According to 'Key Concepts in
Communication' by O'Sullivan, Fiske, Hartley & Saunders 1983)
"Those enduring
regulatory and organising structures of any society, which constrain and
control individuals and individuality... the term more precisely refers to the
underlying principles and values according to which many social and cultural
practices are organised and co-ordinated."
'School' is a major institution, as is 'home', and if you
are thinking purely theoretically, you can consider things such as 'knowledge'
or 'language' to be institutions, containing as they do a whole set of rules
and codes which 'constrain and control' our lives.
In Media Studies, we are most concerned with the
institutions responsible for producing media texts. The following diagram can
represent them:
Therefore we can refer to "The Press" or
"TV" and have a general awareness of the values and codes of a) what
is produced and b) the producers. For instance, we think of journalists,
regardless of politics and rightly or wrongly, as sharing the same set of
values as their newspapers. We know what a newspaper is and how it behaves. We
see 'Newspapers' as something bigger than, and probably more
authoritative/powerful than us as individuals.
However, as global patterns of ownership change so does
the concept of Institution. Media ownership is now concentrated in the hands of
a few companies worldwide, and these companies own examples of many different
media. So, it is true to say that the 'Institutional Values' of, say, Disney,
are reflected in a number of different media companies that they own (e.g.
Marvel Studios, the Discovery Channel), which can therefore be grouped together
and considered as part of the same institution (the Disney Corporation).
Basically, understanding institution is about
understanding who produces media texts, what their set of codes and values is and
their relationship to us as individuals.
Global
Corporations
Here are the URLS which will help you track the
activities of the global media corporations. Some of them are very open about
the links between their operating sectors. Some are not. Check out the
investors information they provide in order to get a clear picture of exactly
how huge a slice of the global media these companies own.
US organisation, Free Press, keeps track of the 'Big Six'
ownership patterns in this handy
chart.
For an independent viewpoint of their activities, and a
comprehensive roundup of news stories regarding global conglomerates, try Corpwatch,
AdBusters
or Source Watch. As a media student, you should
understand the complexities of the cross-ownership debate: keep your eyes on
those news stories and follow the latest developments. These stories affect you
and the news you have access to.
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