The leveson Enquiry

Introduction

The Leveson enquiry is a recent public enquiry made to regulate the press. It was introduced due to the 'News Of The world' phone hacking scandal. This scandal raised ethical concerns and 'The News Of The World' due to the repercussions of the incident the newspaper was shut down. In this blog post I will be explaining each of the victims which have been effected as a result of the phone hacking scandal.

Ann Diamond

Ann Diamond is a British radio presenter,t.v presenter and newspaper journalist. She has been has been a victim of many incidents involving the newspapers. She has stated that the media dug up information on here that her family and close friends didn't even know. These were things such as information regarding her mortgage which only Ann Diamond knew. 

As well as this the media have attacked her in various other ways such as the headline in 1981 'Anne Diamond killed my father'. This was published shortly after a fatal car crash she was involved in were the media accused her of being responsible. Although, the most famous scandal between the media and Ann Diamond was the one regarding her pregnancy. When she fell pregnant Ann Diamond wanted to be out of the public eye due to her previous problems with the newspaper. However, at the hospital the doctor with her whilst her birth was actual a journalist impersonating as a doctor. This was so that the so called 'Doctor' could ask her questions for the press during her giving birth. After this her baby son Sebastian died. Once again she didn't want the press involved in her sons funeral. Regardless of this, a freelance photographer appeared at the funeral and photos of the funeral were on the front page the following day. Due to the issues she had with the press she publicised the distress the press put her through by the use of newspapers and documentaries  As a result of the Rupert Murdoch set out a personal vendetta against Ann Diamond. This meant that she was continued to be targeted by the media. She was involved in the leveson enquiry and gave statements against the press.

Heather Mills

Heather mills is a model who was also a victim of this scandal. A journalist mentioned a voice-mail left by her ex-husband Paul McCartney in a tabloid. After being challenged about this the press argued that Mills showed them the voice mail. However this was not the case and it turned out that heather mills  had been hacked by the press. Heather Mills stated that she hadn't shown the voice mails to anyone therefore it was clear what had happened.

Sienna Miller

Sienna Miller was an actor involved in a similar case surrounding the phone hacking scandal. Notes written by a news of the world journalist were found. These notes included personal information about the celebrity  Personal information such as contact number, location and pin number. This was also required through phone hacking. However unlike most of the victims she received compensation. Sienna Miller received £100,000 in damages and a written apology from the newspaper.

Ryan Giggs

Welsh footballer Ryan Giggs was another victim of this scandal. He decided to sue News Of The World on allegations of his phone being hacked. This came about after his previous dispute with the media. This was were the newspaper published information about an affair that he was having with his sister in law. Due to this, he took legal action and ordered a super-injunction. This meant that he could not be reported about in any article. However upon other victims appealing he decided to sue news of the world for alleged phone hacking. He was also given compensation for the incident.

Kate and Jerry McCann

After Kate and Jerry McCann's daughter went missing in 2007, there were many attempts to hack there phone. This was also proven to be done by News Of The World. Due to who the two parents were the case was taken very seriously. In the end the couple won damaged of over £400,000.

Milly Dowlers parents

Milly Dowler was abducted in 2002 and presumed dead. Shortly after this the parents of Milly Dowler released that her voice mail box was empty. Journalist's from news of the world had hacked her phone and deleted voice messages to make room for more. Due to the fact that the voice-mails had been deleted the parent assumed there was a chance she was still alive. However they discovered this was actually down to News Of The World tampering with her phone. The family went to a solicitor and got offered £2 million in damages.

Hugh Grant

British actor Hugh Grant was another victim of the phone hacking scandal. After News Of The World illegally tampered with his voice mail he took action. He did this by starting the group 'Hacked Of'. This was the group opposing 'The free speech network'. The free speech network is a group against the regulation of the press. Both groups played a massive part in the leveson enquiry.

Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church's phone was also hacked by the same newspaper. News Of The World's private investigator had her number and the number's of many of her agents in his notes. She appealed about this a gained £600,000 in damages.

