential downfall for him.

3. What is media Plurality? And why do we need it?
-Media Plurality is when different types of viewpoints are available across different media platforms. This is helpful for consumers as; some consumers might read a news story online which is very biased and not opened to more than one person’s perspective. This means that, the person will literally believe what is written word and word and not use their initiative to find out the real truth of the story. By having different viewpoints on the same topic, people aren't instantly swayed to think one way instead they can see both sides of the story. I believe media plurality is important as, we don’t have a fixed mindset on one truth instead; we are able to think on what the hidden truth can be. 

4. What does power without responsibility (Curran and Seaton) mean?
-In their book James Curran and Seaton argued that the Press holds a lot of power, but has little responsibility. Power without responsibility mainly addresses the British media as whatever content the British media publish, it won’t make them face any consequences. This is because, these media sources are not owned by the government and millionaires. This means that, they are simply allowed to push any stories they want to unless any strict restrictions are put into place. Although this doesn't apply to newspapers and for online stories, they can still publish any content they want to but, they still have to abide by some laws to avoid being slanderous.