Media

The Concentration of Power

The documentary below examines the concentration of media ownership in the US. After watching it, refer students back to the notes they made on media consumption in the earlier lesson referred to above. Students should find out about the ownership of each media outlet that they engage with in a typical day. Class discussions should then centre around the extent to which UK media is similar or otherwise to the US.

The increased ownership of various media outlets or forms is often referred to as the ‘convergence’ of media ownership. Take for example how Disney now owns Star Wars and Marvel. Here is just one example of how a capitalist media corporation owns and controls several media forms. Or get students to research and consider just how many media outlets and forms are owned and controlled by Sony or News Corps?

A great resource on media ownership can be found on this page (useful to copy on A3 for display in the classroom too):

Discover More Media_ownership1.pdf

and here

Discover More Media_ownership2.pdf

This section of the Channel 4 website has some useful independent learning reading and activities related to power and control within the media:

Discover More Who rules: Ownership and control

Students can read through the material provided before considering the ‘big question’ at the bottom of the page. Does the Internet mean that newspapers will eventually become extinct? They can then play the ‘Spin Doctor’ game (bottom right hand corner).