The Enquiry

All of these celebrities (amongst 46 other public figures  appealed during the Leveson Enquiry. This is because they were key people in the enquiry and had to give evidence against the press. The purpose of the enquiry was to try and regulate the press. The concept of regulation came about due to the phone hacking scandal. This is because it began raising questions as to how the press operated. Although, no legal changes were made Lord Leveson did make some reccomendations for the future. He reccomended that the press remain self regulated. This means that the government have no say in what the press publish. However,  he feels that the self regulation should be reworked. This is to try and prevent another incident such as the phone hacking scandal

Ethical issues in media

Introduction

Ethical issues within the media are much harder to judge than legal constraints  This is because there is no specific guidelines as to what is and isn't acceptable in the spectrum of ethical constraints. In this post I will be explaining what ethical issues are and include some examples of productions which have raised ethical concern.

Ethical issues

Rather than legal constraints, ethical issues are based on judgement. They are what society deem as what is marally acceptable. If something is seen as ethically wrong than it is investigated to see if it is breaking any laws such as 'the obscene publications act'. However, if it is not in violation of any of these law than is comes under ethical issues. Tis means that no law has been broken however the public may see is as offensive or controversial. Many ethical concerns are raised by groups of specific people. These groups may find the publication offensive, due to how the minority are represented. Ethical concerns which come into to media production are things such as;

• Protecting under 18's
• Representation of age,Gender,race, disability and religion
• Using off the record information
• The power to influence public opinion
• Interviewing vulnerable people or children
• Intruding on individuals privacy
• Anything that could cause offence or harm

As a producer you would need to be aware of ethical concerns. Although there are no specific guidelines you would still need to be conscious that some material may offend. If you create material that would offend such as a comedy show mocking a minority, you may lose viewing figures. This is because people in the minority being mocked may refuse to watch or read you publications due to it being offensive. This means you must check your material before publishing it so that you are sure it will not offend.

Examples

An example of something within the media which has raised ethical concerns would be the BBC incident 'Sachs Gate'. As I stated in a previous post, this was involving radio presenter's Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand. In short, they called beloved actor Andrew Sachs and verbally abused him. Upon the release of the show two people complained. This caused a domino effect in which eventually resulted in about 38,000 complaints. Although, they didn't break any laws they raised many ethical concerns. This was based on peoples own morale judgement  Mainly, due to the fact it was seen as unnecessary due to the age of the actor. It caused such a stir that the BBC had to take action against this to please the public. As a result of the event both radio presenter got suspended without pay. Many other concerns were raised by this incident. This is because the show was pre-recorded. This means it would have had to go through BBC producer's first. Due to this there is a lot of argument other whose fault it was.

Another example would be a similar incident involving comedian Frankie Boyle. On a show he was featuring in named 'Mock of the week' he made an offensive joke. This joke was made to insult Olympic winner Rebecca Adlington. He stated " The thing nobody really said about Rebecca Adlington is that she looks pretty weird. She looks like someone who's looking at themselves in the back of a spoon". Due to this unnecessary insult it sparked much controversy against the comedian. As a result he was banned from the show 'Mock of the week'

Legal constraints in media

Introduction

In this post i will be explaining all of the laws which need to be watched out for when creating a media product. I will also be  discussing the purpose of them and why they are so important.


The broadcasting act

The broadcasting act was introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the year 1990. The purpose of it was to deregulate television and radio broadcasters. This is because most of the channels on television and radio were run by the BBC. This brought the new channel 'channel 5'. The motives of this act were to encourage more independent production company's rather than companies such as BBC and ITV dominating the t.v market. As a result of the BBC was forced to include at least 25 % of its broadcasts from independent production companies. Another impact was that three independent radio stations were allowed to be formed. The two companies which now regulate broadcasting are 'the independent television committee  and 'Radio authority'. As a producer this means I would have the right to create an independent broadcaster in television or radio. However, I would also need to be aware of the two governing bodies and there regulations. This is because they regulate what is deem appropriate or inappropriate for broadcasting. An example of this law being breached would be an incident with 'XFM'. The radio authority placed a £50,000 fine on the radio station. This was because the show included offensive language and many obscene references. Another example would be a similar incident with 'Hallam FM'. They were also fined £50,000 for obscene broadcasting. This was due to the fact they included call-ins involving references to child abuse.

