| Theme | Newsbeat | War of the Worlds |
| Ownership | – Owned by BBC -First Director General: Lord Reith -Multi-media/cross media -Not a monopoly – Left wing libertarian views Concentration of ownership- small number of firms own radio or tv – Paternalist approach – owned by public- Tv license | (private company, cross-media conglomerate, an example of concentration of ownership i.e. just a few companies own everything – oligopoly/cartel) |
| Habermas | ||
| Chomsky | ||
| Regulation | – Government is at an ‘arms length’ from the media, they don’t control it but advise and ‘look after’ the content, public. | |
| Audience (active/passive) | ||
| Lazerfeld | ||
| Hall | ||
| New technology | ||
| Cross Media Convergance | ||
| Curran | -Theory of Liberal free press | some general ideas: 1. concerns about the commercial interest of big companies (prioritising profits over social concerns) 2. concentration of ownership – although not monopolies, the small number of big companies is not good for 3. competition 4. Diverse range of voices (plurality) 5. audience choices |
| Seaton | –Commercial broadcasting is based on the sale of audiences to advertisers” – Commercial broadcasters (such as ITV) need to secure long term advertising revenue to survive programming. – No adverts when watching BBC – need for an active audience. – money wins (profit-driven) – accountability –who looks after the BBC: Annan Report 1980 “on balance the chain of accountability is adequate” -independence – ie keeping free from state control “without a commitment to public service, broadcasters are increasingly vulnerable to political interference” | -Seaton talks about rise and inevitable need for competition with new technologies – which provides choice -Provides more entertainment for wider audiences -WoW targets mainstream entertainment seeking audiences maybe linking to popular culture? the allusion of Choice – “Choice, without positive direction is a myth, all too often the market will deliver more -but only more of the same” |
