Download Ownership and Content in Broadcast News: Theoretical Perspectives

Ownership and Content in
Broadcast News:
Theoretical Perspectives
Keval J. Kumar
Perspectives on Ownership and
Content
 Liberal Pluralist Theory
 Political Economy Theory
 Cultural Studies Theory
 Ethnographic/Ethno-methodological Theory
Liberal Pluralist Theory
 Pluralistic ownership of the media in a free-market economy
competition in the expression of diverse opinions; hence no
prevailing or dominant perspective in the reporting of news
 News is a product and a business, so the primary motivation is
profit-making rather than peddling a particular point of view or
supporting particular political parties or ideologies
 Influences on news result from individual news workers; the
routine practices with which news is collected, transformed and
distributed; characteristics of news organisations; social
institutions outside of the media, and social system ideology and
values (Shoemaker and Rees, 1996).
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E.g. World Bank Study (2001) on ‘Effects of Ownership on Media Firms’, in 97 countries
E.g. Shoemaker and Cohen: ‘News Around the World: Content, Practitioners and the Public’
(2006) – in ten countries including India.
Political Economy Perspective
 The content of the news media is the result primarily
of economic factors
 Hence who owns the media and what is his politics
are crucial questions in the selection and processing
of news
 Much research from this perspective finds a ‘strong
correlation’ between ownership and content, though
not necessarily a direct cause- and -effect
relationship.
 E.g. Golding, Murdoch, Vincent Mosco, Janet Wasko,
Pradip Thomas.
Cultural Studies Perspective
 Charge that political economy perspective is close to
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‘economic determinism’
View ownership-content relationship is not as
relevant as the ‘active reception’ of the ‘text’
See ideology (‘preferred readings) embedded in texts
but often these readings are ‘negotiated’ or ‘opposed’
(Cf. Stuart Hall’s model)
News discourse is a social construction and takes on
meaning (ideology) only in a socio-cultural context.
E.g. Stuart Hall, John Fiske, David Morley, Philip
Schlesinger
Ethnography /Ethnomethodology
 Owner – Content relationship is irrelevant
 News channels and news bulletins are watched in a
family environment as part of everyday life.
 The ‘lived experience’ of watching the news suggests
that it is integrated into the daily routines /schedules
of family life at home;
 News is watched as we eat dinner, read the papers,
work on the computer, surf the net, do the
housework, etc.
 E.g. Roger Silverstone, James Lull,
Questions for Discussion
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the relevance of these theories to exploring the
ownership-content relationship in the 211 Indian news
channels?
What type of media ownership influences what type of news
content in television? (State vs Private/Corporate ownership?)
Political party – owned TV channels (Sun TV, Kalaignar TV,
Jaya TV in Tamilnadu; Eenadu in Andhra Pradesh; Kairali,
Jaihind in Kerala; Kasturi in Karnataka) dominate in South
India: a direct ownership-content relationship is obvious here.
But in individual/family-owned channels (Zee, NDTV,
BCCL/Times Now, Sahara, TV-18, UTV) it could possibly more
subtle.
What happens when these team up with American news
channels (NBC, CNN, CNBC, BBC, Time-Warner)? Do they
begin to provide more ‘international’ news?
Questions…2
5. Indian television news has become
‘corporatised’ and ‘bollywoodised’ (Cf.
Thussu, 2008).
6. How much can this be attributed in any way
to ‘ownership’ (either legal or economic)?
(Legal ownership comprises all individual
shareholders, while economic ownership
refers to those who determine the executive
board and a firm’s policy).
Questions…3
7. What are the kind of regulations (or self-
regulation) required in media ownership to
ensure that news content is comprehensive,
balanced and fair? What is the extent of
cross-media ownership in news channels to
be allowed?
8. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA)
has drawn up a code for news content but
does not get into the question of regulating
ownership (spelt out in the 2006
Broadcasting Bill)
Questions…4
At the global level, most news channels (e.g. CNN,
Star News, Sky News, Fox News, NBC) are part of
mega media conglomerates (Time-Warner,
NewsCorp, NBC-Universal): except perhaps for
NewsCorp’s Rupert Murdoch who personally calls
the shots in news policy, can one sense an ownercontent relationship?
10. In international news, the main sources
(multinational news agencies: Reuters, AP, AFP)
remain entrenched: how truly ‘international’ is the
news they purvey?
9.