Copyright

The copyright, Designs and patents act 1988, is the current UK copyright law. It gives the creators of dramatic,musical and artistic works the rights to control the ways in which there material may be used. An example copyright laws in action would be SOPA (Stop Piracy Act). Sopa is a law that recently got passed against piracy on the internet. The file sharing website mega upload got shut down due to accusation's for breaching copyright. The owners of the site were charged $500 million. Another example would be the apple vs. Samsung lawsuit  During this Apple took Samsung to court over allegation of stealing the idea of the 'Ipad'. However they lost the case as the judge stated that 'Very few people would confuse an ipad for a samsung tablet'. If I was working in the media industry I would have to be careful about breaching the copyright law. For instance if I was creating some sort of short film which needed a soundtrack I would need permission to use this. This is because the artists work would most probably be copyright meaning I would need to contact the record company. However, to save money it would be more cost effective to use royalty-free music.

Official Secrets Act

The official secrets act which was put into place in 1911 is to protect fragile government information. Its purpose is to protect the public as they feel that release of secret information could damage national security. An example of this law being breached would be the news of the world's phone hacking scandal. This was back in 2006 when the journalist's of the newspaper hacked over 4000 phones. This was breaching the official secrets act due to the fact that they hacked mp's phones. This sparked so much controversy that the news of the world was completely shut down. Another example would be the conviction of Sarah Tisdall. She was sentenced to six months in prison after leaking controversial information to the guardian newspaper. She gave details as to when an american missile would be arriving in Britain  Due to this she was found guilty of breaking the law and convicted. If I was working within the media industry I would have to careful of this law. For example if for instance I was working for a newspaper and somebody disclosed some secret information. If this information was confidential I could not release it as it has the potential to damage the public.

Libel and slander 

Libel is the defamation of ones character through written word. Not to be confused with slander which is the same principle however spoken rather than written. Many sectors of the media industry have to be cautious of this law especially publishing. For instance newspapers have to be careful when reporting an article about somebody. If they produce an inaccurate portrayal of the individuals character then they are breaking the libel law and can be prosecuted. This can also come into play when somebody negatively portrays a company or business. For example if somebody wrote something on a blog negatively about a company that technically isn't accurate they can be accused of breaching libel law. An example of libel or slander law being broken would be the incident between Jonathan Ross, Russell Howard and Andrew Sachs. The incident known as 'Sachs Gate' was a controversial BBC radio Broadcast. During their radio show Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross called beloved actor Andrew Sachs. Many abusive messages were left and this was aired. Not only was this saw as obscene but it was also slander. Due to the defamation of Andrew Sachs's character. As a result of this Russell Brand lost his job and Jonathan Ross was suspended without pay. This incident sparked much controversy due to the fact it was unnecessary and the BBC let them air it. Another example would be the Lord McAlpine scandal. This was were journalists from various newspapers accused him of paedophilia. These accusations were found to be untrue. Lord McAlpine was outraged by these claims by the media. He stated it was 'poor journalism' and sued BBC for breaching Libel law.

Privacy Law

The privacy law gives people the right to not have information on there personal lives publish. This could include pieces of information such as there name, address or family life. Many sectors in the media industry have to be careful of this law during production. For instance any media production which include administration such as call sheets need to be especially. This is because call sheets usually contain peoples personal details. They would normally include the name of each crew member and there contact details. If this information wasn't to remain confidential and got out the production company would be breaching privacy law. This is due to the fact that if this information got out it could be potentially harmful to them. Another sector which has to be aware of this law is publishing. If a newspaper releases any personal information about someone such as contact details this would also be breaching the law.

 The press have been under a lot of controversy lately due to many phone hacking scandals which has brought about the leveson enquiry. This is an attempt to regulate the press and strengthen privacy laws. This phone hacking scandal would be a perfect example of were privacy laws have been breached. It was were journalists from 'News of the world' were hacking peoples phones for stories. This was breaching privacy laws due to the fact the newspaper was hacking into peole mobile phones without permission  This also raised ethical concerns due to the people they were doing it to such as 'Milly Dowler'. Another example of this law being breached would be an extreme case involving X Factor judge Simon Cowell. This incident also involved the newspapers in which a tracking device was allegedly found on his Rolls Royce. Simon Cowell threatened to prosecute the press due to the fact that tracking devices are illegal. This is because it breaks privacy law's. The journalist also intended on publishing an article about his article which would also be breaching the law.

