Media Ownership

Australia has several major players in the media ownership market as shown in the picture below. Between them, The Murdoch’s, Rupert and Lachlan, James Packer, John Singleton, Gina Rinehart, Bruce Gordon and Kerry Stokes own a very large share of the Australian media market. They cover most of the major papers, Television stations and radio stations in Australia, which means this small group of people control what we hear and see in the media. This can become a problem as most people will have an agenda of some from, and as most of these people are extremely wealthy, their agenda and interest usually revolve around maintaining and increasing their wealth. This can skew the angle at which they report an event which means we are unable to get mostly unbiased media.

The biggest of this group is Rupert Murdoch. He controls News Ltd which has a large number of newspapers and radio stations. It also has a 50% stake in Foxtel, which gives him a 13.84% share in Channel 10. Add to this his sons 7.68% share in Channel Ten and 100% control of Nova Radio and that is a very broad coverage of the media landscape. The problem with one person having this much control is many of his organisations have a less than great record for being unbiased, objective and ethical.

One major example would be the News of the World phone hacking scandal in 2011. The phones of many celebrities, soldiers and victims of crime as well as members of the royal family were hacked and messages from the phones were taken to help investigate stories. This gross abuse of ethics and journalistic standards led to a public outcry and the eventual shutdown of the publication. More about the scandal can be seen in the video below.

While the problem of media ownership diversity is still a big issue, the continuing rise of the internet is slowly making it less of an issue. The internet allows anyone to post content, which means we get access to a wider range of sources and opinions. This means that the audience are starting to become the content producers and through mediums such as Twitter for news and YouTube for video creation, we are seeing the legacy media owners begin to slowly lose power and this will hopefully lead to a more diverse ownership of the media market.

 

Sources:

ACMA Picture – http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/media-interests-snapshot

Phone Hacking Youtube Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT0X1mMUpNo

Media Texts

This image is an advertisement from American Apparel, a clothing retailer in America. The image immediately attracts attention due to the model wearing nothing but knee high socks. This grabs the interest of the viewer as it is something controversial. The name of the model, Lauren Phoenix, is listed in the bottom right corner and a description which says she is an actor and director. The text also tells the viewer to google the model, not even hiding the fact that she is a pornographic actress. This is furthered by the three boxes on the left which clearly depict the model is in a scene from one of her films, albeit only her face.

While other advertisers try to subtly add in adult themes, American Apparel makes no attempt to hide this. The point of the image is clearly to provoke a reaction and bring attention to the brand. American Apparel has a history of edgy advertisements like this, some of the more controversial ones you can see in the video below.

They do this as it differentiates them from other clothing retailers and causes their market to recognise the name and associate the brand with the advertisements. American Apparel is one of the most well know proponents of this, there are others that do this as well. Another example would be some of the PETA advertisements such as the one below featuring Pamela Anderson.

 

 

The advertisement is about animal rights and raising awareness in regards to that. This one features Pamela Anderson wearing very little clothing in a tactic to grab attention from the audience in a similar way to the American Apparel advertisement. PETA uses controversial images in a lot of their advertisements, some of the most controversial of which you can see here. While many feature celebrities with little clothing, others feature confronting images such as animal cruelty and violence which can be shocking for the viewer.

Both of these examples are both overtly controversial and don’t try to hide their controversial images. However this has a hidden motive as it means both a memorable and stick in the audiences mine. For American Apparel this differentiates them from their competitors and for PETA this means their cause sticks in the public’s mind.

 

Sources

American Apparel Advertisement – http://www.celebitchy.com/10496/woody_allen_sues_american_apparel_for_10_million_for_using_unathorized_image_from_film/

American Apparel YouTube Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NQGAAnMexE&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6NQGAAnMexE&has_verified=1

PETA Advertisement – http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/pamela-anderson-sexy-body-baring-peta-ad-banned-canada-article-1.463753

PETA Link – http://www.businessinsider.com.au/peta-shocking-controversial-ads-2011-10#peta-often-gets-celebs-to-pose-nude-but-this-ad-featuring-joanna-krupa-with-a-crucifix-hit-a-nerve-the-catholic-church-was-outraged-1

The Changing Role of the Audience

The role of the audience has changed from being passive by receiving and accepting the content given to us by the media to an active role where the audience participates in the content creation. Things such as video creation on YouTube and blogs such as this as a place for people to share their opinions and thoughts have become wildly popular. However the most important creation from this change in role of the audience is Twitter.

