Conative function of communication
gies built around “synergies” which exploit the
overlaps between the company’s diff erent media
interests.’ (See also Curran, ed., Media and Soci-
ety, 5th edition, Bloomsbury Academic, 2010).
A communications conglomerate is an
amalgam of corporations such as Sony, Disney,
Time Warner, Bertelsmann and News Corpora-
tion (see news corp) which operate mainly or
wholly with communications or leisure interests
and function globally. Signifi cant sectors of the
communications industry are part of general
conglomerates whose main business concerns
are outside the communications fi eld.
Th e mass media can be seen as related to the
industrial system in two ways: fi rst, they are part
of it as large-scale buyers and sellers and makers
of profi t; second, they are preachers of its (indus-
try’s) messages (see media imperialism).
Th e concentration of ownership, the increased
potential for power which it facilitates, and the
interrelationship between the communications
industry and other industrial and commercial
interests constitute important areas of current
media research; in particular the focus of
attention is on the role of conglomerates in the
world of the internet. Considering that in the
UK alone Net advertising has been estimated
(in 2010) to be worth in excess of 100 billion,
corporate ownership and control is a hot issue
of the day.
What big business is uneasy about is the Net
allowing free use of online content, a worry
which in 2010 decided Rupert Murdoch’s News
International to introduce charges for the online
services of its fl agship newspaper, Th e Times. See
agenda-setting; berlusconi phenomenon;
blogosphere; communications act (uk),
2003; globalization (and the media);
global media system: the main players;
mobilization; murdoch effect; network
neutrality; world trade organization
(wto) telecommunications agreement,- See also topic guide under media:
ownership & control.
▶Tim Wu, Th e Master Switch: Th e Rise and Fall of
Information Empires (Knopf/Atlantic, 2010).
Connotation Roland Barthes’ second order of
signification in the transmission of messages.
Th e second order comprises connotation and
myth. Denotation, the fi rst order of signifi cation,
is simply a process of identifi cation. Th e word
‘green’ represents a colour; but green, at a higher
level, can connote the countryside, permission
to go ahead, the Irish, etc. Connotation is the act
of adding information, insight, angle, coloura-
tion, value – meaning, in fact, to denotation.
providers such as google, amazon, yahoo!
and microsoft. Works by customers renting
usage from a third-party provider. Th e system
attracts in particular small and medium business
enterprises (SMEs) which on their own might be
unable or reluctant to invest in capital expendi-
ture in traditional IT. Users are billed, or charged
through subscription, only for what they use.
Conative function of communication See
jakobson’s model of communication, 1958.
Concurrence-seeking tendency See groups,
groupthink
Confederates See slider.
Confirmation/disconfirmation Through
communication with others we gain feedback
on our self-concept. Several authors, among
them Gail and Michele Myers in Th e Dynamics
of Human Communication (McGraw-Hill, 1985),
use the terms confi rmation and disconfi rmation
to describe the kind of messages about yourself
and your view of the world you may receive in
feedback. Confi rming responses tend to confi rm
or validate the view of yourself you have put
forward and/or the views you have expressed in
conversation. Examples of confi rming responses
include direct acknowledgment of your message,
agreement with the content of your message and
expression of positive feelings about you.
Disconfirming responses are likely to leave
you feeling confused, dissatisfied, and maybe
undermined. Th ey are not clear expressions of
either approval or rejection; they are ambiguous.
Such responses include the impervious response
when the receiver gives no acknowledgment of
your message; the interrupting response when
the receiver does not let you fi nish your message;
and the incongruous response when the receiver’s
non-verbal response is clearly contrary to the
verbal response he/she is making; for example,
when a fi xed smile accompanies words of praise.
Conglomerates: media conglomerates Th e
increasing cost of entering the media market has,
in part, fostered a concentration of ownership
in the various sectors of the communications
industry. Peter Golding and Graham Murdock
in an article entitled ‘Culture, communications
and political economy’ in Mass Media and
Society (Arnold, 1996), edited by James Curran
and Michael Gurevitch, write, ‘The rise of
communications conglomerates adds a new
element to the old debate about the potential
abuses of owner power. It is no longer a simple
case of proprietors intervening in editorial deci-
sions or fi ring key personnel who fall foul of their
political philosophies. Cultural production is
also strongly infl uenced by commercial strate-