Human Rights Act

The basis of the human rights act is to strengthen the already in place conventions of basic human rights. This means that people can be prosecuted to more of an extent for breaching any of these human rights. There is a vast array of human rights. These are based on ethics such as quality of life and equality. Due to the sheer size of this spectrum which the human rights come into producers must be aware of the ins and outs of it.  This is because if you 

break someone's humans rights, you risk getting prosecuted under the human rights act. For instance if you were auditioning actors for a short film you would have to abide it. This is because if you don't hire someone solely because of their sex,race,colour,religion etc. Then you are breaching article 14. Article 14 is a part of the human rights convention which goes against discrimination. Due to this if you don't abide by the convention you risk being prosecuted under the 'Human Rights act'. Discrimination is only a small part of the convention therefore as a producer you must be aware of all of the rules (There is a lot). An example of this law being broken in media would be the 'Mosley vs. News Group newspapers' case. This was were Max Mosley had an article posted about him in 'News Of The World'. This article revealed an incident in his personal life involving five prostitutes. An article was published about this as well as a video of the incident. Mosley challenged 'News Of The World' under article 8 of the human rights convention. This ensure that people can keep there private life confidential if the wish to. Unlike the 'privacy law' this covers such as family life and peoples sex life. Due to this he won the case and was given £60,000 in damages. He also asked for the video to be removed from the internet and banned however this was not possible due to how wide spread it had became.

Another example of this law being broken would be the case surrounding the murder of James Bulger. Upon his murderers being released they were given new homes and new identities. Many newspapers within the media published these details. 'This could also come under 'the privacy act' however like the Max Molsey case it cam under 'Article 8' of the human rights convention. This meant that under the 'Human rights act' an injunction. This meant that they had to remove all information about the killers and refrain from realising any more in later publications. This is because this information could have been potentially harmful to them. This is due to the fact that they are murderers and people may have tried to find them due to the severity of the case.

Race relations act

Race relations is a simple law based around ethnic equality. This act makes it illegal to refuse someone from there rights based on race,colour or ethnic origin  It is in place to make sure that everyone is treated equally regardless of there race. As a producer you would need to be aware of this as you would most probably be working with a range of people from different races. For instance of you were working on a television show and you treat someone differently due to there colour you could risk breaching this law. This is because if you are treating them differently to the rest of the crew then this could be conceived that it is because of there race. You could also be prosecuted if you racially abused this person. Another example would be if you were creating a radio show. Say for example you were interviewing somebody who was of a certain ethnic background. If you verbally attack this person based on this ethnic background you will again be breaking this law. Therefore you would need to be aware of this act so that you know to treat everybody equally. 

Obscene publications act

The obscene publications act is a law brought in to refrain the publishing of obscene material to the public. For something to be classed as obscene it needs to be taken to court and evaluated based on the severity. These could be aspects such as extreme violence, pornography, controversy, etc. The first ever incident of this was the writer William Dugdale. His books were saw as pornographic and as a result he was prosecuted. A producer would need to be aware of this act in order not to offend the public. This is because what some may see as obscene others may not. This is why there is now strict guidelines as to what is classed as obscene. As a producer you would need to know these guidelines to refrain from making anything to obscene. The purpose of this act is to protect the general public from potentially 'harmful' publications. An example of an incident involving this law being broken would be the film 'Crash'. After being published many critics argued it was obscene and potentially harmful. This was because they felt it 'incited' car crashes and was offensive to people with disability's. This was investigated and the producers were not prosecuted. This meant that the film didn't get banned and was allowed to continue to be published. Another example in the media would be another film called the 'Human centipede 2'. This was a sequel to the first human centipede which stirred an awful lot of controversy. The sequel was seen as even more gruesome and 'revolting' due to this the film was banned in the UK and Australia  This was because some scenes were so obscene and violent that it was not seen fit for the public to watch. However, after making 32 compulsory cuts the film was allowed to be published in the UK.  Although, it still had to be given an 18 year old age rating.

Key words in media

Globalisation

Globalisation refers to how countries across the world are becoming more interconnected. This results in interrogation of economics and markets globally. An example of this in media would be the broadcasting company Viacom which are active in countries worldwide. Globalisation is essential in  a companies growth if it wishes to be successful. This is because if the company has a larger presence worldwide then they will be more renown. This will increase the amount of consumers in which the company have. Therefore, increasing sales.

