Global media system: the main players
It would be a mistake to regard these behe-
moths, as they have been described, as so
massive and powerful that they are impervious
to the tide of events. Time Warner’s merger with
AOL (American On Line) proved an ill-starred
marriage, while Murdoch’s News Corp acquisi-
tion of myspace turned out a shaky business
venture (it was sold off at a substantial loss in
2011). Indeed corporate ambition to colonize
online social networking platforms has proved
anything but a reliable, steady-state investment.
See media magnates: four sources of
concern. See also topic guide under media:
ownership & control.
Global scrutiny Describes the vastly increased
visibility of people and events on a global
scale, largely as a result of television. John
B. Th ompson in Th e Media andModernity: A
Social Th eory of the Media (Polity, 1995) speaks
of a ‘regime of visibility created by an increas-
ingly globalized system of communication’; and,
however structured (see framing), this power
to scrutinize represents a ‘signifi cant historical
development. For it means not only that politi-
cal leaders must now act in an arena which is in
principle open to view on a global scale, but also
that recipients are able to see and experience
distant individuals and events in a way that was
simply not possible before’. See mobilization.
Global village See globalization of media;
mcluhanism.
Glocalization According to Roland Robinson in
‘Globalization or glocalization?’ in the Journal
of Communication 1 (1994), glocalization is
a process that, arguably, often accompanies
the process of globalization. Glocalization
occurs when global media corporations adapt or
localise their operations and output to accom-
modate local circumstances and culture. Richard
Rooke in European Media in the Digital Age
(Pearson, 2009), for example, discusses how
pressure to maintain audience share against
growing local competition and thus secure local
advertising revenue led MTV to diversify. He
notes that, ‘Today MTV Networks Europe has
regional channels in 26 diff erent languages and
considerable amounts of content are produced
locally.’ See hybridization; mcdonaldiza-
tion; mcworld vs jihad.
▶Patrick D. Murphy and Marwan M. Kraidy, Global
Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives (Routledge,
2003).
Golden pen of freedom Annual award by the
International Federation of Newspaper Publish-
ers (FIEJ) based in Paris.
Google Conceived by Stanford Universityactivity undermine, if not dismantle altogether,
the welfare state of individual nations. The
authors of Limits to Competition argue that at the
core of the dismantling process is the conviction
that the more labour costs are cut and related
social benefits reduced, the better will be the
country’s competitiveness. As the media are so
substantially a part of the portfolios of TNCs
(transnational corporations), the danger is that
they will either advocate these trends or hold back
from the public responsibility of subjecting them
to critical scrutiny. See network neutrality.
Global media system: the main players Fewer
than fi fteen transnational corporations (TNCs)
dominate world media ownership. Th e ranking
of these is subject to rapid shifts resulting from
mergers, but the current players at the top of the
media tree are: Time Warner, Vivendi, Viacom,
Disney, Sony, Bertelsmann, News Corporation,
Segram (snapped up by Vivendi in 2000), Poly
Gram and General Electric.
Th e giant of giants is Time Warner (owning
Time magazine, Time Life Books, Warner Music
Group, America On Line, Warner Brother
fi lms, HBO cable channel, CNN, etc.). A close
challenger is Disney (ABC, fi lm studios, theme
parks, record production, book publication,
global cable TV channels, etc.). Close busi-
ness links between the media giants is a key
feature of operations, alliances between them
being more common than direct competition.
Rupert Murdoch’s news corp has equity joint
ventures in long-term alliances with Time
Warner, Viacom, EMI, Granada TV and Globo
of Brazil. Disney is involved in joint ventures
with Bertelsmann, NBC and Hearst Newspapers
(not to mention Coca-Cola and McDonalds).
Bertelsmann of Germany has joint enterprises
with (in addition to Disney) Time Warner, Sony,
Pearson publications (UK) and the BBC.
Th e objective of the great media corporations
is expansion worldwide, linked with a policy
of customizing or tailoring the media product
to local needs, tastes and expectations; thus
Disney’s ESPN 24-hour-a-day sports channel
broadcasts in over 20 languages to more than
160 countries (see europe: cross-border tv
channels).
What applies to electronic communication
applies in equal measure to publishing, now
dominated by six major players – the largest,
HarperCollins, being part of the Murdoch
stable, while Random House belongs to Bertels-
mann. Orion belongs to Hachette which in
turn is owned by Lagadere Media linked with
Vivendi.