Where is control over the mass media located?: The case studies: Argentina and Great Britain

Abstract

The effects of the media, global media, media conglomerates, media and culture, media and democracy, media audiences, media and society, media dependency, media and identity, media and racism, media and gender; and then there is media and politics, and the politics of the media, regulated media, and the regulation of the media… There are so many essays, books, titles published and so many research studies done in relation to the media and all the interrelations that the media establishes with other social, economical, political spheres on a macro global level and in daily life. Such clear evidence of widespread interest in the study of the media seems to suggest that researchers, academics, students and professionals alike take at least one thing for granted: the media has power. According to Murdock (1994), the media “play[s] a pivotal role in shaping social consciousness, and it is this special relationship between economic and cultural power that has made the issue of their control a continuing focus of academic and political concern” (118). Hence, the social, political, cultural and economical interactions that take place within the media play an outstanding role in the social construction. That is great power, indeed. Who controls it? And, where is that control located?