Merger

This is when two companies merge together to make a much larger and more powerful company. An example of this in media would be the two companies sky television and British satellite broadcasting. These two companies merged in 1990 to create bskyb. A benefit of companies merging could be the potential to make the company more wide-spread. This is due to the fact that if two companies from different locations or countries merge then they will be situated in both places were the original companies were. This means that the company will become more recognized nationally increasing sales in various different locations. Also it is more financially efficient. This is because the merged company will have more funding for research and development resulting in the company being more profitable. A disadvantage could be the fact that is reduces competition. Therefore, one company could potentially gain monopoly power over the specific market. Mergers could also disadvantage the customers as it leaves them with less choice.





Takeover

Takeover refers to when one powerful company takes over another smaller one. Usually by buying out there stocks and becoming the majority shareholder or by simply buying the company out. This normally happens when the smaller company is struggling or not making profit. An example of this in media would be googles takeover of the mobile phone company motorola. This could be beneficial if the company that is taking over has more knowledgeable or resources for the specific product. This means that taking over the original company would improve the products, possibly raising public awareness therefore increasing profits. However the advantages and disadvantages of this process depend on the perspective in which you look at it from. For instance a takeover would cause employment cuts. Obviously this would be a disadvantage for employees. Although, it would be advantage for the company as a whole due to the fact they have to pay less wages. Another pro of a takeover would be the fact it increases the growth of the overall company. This can help globalisation occur within the company giving them a larger presence. However, the company may set a bad name for themselves if they continuously takeover smaller companies. This would effect the general public's perception of them. Therefore, reducing sales and lowering their profit margin.

Vertical integration

This is when companies expand there business into different areas. However they are different from there initial production path. An example of this would be the company apple who make many products ranging from phones to computers and t.v's. This method of integration can be beneficial to a company in many ways. Mainly due to the fact they are manufacturing a range of new products. This overall results in increasing the amount of products they sell which makes there company name more known. This obviously results in more profits being made as well as more business opportunities for the company. A con of vertical integration would be there consumers losing faith in the company. This is because they may ruin their brand name due to appearing as sell-outs. Also they may start making new products and dismissing there original ones which the public know an love. This could decrease sales and change public perception.

horizontal integration

This is similar to vertical integration however the company stays within there types of production. Although, they expand there company into other markets and companies. An example of this would be the broadcaster BBC who market different channels across the world but stick to media broadcasting. This is beneficial for the company as they can branch out into similar products within their industry. Due to the fact they are sticking to the same production path, the company would already be experienced in manufacturing them types of products. However, due to the fact they are staying within their own production path it could hinder diversity. This means that new innovative ideas will not come into the company. This would be a con as less original products will be produced by the specific business

Sources of income in the Media

Every sector of media makes some sort of profit this is done through many ways. These are the media industry's methods of income;

• Premium telephone lines
• Merchandise
• Licensing
• DVD Rental
• CD and DVD sales
• Franchises
• Cinema box office
• License fees
• Product placement
• Sponsorship
• Downloads
• Advertisements

Some examples of company's using these would be the BBC charging a license fee. This gives them a source of income other than advertising. Another example would be product placement. This is huge in the U.S however the laws of it in the UK are very tight. However rights on product placement in the UK are slowly becoming more open. 

Here is an example of product placement used recently in UK television.

Television

The television industry gets their income from a range of various places. There main source being from either advertisements or license fee's. Whether they get their income from advertisement's or license fee's depends on the channel or the production company. For example due to he fact that BBC channels do not show advertisements they need to earn money from elsewhere. The money lost through advertising is made up through the licence fee scheme.This means that every t.v owner has to pay a monthly fee for the right to watch BBC channels. Other channels will gain their money from companies which pay them to air their advertisements on the channel. Other than this the television industry will get their income from various other places such as :

