Gillian Doyle

Media Ownership: The Economics and Politics of Convergence and Concentration in the UK and European Media

Introduction PART ONE: WHY DOES OWNERSHIP OF THE MEDIA MATTER? Media Concentrations and Pluralism Industrial and Economic Policy Aims PART TWO: ECONOMICS OF MEDIA CONCENTRATIONS Monomedia Expansion Cross-Media Expansion PART THREE: MEDIA OWNERSHIP POLICY - THE UK CASE The Development of Regulation and Policy The 1996 Broadcasting Act An Analysis A New Future for Communications? PART FOUR: MEDIA OWNERSHIP POLICY IN EUROPE Trends and Policy Responses across Europe Towards a Harmonized EU Policy Initiative? Conclusions

From Television to Multi-Platform: Less from More or More for Less?

/ This article examines economic aspects of convergence and of multi-platform expansion in the media sector. Focusing on television broadcasters in the UK, it analyses the recent migration of conventional media towards multi-platform strategies and asks whether digitization is making content delivery more resource—intensive than before or whether it is facilitating greater efficiency. Findings suggest that adaptation to a multi-platform outlook on the part of conventional media requires investment in staffing and re-versioning of content. Funding this, especially in a period of economic downturn, has encouraged a more selective approach towards content, with concomitant implications for diversity. Notwithstanding generally low commercial returns from online activities so far, the potential economic advantages to be had from multi-platform are significant. The experience of UK broadcasters suggests a well-executed ‘360-degree’ approach to commissioning and distribution will increase the value that can be realized from any given universe of content, partly because of extended opportunities for consumption of that content, but also because modes of engagement in a digital multi-platform context allow for an improved audience experience and for better signalling of audience preferences back to suppliers.

Financial news journalism: a post-Enron analysis of approaches towards economic and financial news production in the UK

The collapse of Enron and other corporate scandals have raised concerns about the efficacy of financial journalism. Based on research on where reporters get their ideas for stories and how they approach their work, this article explores the particular circumstances in which production of financial and economic news takes place. The author argues that, while reporters are generally highly sceptical about ‘spin’ and strongly inclined towards highlighting instances of corporate underperformance and mismanagement, the circumstances and constraints they work within nonetheless make it unlikely that financial irregularities obscured within company accounts will be detected on a routine or consistent basis. Moreover, the way in which the commercial sector is organized (with in-depth analysis generally confined to specialist media whose audiences are already financially literate) means that the task of facilitating a sound public grasp over the significance of financial and economic news developments is largely being neglected.

From organizational crisis to multi-platform salvation? Creative destruction and the recomposition of news media

Schumpeter’s trope of ‘creative destruction’ aptly describes current transformations of news media whose business models are adjusting to the twin challenges of digitization and the Internet. While most production studies focus on the journalistic labour process, based on current empirical research in the UK press and access to key decision-makers, this article presents case studies of the strategies pursued by the Financial Times and The Telegraph in migrating from print to digital. It shows how new conceptions of the news business are being articulated by managements and how production is being reshaped and increasingly driven by data analytics, and poses questions about the impact of these changes on journalistic practices.

Re-invention and Survival: Newspapers in the era of digital multiplatform delivery

Abstract Drawing on empirical research into the strategies of leading UK newspaper groups, this article examines the means by which such firms, through processes of attrition in old and investment in new resources, have gradually re-invented themselves as digital multiplatform entities. It analyses how the adoption of a multiplatform distribution strategy is affecting organization of production activities, content and business models in the newspaper industry. While strategies for renewal based on adoption of a multiplatform approach can vary considerably from one firm to the next, the experience of leading players in the UK national newspaper sector indicates some communalities of experience that offer potentially valuable lessons for media and publishing businesses more widely. Findings highlight the crucial importance to the success of a digital multiplatform strategy of effective integration between IT, commercial and editorial functions and a willingness to experiment and innovate in relation to harnessing the benefits of two-way connectivity.

Public Policy and Independent Television Production In the U.K.

Abstract The structure and performance of the independent televisionproduction sector in the UK have been strongly affected by public policy interventions. Such interventions have introduced more competition andhave generally sought to strengthen the position of ‘indies’ by, forexample, raising levels of demand for their output amongst domesticvertically integrated broadcasters. However, the efficacy of such policies in terms of developing a thriving and economically successful independent television production sector is open to question. This article provides an analysis of the effects of recent policy initiatives on the creative work environments and on the business circumstances and behaviors of UK independent program-makers.

The Communications Act 2003: A New Regulatory Framework in the UK:

After coming to power in 1997, the UK’s New Labour Government considered various policy responses to ‘convergence ‘- a perceived communications revolution blurring the boundaries between previously distinct media sectors. The approach decided upon is embodied in the Communications Act 2003 which has ushered in a sweeping programme of regulatory change in the communications industries and is the most comprehensive legislation of its kind in British history. This article assesses the major provisions of the Act, touching on how it has been implemented so far by Ofcom (Office of Communications), and it analyses the implications of this landmark legislation for the future of UK communications and, especially, broadcasting policy.

Multi-platform media and the miracle of the loaves and fishes

Drawing on findings from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded research project which investigates how media companies have made the journey from being single sector to digital multi-platform suppliers of content, this article identifies some of the key managerial and economic challenges and opportunities involved in making that transition. It argues that the current migration towards multi-platform has altered not just media industry processes and output but, more fundamentally, it has re-configured the ways in which content is now being conceptualised by media managers. Multi-platform strategies have encouraged a vast expansion in the volumes of media content supplied and made available to media audiences at a time when, generally, the production budgets of media organisations have been tightly constrained. This article considers critically the question of how the transition to a multi-platform environment has facilitated such abundance in output and an apparently miraculous increase in levels of productivity across the media industry. It questions the implications for content and for policy of an ever-growing commitment to multi-platform strategies.

Managing Global Expansion of Media Products and Brands: A Case Study of FHM

By focusing on the case study of For Him Magazine (FHM)—a magazine that currently sells in 30 editions across 5 continents—this article explores the economics and main managerial challenges associated with global expansion of media products. The success of FHM demonstrates that, to calculate the full returns available from the brand image created by a magazine title, publishers will take into account not only opportunities for domestic and international exploitation of the magazine, but also the potential to extend the brand across additional media platforms and additional complementary product markets. This study focuses on how global expansion of FHM has been managed.

Undermining media diversity: inaction on media concentrations and pluralism in the EU

In the context of European media and cultural policy-making, the impetus to protect diversity is at least partly a reflection of recurrent concerns about concentrations of media and cross-media ownership across Europe. Such concerns have regularly spurred the European Parliament into calling on the Commission to take action. For example, in Parliament’s recent response to the UNESCO initiative on Cultural Diversity, it again urged the Commission to take steps to counter concentrations of media ownership that may pose a threat to pluralism (EP, 2003). But a range of serious practical and political obstacles stand in the way of any possible harmonising initiative in this area. This article examines the European Union’s efforts to work towards a pan-European policy on media ownership and the many difficulties and conflicts that have accompanied this process. It concludes that the Commission’s long-standing record of inaction on the question of media concentrations and pluralism is unlikely to change any time soon.