Twitter has become an instant news source for society. In comparison to legacy media where news can take hours and even days to be reported, twitter reports it within seconds. This has led to a rise in citizen journalism. The audience has become the creator as anyone with a smart phone and a twitter can report on an event instantly. This has led to many legacy media outlets using twitter as their sources rather than sending journalists out to the event. It means that almost anywhere at any time there is someone to report on an event. We have moved from passively accepting whatever the media industry reported to becoming the reporters and being actively involved in the content creation.

Constantly Connected

Most of the world’s population is constantly connected to the internet in one way or another. Through phones, laptops, computers, televisions and even watches, we always have this access at our fingertips. Many people have their phone on them 24/7, meaning that their phone has essentially become a part of them. This has made life much easier for people, students are able to watch lectures on their laptops and phones, workers can access emails outside the office, people can stream television shows from overseas and get breaking news the instant it happens. Even something as simple as an argument at the pub over trivia can be answered in mere seconds.

But while there are many positive aspects of this culture of always being connected, what are the negatives? There have been suggestions that social media is replacing real world social interactions and that we spend too much time on our gadgets. I personally disagree as I think social media and phones have made social interaction easier as you have access to everyone instantly which makes organising times to meet up in person much easier.

While there are many positives to being constantly connected, there are periods sometimes where we do just need to switch off.

Happy Birthday?

One thing that really stood out to me this week was the fact that someone can claim ownership of the song Happy Birthday. Could it be true? Do we really have to pay royalties for singing Happy Birthday? As it turned out, Warner Music had indeed acquired the rights to the song and were charging royalties for its use. They have since released it to the public domain but one must wonder how much they made with it since they purchased it in 1988.

This caused me to think about the issues of ownership and copyright. I believe that these concept definitely have their place. If a person creates something they should have the right to ownership. However I believe the restrictions on this should be loosened. Creative Commons is a good start as it allows things such as remixes and redistribution for non-commercial purposes but owners still have to choose to do this. Once we begin to move towards this across the board, I believe that we will all be better off for it.

The Medium is the Message

Throughout the week I have spent plenty of time, like I am sure plenty of others in the course have, trying to interpret what Marshall McLuhan meant when he phrased the term ‘the medium is the message.’ After reading countless theories and interpretations, I think I have formed my own opinion on what McLuhan meant.

Prior to this week’s lecture my understanding was, like the meme shows, that the medium was a tool to portray the message and nothing more. However mediums are so much more than that. They directly impact the way we live our lives. Moving from written mail to email is an example of this, adapting the way we complete this task to keep up with technology. While content is still important, as without it the medium doesn’t have a use, it is the medium that directly effects our lives, and society as a whole.

Until next time!

About Me

Hi, my name is Hayden and I am studying a Bachelor of Communication & Media Studies at the University of Wollongong.

Why am I here? For the last five years I have worked in an accounting firm in my hometown of Goulburn. I studied while working and got my Bachelor of Commerce from ANU. However one day last year while sitting at my desk at work it dawned on me, I couldn’t do this for the rest of my life. Accounting wasn’t for me. After thinking long and hard about where I wanted to be I decided to follow my biggest passion in life, sport. Knowing that my sporting abilities will not allow me to progress beyond the local leagues, looking for something in sports media seemed like the next best thing. So I packed up and left little old Goulburn, prepared to take a chance on my dream.

My first week at Uni has been an interesting experience. Moving to Wollongong having lived in a small rural town my whole life has taken a bit of getting used to. But the transition has been reasonably smooth as Wollongong is such a lovely area.

Having worked in an Accounting firm for the last five years, these concepts of blogging and digital artifacts are very foreign to me and while I’m nervous about moving into a completely new field, I’m excited to learn and to challenge myself to keep progressing!