•  Premium telephone line - Many television shows will give viewers the option to participate in the show itself. This can be done through getting them to call into the T.V show. This is done on many television programmes such as the X-Factor were viewer call to vote for performers. They make money of this by making the line a premium telephone line. This means that the phone owner will be charged a premium rate for each call.
• Merchandise - If a show becomes popular enough, then this means a brand identity could be formed. This results in the show being able to sell merchandise related to the programme to fans of it. For instance possibly t-shirts or mugs related to the show.
• CD and DVD sales - with the majority of television shows (if they are successful  DVD'S will be sold of the series. This means that people can buy the series on DVD format and watch them at home. Also sometimes songs of the show or the soundtrack may be sold on CD.
• Product placement - As I explained earlier in the post companies will pay television shows to host there products within the show.
• Sponsorship - Many companies may pay to sponsor a T.V show. This helps the company advertise their brand by endorsing a popular programme.

Publishing

The publishing industry relies heavily on advertising and the endorsement of products or services. Many newspapers or magazines may include advertisements for particular products . The publishing company will gain money from the company just for the right to advertise the clients company in their publication. Also they are often paid to commission journalists or writers to publish articles about a specific product, brand or company. The writer if the article will endorse the product and speak fondly of it. The rest of the publishing industries income will come from the selling of the publications themselves.

Interactive media

The interactive media industry's main source of income is downloads. This is due to the fact it interactive media products are almost always digital. Therefore, the products will be sold for a set price so the consumer can download them to a device. A prime example of this would be Apples 'App store.' This is were Apple device owners will pay to download user created applications. Royalties will be given to the creator and the company will keep most of the profits. Advertising is also commonly used in this industry as a means of income. This is an especially effective route to take if the application is free to download. Due to the fact that, they can make up from the money they would be making of sales through advertising. Less commonly, some interactive media products can earn money from merchandise. This is seen a lot in interactive games, for instance the Apple application 'Angry Birds.'

Radio

The radio industry acquires their income from a range of different sources. One source would be (like most sectors) advertising. They will be paid to air a companies advertisement in-between their show. Another source which is popular with radio is premium telephone lines. They will get people to call in as part of their show and the phone line may charge a premium rate. They will encourage people to call in due to competitions ad prizes. Downloads in another possible source. For example a station may sell their pod casts on iTunes and earn royalties for selling the product.

Film

Similar to t.v the film industry has money to be earned through product placement. This is apparent in many films in which characters may use a specific companies product. The company will pay the film company for advertising their brand name. As with many other sectors films can earn money from merchandise DVDs and CDs related to the production. They will also earn money from the box office by selling there films to cinemas. The cinemas will get a percentage of this revenue for hosting there film in there building.

The big six - media industry

The big six are the main companies which own the media worldwide. These six companies are made up of ;
viacom
Disney
Newscorp
CBS
GE
Time Warner

In the post i will be discussing each company and their sources of income.

Viacom

Viacom is an american based global company which own a majority of the entertainment industry. They brodcast to over 160 countries through the use of  television,the internet,mobile platforms and motion pictures. They own a range of assests such as;

viacom international,Paramount pictures,MTV films,Nickelodean movies,Comedy central,Logo,BET,Spike,TV Land, jr.,MTV,VH1,mtv2,TR3s,CMT,Palladia,Game trailers,Neopets and MTV new media. 

All in all they have a net worth of $14.914 billion in the U.S.

Disney

Disney is another multinational company based in the united states. They have a vast monopoly in the media industry ranging from theme-parks to television broadcasters. They are renown for there cartoons created by the founder Walt Disney. However, they also own many television networks such as ; 

ABC, ESPN, Disney channel soapnet ABC, ABC Family, ABC Kids, Walt Disney Distribution, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Disney Channel, ESPN, Jetix, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Walt Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Records, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, ABC Studios, Playhouse Disney, Disney Consumer Products, Pixar, Soapnet, Disney Interactive Studios, Muppets Holding Company, Disney Store, Toon Disney, New Horizon Interactive, and Hollywood Records.

All in all they have an annual revenue of around about $35 billion.

Newscorp

Newscorp is a multi-national company owned by Rupert Murdoch  He inherited the company from his father and expanded it by buying other assets such as the sun newspaper. Newscorp operates in USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Canada, Latin America and Europe. Due to the vast amount of companies the company owns it has a huge impact on the media industry. This means it has a knock on effect on the way the general public perceive things. Newscorp has a total net worth of $7.6 billion.

