Project: Dominant Media

  1. Description: To begin the project, PICK ONE MEDIA INDUSTRY and identify and list 10 different media products from that industry (e.g., 10 books) that you have heard/seen/read relatively recently in one of the following areas:
    1. Books (look inside the book for its publishing co.)
    2. Magazines (look inside the magazine for its publishing co.)
    3. Musical groups/performers (see the recording, or look on iTunes or the performer’s web site)
    4. Radio stations (see http://www.stationratings.com, then look at the owner’s web site)
    5. Television shows (see the credits at the end of the show for production companies, or look at the show web site, or http://www.imdb.com)
    6. Movies (see production credits, or see at http://www.imdb.com--look for the yellow box at the bottom of the screen for each movie listing...one of the categories under Details is "company credits")
      WIKIPEDIA is also a good resource for all the companies above. It usually identifies parent companies if the label is rather established.
  2. Next, research to find the corporations behind the media product.  Make sure you are able to trace the product back to the final, largest media corporation. You can put this in table form, if you’d like.

For example, Ke$ha is a recording artist on the RCA label, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, one of the big four recording industry companies, which is part of Sony Corporation of America (which is part of Sony Corporation, based in Japan).

Another example: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) has two main producers: Heydey Films and Warner Bros. Pictures. Heydey is an independent company owned by London-based producer David Heyman.  The other producer (and distributer of the film) is Warner Bros. Pictures, one of the major (Big 6) studios, and owned by Time Warner, the largest media conglomerate.

  1. Analysis: Take stock of your list of products and their business owners.  [TIP: Consult the textbook and its media ownership section in each media chapter.]  Are there significant patterns?  Are the ultimate owners usually major media corporations?  Are there some independent owners (i.e., smaller companies not affiliated with major media corporations)?
  2. Interpretation: What do the ownership patterns mean?  What is the reach and power of large media corporations in this sector with the media products you like?  Are the more successful/famous media products you analyzed from larger media conglomerates?
  3. Evaluation:  Are there positive aspects in media conglomeration, and if so, what are they?  Does the parent company have a strong identity?  Why or why not?  What role do independents have in this media sector?  Given the ownership of these 10 media products, does it seem that there is enough diversity in ownership (and diversity in product) in this sector of the media system?

Project Specs
• Type in 12 pt. Times New Roman or comparable font, single space.
• Write an opening paragraph that introduces the paper.
• The entire project should be 1.5-2 pages, single‐spaced.
• This assignment is worth 5 percent of your grade.
• Due in class, April 25, 2011.  [One of the assignment’s five points is deducted each week late.]