It is imperative the public be made aware of major media policy decisions to help take part in and shape the industry that they rely on to be an informed citizenry in a democracy. However, in an increasingly concentrated media landscape where fewer owners control our channels of information and reign over a vast array of holdings, the system is firmly positioned to conceal or marginalize policy stories that negatively affect its business interests. This study explores mainstream TV news coverage of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA– legislation proposed to reduce counterfeit purchases online that came under fire from critics for potentially threatening the fabric of free expression on the Internet. By asking, “How much attention did major television news networks whose parent companies supported SOPA devote to the bill during their nightly broadcasts?” and “How much attention did major television news networks whose parent companies supported SOPA devote to the bill during their nightly broadcasts after the Internet Blackout protesting the Act?” it finds those networks whose parent companies sought to benefit from the Act’s passage failed to report on the legislation at crucial times before and after the SOPA debate. The results largely fall in line with the mainstream media– namely the broadcast industry’s– historical self-censorship of significant media policy stories. / text

This study seeks to determine if media ownership diversity remains at levels widely considered to be competitive and acceptable, despite consolidation within the media industry. The research augments the many studies analyzing programming diversity within the U. S. media industry. Rather than analyzing programming content, this study addresses ownership diversity by examining the diversity of media ownership within the context U. S. model, considered to be more of a decentralized, market-driven media industry when compared to other countries such as the United Kingdom or Canada. To measure diversity, the HerfindahlHirschman Index (HHI)—a measure of economic diversity widely used by economists as well as government regulatory agencies—is used. Suggestions are presented for the future of media and regulation to insure a competitive, diverse, and healthy media industry.

Bonnier is one of the largest media companies in the Nordic. Because of their strong position in the market, they have an opportunity to influence the media landscape in Sweden. Due to the affects of media concentration, we wanted to find out if Bonniers concentrated ownership changes the outcome of news in the swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Through an quantitive content analysis, we examined how Dagens Nyheter writes news about the two swedish TV-channels TV4 and SVT. Since Bonnier is the owner of both Dagens Nyheter and TV4, it was interesting to see if the news about the two channels somehow differ. Our results indicate that there where no major differences in how the two channels were represented in Dagens Nyheter. Although, the newspaper seems to put more focus on the TV4-profiles, as well as they use more pictures for the articles about TV4. According to the results of this study, our conclusion is that media concentration is not yet a threat to the media landscape in Sweden, at least not when it comes to the cross-ownership of TV-channels and newspaper.

<p>For an owner of several media companies it is possible to make to make promotion for various products with help from all companies in the group. The purpose of this thesis is to study how media concentration affects the journalistic material in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. We chose to study how the television channel TV4 is presented in Dagens Nyheter. The newspaper and the television channel have had the same owner since 2007, namely the Bonnier Group. Our study was based on American theories of media concentration and its effects. We used a qualitative content analysis, partly inspired by discourse analysis.  The material was based on articles covering TV4 for a period of one month. We have interpreted the articles and presented the analysis backed up by quotes we have found bearing important tendencies.    Our results indicate that the Dagens Nyheter most of the time presented the channel TV4 in a favourable way. We have also found that the articles would portrait people associated with the channel TV4 in a similarly favourable way. Based on our analysis, we do not exclude the idea that the Dagens Nyheter – in covering TV4 – to some extent was influenced by this joint ownership.</p>

For an owner of several media companies it is possible to make to make promotion for various products with help from all companies in the group. The purpose of this thesis is to study how media concentration affects the journalistic material in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. We chose to study how the television channel TV4 is presented in Dagens Nyheter. The newspaper and the television channel have had the same owner since 2007, namely the Bonnier Group. Our study was based on American theories of media concentration and its effects. We used a qualitative content analysis, partly inspired by discourse analysis.  The material was based on articles covering TV4 for a period of one month. We have interpreted the articles and presented the analysis backed up by quotes we have found bearing important tendencies.    Our results indicate that the Dagens Nyheter most of the time presented the channel TV4 in a favourable way. We have also found that the articles would portrait people associated with the channel TV4 in a similarly favourable way. Based on our analysis, we do not exclude the idea that the Dagens Nyheter – in covering TV4 – to some extent was influenced by this joint ownership.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-108).

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In the final days leading up to elections, many major newspapers in Canada and around the world depart from the principle of media neutrality and openly support a particular political party. Do these overt attempts at persuasion by trusted institutions actually affect the vote choice of their readership, and are these effects felt evenly across the population? In this thesis, I examine the 2011 and 2015 Canadian federal elections using data from the 2011 Canadian Election Study and the 2015 Making Electoral Democracy Work project. I find voters to be significantly influenced by their newspaper’s endorsement in the 2015 sample, and find that this influence primarily influences those who identify with no party. Although the influence is modest in size, with the geographic concentration of newspaper readership it is potentially large enough to influence outcomes in individual ridings. Combined with my finding that newspaper endorsements are far from evenly distributed across parties, this has troubling implications for Canadian democracy.

Freedom of speech as a basic right is the starting point of the article. The Inter-American legal framework contributes pondering on the importance plurality and the vast array of information have in the validity of this right and democracy in general. This consideration is done from the standards given by the Commission reports and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights case law. The article ponders on how and how much the exercise of freedom of speech right is affected by the excessive concentrationof personal property and control over the media. / El artículo toma como punto de partida que la libertad de expresión forma parte del corpus de derechos fundamentales que el marco jurídico interamericano para reflexionar sobre la importancia de la pluralidad y la diversidad de la información tienen para la vigencia de este derecho y de la democracia en general. Esta reflexión se realiza a partir de los estándares construidos por los informes de la Comisión y la jurisprudencia de la Corte interamericanas. El texto reflexiona sobre cuánto y cómo afecta, al pleno ejercicio de la libertad de expresión, la excesiva concentración de la propiedad privada y del control de los medios de comunicación.