CBS

CBS (Columbia broadcasting system) are a broadcasting company stationed in the U.S. In terms of television broadcasting they are the second largest in the world,the first being BBC. The company broadcasts to CBS broadcasts in, USA, Europe, Africa, middle east, UK, Ireland,  Australia, New Zealand and Italy. 
The various companies which they own are ;


Columbia Records, Publishing companies, Musical instrument division, Film Production, Home Video (MGM/CBS), Gabriel Toys(video game market), Viacom(broadcasting), CBS radio.

The owner of CBS (Sumner. M Redstone) has a total net worth of $4.4 billion.

GE

GE (General Electric) covers a large amount of media across the world. They mainly operate the company NBC which they own 80% of. NBC is a leading entertainment company which owns most of the highest viewed t.v shows broadcasted. They also own a large amount of other businesses such as GE energy and universal pictures. They have a total net worth of about $230 billion.

Time Warner

The Time Warner company operate in various sectors of the media industry. These sectors ranging from industrys such as film,television and publishing. Although, in the year 2000 AOL bought Time Warner for $164 billion. Now AOL own  of 55 % of Time Warner's stocks leaving the time Warner share holders with a stake hold of 45 %. The company has a total net worth of around about $46 billion.

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch is at the top of the food chain in terms of media in the United Kingdon. He is CEO of the company News Corp, which is one of the big six. News Corp is the second largest media institution in the world. So you can imagine how much power he has over the uk alone. Rupert Murdoch first began in australia. His carrer started after the death of his father. He took the family business 'News limited' and turned it into a huge success in australia. Eventually he started business in the UK. This lead him into owning assets such as the sun and News Of The World. Due to the his high profile and astronomical amount of money Rupert murdoch has much sway in the world of politics. For instance he is a Labour Party supporter. Due to this his newspapers tend to lean towards promoting the party and their ideals. After the Thatcher era Murdoch supposobly built a close relationship with Tony Blaire. Being the leader of the labour party Tony Blaire was promoted in Murdochs newspapers. Many people think this close relationship he has with politicion effects the outcomes of elections massively. Overall Ruport Murdoch is a key high profile person in the U.K media industry. The media has the power to change peoples opinions and make a huge influence on society. Being at the top of the media food chain, Ruport Murdoch is probably one of the most infuention figures in the UK.





Types of ownership in the Media

Public

Public ownership refers to when the broadcaster works towards the public's needs. These are broadcasters such as BBC. Due to the fact that they work for the public a fee has to be paid for the service. This is paid as part of your t.v license which is £145.50 a year. However this makes sure that there programmes are specific to what the public want and there is no adverts. However a disadvantage of public is that it doesn't cover a wide audience just the majority. Therefore, if you want to watch something specific to your needs you may need to look elsewhere for example on a private broadcaster.



Private



A private ownership refers to when a channel is owned by a specific company. There is no license fee for these broadcasters although there is advertisements between programs. These advertisements is how the private broadcasters produce there revenue. They get there income based on how many viewers there channel or programme gets. However, if a programme doesn't get enough viewers it will be pulled and not shown on the channel any more  However an advantage of private ownership is that you don't have to pay a license fee on the channels.

Geographical Scope

Geographical scope is determined by the amount of locations the media company or service is active in. There are normally three types, which are national, regional and local.

National 

A national media company means one which is active in various amounts of countries worldwide. They normally have a broad range of diffrent products and services. Usually, constantly expanding there business into other countries and regions aroun the world. An example would be Rupert Murdochs company News Corp. They own a massive empire of diffrent media based companies and services around the world. The Image below shows just how much his media empire stretches.

   

Regional

This is when the ownership spreads across a specific region in the country. For instance the midlands or the North-East. This is diffrent from local as it dosen't focus on one specific city or area. An example of this would be the nwpaper 'The Northen Echo'. This is a regional newspaper as it not only covers teesed but most surrounding areas suchg as north yorkshire and durham.

Local

Local means that the company is based in a small area within a region. For instance if a newspaper was based only in watford this would be accounted as a loacal media company. An example of this would be the radio statio TFM based in Teeside. This only broadcasts throughout the Teeside area. This is counted as local is it dosne't cover the whole of the north east. It just covers a small area of the region. In this case Teeside. However with the gaining popularity in internet many local services are becoming national.

