Thursday, January 18, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Journalism Convergence
Ownership convergence, which is one type of journalism convergence, started gaining its popularity in recent 10 years. It generally means one big corporation owns several means of media at the same time, such as television stations, radio stations, newspapers, websites, and other media channels. One of the main reasons ownership convergence appears is the merit of economies of scale, and News Corporation and the Hearst Corporation are examples of such convergence.
Ownership convergence enjoys economies of scales because it helps big corporations to minimize their expenses while enables them to gain larger share of audience. For example, the Hearst Corporation spreads itself in different means of media. It owns newspapers such as Seattle Post-Intelligence and San Francsico Chronicle, magazines such as Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping, and cable networks like A&E Television Networks and Cosmopolitan TV.
The situation is similar in News Corporation's case. This corporation owns television channels like FOX Broadcasting Company and STAR, cable networks like FOX Movie Channel and FOX Reality, newspaper like New York Post, book publishers like the HarperCollins Publishers and magazines like the Weekly Standard and the TV Guide.
Both the News Corporation and The Hearst Corporation spread their branches into different means of media, and by doing so, they can practice the economies of scale effectively. For example, they can share resources, such as offices, reporters and accountants, among members of their branches and able to gain customers in different fields. In addition, corporations can save much money by advertising their products in the channels or magazines of their own branches in a cheaper price.
However, despite the economies of scale provided by ownership convergence to the corporations, this kind of management leads to many controversies, and one of these is the fear of a few individuals or corporations control most of the media. Many are afraid these media owners will try to preserve their satisfied status quos or to make more profits by filtering out unfavorable news and presenting only the good sides of the corporations to the public.
Another critic to ownership convergence is big corporations will make the small media companies difficult to survive, and thus the public can hear fewer voices. Economies of scale enable big corporations to earn more, but at the same time, small companies who cannot enjoy this benefit find it more and more difficult to compete with the big ones. These small companies will either close or, and purchased by the big ones, and finally, the public can only hear the big corporations' voices, which results in getting less information and choices.
Ownership convergence is an unavoidable condition in the future; big corporations want to make more money through it and in most time success. They will even make more especially after internet gains its popularity internatioanlly because in this way, they will not be limited to the United States and are able to reach almost everyone around the world through their media channels. However, the problem of such convergence is it is easy for the big corporations to cover the unwanted information, leading the public having less and less choices.
Ownership convergence enjoys economies of scales because it helps big corporations to minimize their expenses while enables them to gain larger share of audience. For example, the Hearst Corporation spreads itself in different means of media. It owns newspapers such as Seattle Post-Intelligence and San Francsico Chronicle, magazines such as Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping, and cable networks like A&E Television Networks and Cosmopolitan TV.
The situation is similar in News Corporation's case. This corporation owns television channels like FOX Broadcasting Company and STAR, cable networks like FOX Movie Channel and FOX Reality, newspaper like New York Post, book publishers like the HarperCollins Publishers and magazines like the Weekly Standard and the TV Guide.
Both the News Corporation and The Hearst Corporation spread their branches into different means of media, and by doing so, they can practice the economies of scale effectively. For example, they can share resources, such as offices, reporters and accountants, among members of their branches and able to gain customers in different fields. In addition, corporations can save much money by advertising their products in the channels or magazines of their own branches in a cheaper price.
However, despite the economies of scale provided by ownership convergence to the corporations, this kind of management leads to many controversies, and one of these is the fear of a few individuals or corporations control most of the media. Many are afraid these media owners will try to preserve their satisfied status quos or to make more profits by filtering out unfavorable news and presenting only the good sides of the corporations to the public.
Another critic to ownership convergence is big corporations will make the small media companies difficult to survive, and thus the public can hear fewer voices. Economies of scale enable big corporations to earn more, but at the same time, small companies who cannot enjoy this benefit find it more and more difficult to compete with the big ones. These small companies will either close or, and purchased by the big ones, and finally, the public can only hear the big corporations' voices, which results in getting less information and choices.
Ownership convergence is an unavoidable condition in the future; big corporations want to make more money through it and in most time success. They will even make more especially after internet gains its popularity internatioanlly because in this way, they will not be limited to the United States and are able to reach almost everyone around the world through their media channels. However, the problem of such convergence is it is easy for the big corporations to cover the unwanted information, leading the public having less and less choices.
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