Negative effects to newspapers bcs of Media Technology

Media and how it is consumed has been changing since the beginning of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1439. Media conglomeration, the combining of companies into larger companies, has been occurring at an alarming rate in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Media ownership consolidation happens when the, “deep pockets of a wealthy corporate parent can see a financially troubled media unit through a rough period at a price,” (Vivian 19). The process of these mergers, acquisitions and buyouts that consolidate the ownership of the media into fewer companies can greatly influence many different levels, especially newspapers. Time Warner, Walt Disney and Viacom are the three major companies that own American media. Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corporation is known for acquiring most English newspapers, including The Times and The Sun and then moving his way into American media. Gannett, the fifth largest American media corporation, publishes 85 daily newspapers, including USA Today, and nearly 900 non-daily publications. boast itself When giant corporations with diverse interests consolidate, mass media is operated by a small number of companies. Many adverse effects occur due to this trend toward conglomeration. With shrinking circulation already occurring due to the increase in internet readership, newspapers and journalism is taking a downward spira. l Alarming statistics are prevalent in the newspaper industry. According to Ph.D. Joseph Harry, professor at Slippery Rock University and faculty advisor to The Rocket, absentee ownership, the process of companies owning newspapers in many different regions, has been growing. The large companies bring in bottom-line managers that no nothing of a region. This leads to bad journalism and quick turnover. Many parts of the newspaper suffer due to vertical integration of the media giants The quality of the work is seriously hurting. Fewer people do more work. At newspapers, a reporters story once when through several hands, including the editor, copy editor, headline writer, typesetter, and a proofreader (Vivian 22). With this system set, the story would have many opportunities to improve. The newsroom today is much different. Proofreaders are no longer present, but have been replaced by spell-check software. The reporter now is overloaded and copy editors are also headline writers. Fact errors that would have been caught be the many people in the newsroom are now slipping into the newspaper. Also, loose writing is more prevalent due to the lack of editors to tighten work. This effects society by having newspapers that lack in quality. Journalism is a more competitive field than ever with jobs lacking in every area. The Associated Press, a large media corporation that publishes articles for any newspaper member to print, is a result of media conglomerations. By taking the easy way out, newspapers are .

Ethical and moral concerns

In America the FCC is doing this…In the UK the blank is doing this.

Bibliography

Ahrens, Frank. “Newspapers: The Future” 12 Oct. 2006. washingtonpost.com 11 April 	2008. 

Campbell, Dr. “Compare Los Angeles Newspaper to London Newspapers.” Guardian 	Newsroom, London. March 19, 2008.

Eggerton, John. “Are News Habits Really Changing?” broadcastingcable.com 17 March 	2008. 11 April 2008.

Harry, Joseph, Ph.D. Personal interview. 16 April 2008.

“History of the Media Cross Ownership Ban.” Newspaper Association of America. 2007. naa.org. 11 April 2008. 

Lukas, J. Anthony and Richard Pollak. “The Nation” Gale Cengage Learning. 264.n25. (2007) 8.

United Kingdom. Royal Commission on the Press. Media Ownership in the UK. London: 2003. 

Vivian, John. The Media of Mass Communication. 8th ed. Boston, MA. Pearson, 2007.