Sectors of creative media

Television

Over the years the TV industry has went through enormous amounts of change from being commercially available from the 1920's to the present day. Television programmes are normally shot a few weeks before being broadcast although it varies depending on the programme. There are nine main broadcasters in the UK alone these include; BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, S4C, SMG and UTV.  Although there are over 300 satellite and cable broadcasters varying from channels such as sky,virgin media and discovery.  Usually broadcasters make money by placing 5 minute advertising breaks within there programmes. However, BBC don't as you need to pay for a t.v license this cost covers them for not placing advertisements on there channels.

Publishing

The publishing industry is made up of Books, Directories and Mailing Lists, Journals, Magazines and Business Media, Newspapers, News Agencies and other Information Services. It covers a wide range of types such as printed media and and online multimedia. The industry produces a revenue of around about  £10.1 billion a year. It is also one of the largest exports for the creative media industry. Most publishing company's contain as little as 10 employees although some contain about 200. The main areas in the UK which the publishing industry occupies is London and the south-east of England.

Interactive media



The interactive media industry  refers to any product which is  based on some sort of computer or device. This product can be interacted with through the use of buttons,text,images ect.  An example of an interactive media product would be an app on the apple iPod  These can be interacted with on your device and are used worldwide by many smart phone users. Annually the interactive media industry is worth around about several billion pounds and employees about  34,300 people.

Radio

Radio is the transmission of information through the use of sound waves  It is commonly used in the modern day as a way of entertainment or a way of telling the news. There are a number of radio channels which can be played on a device with radio some national some local. Local channels are used to spread news about the specific region whereas national is general topics. A radio show normally consists of people talking as well as music depending on which channel your listening to. For example BBC four is mainly talking and discussions whereas BBC 6 is alternative music. However due to the rise in other forms of media such as films games or interactive media radio is not as popular as it once was. The radio industry employs about 22,000 people with as little as twenty people working in one studio.

Photo imaging

Photo imaging is the process of manipulating or editing photos through the use of software such as adobe Photoshop. Many people working in the photo imaging business (68%) work as freelance photographers however some work for photo imaging company's  The industry employs around about 43,100 people in the UK  There are over 8,700 photo imaging company's in the UK alone. For example company's such as AIP (association of image processionals).

Advertising

Advertising is a huge par of the economy  in the UK generating a massive £6.2 billion per year. There are 13,000 companies based around advertising with nearly 250,000 people working in the industry. The intention of of advertisement's are to persuade there audience to buy a product or service. Due to this there s a lot of money spent n the advertising industry. We are bombarded by advertisement's 24/7 event if we don't realize through the use of t.v,radio,billboards and loads more.Due to this high demand for advertising there is a large number of money and employees invested in the industry per year.

Animation

Animation is used in many sectors across the creative media industry mainly in television in film. It is done by creating an image the placing another image after it slightly different than the previous one. When a number of these images a put together they appear to be moving this illusion is called persistence of vision. The animation industry has a very small amount of employees. Currently they provide work for bout 4700 people in the UK.

Games

Currently the video games industry is a huge part of the entertainment industry. Some ground breaking games such as call of duty are getting more sales than most Hollywood films. Although, even due to the huge market for games the industry only employs around about 700 people in the UK  However, this is mainly because the video games industry has only became so popular quite recently. Therefore it is expected that the number of employees will rise is the next few years maybe even beating the television and film industry.

Film

The film industry is another sector which plays a huge part in creative media. In the UK the industry contributes a massive £4.3 billion to the economy. The industry is constantly evolving due to advances in technology for example special effects software or cameras. There are many aspects in film such as production, editing, writing and countless more. Due to this they employ and enormous amount of people with a number of over 100,000 people. Some examples of big UK based films would be ones like 'shaun of the dead' or 'harry potter'.

Welcome to my blog on The Creative Media Industry!

Inroduction

Hello and welcome to my blog! The purpose of this blog is to use reasearch and data to provide an insight into understanding the media industry. First of all, there are nine sectors surrounding the media industry. These nine sectors are Radio

• tv
• advertising
• animation
• film
• games
• interactive media
• photo imaging
• publishing

Thank you for visiting my blog!