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CHANNEL DIVERSITY
Convergence
"The Technologies of Freedom" by Ithiel de Sola Poole (1983)
"convergence between historically separated modes of communication...electronic
technologies are bringing all modes of communication into one grand
system."
The Meanings
of Convergence
- Corporate - ownership of multiple content and/or distribution channels
- Tactical - cross promotion and content sharing
- Structural - sharing of staff, expansion of staff roles into multimedia
producers for multiple distribution channels
- Information gathering - "backpack journalist", reporter who gathers
text, audio, photos and/or video
- Story-telling - use of multiple mediums to tell stories in best possible
format
Corporate Convergence: Who
owns what?
| |
National TV |
Local TV |
Newspaper |
Other |
| GE |
NBC,MSNBC, CNBC |
13 |
|
|
| Disney |
ABC, ESPN |
10 |
|
|
| Viacom |
CBS |
21 |
|
MTV, Nickalodeon |
| News Corp |
Fox |
33 |
NYPost |
32 foreign newspapers |
| WashingtonPost Co. |
|
9 |
7 companies (w/ multiple papers) |
8 magazines (e.g., Newsweek) |
| Gannett |
|
20 |
100 (e.g., USAToday) |
armed services news, foreign newspapers |
| Tribune Co. |
3 cable stations |
23 |
14 (Chicago Tribune, LA Times) |
DigitalCity, Excite.com |
| Knight Ridder |
|
|
53 |
news wire service |
| Hearst |
|
16 |
20 |
|
| NYTimes Co. |
|
8 |
25 |
|
| AOL |
CNN -headline news, fn, interactive, radio, airport, Spanish, et |
|
|
Digital - CompuServ, Netscape, MapQuest, TheKnot, Digital City,
Amazon.com
Cable
- Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, WarnerBrothers,
HBO, Cinemax
TimeWarner – Time (magazine, life books, etc) |
The FCC is
considering de-regulation of broadcase media ownership that would allow
more media consolidation than already exists.
Tactical Convergence
MSNBC - WashingtonPost - Newsweek (share content)
ABC - newsvideo subscription included in AOL subscription
Structural Convergence
Tampa Bay - WFLA-TV (NBC affiliate), Tampa Tribune, TBO.com (preeminent
example of converged newsroom) Result -
it's the same information where ever you go... The two most popular sites, CNN.com and MSNBC.com, are generally the
fastest to cover breaking news and are the most likely to offer a version
different from the wire versions. However, “many online news sites
are mere repositories for the print edition…With few exceptions,
the race among the most-read online news sites has turned into a competition
to see which site can post wire copy the fastest.”
<<
Amy
Langfield, Online Journalism Review, “Net News Lethargy” >>
Broadcast TV websites primarily re-purposing their TV content for the
web,
<< S.M. Chan-Olmstead
and J.S. Park, “From On-Air
to Online World: Examining the Content and Structures of Broadcast
TV Stations’ Web
Sites,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(2)(summer
2000), 321-339. >>
Increased channel diversity and two way flow of information
(interactivity) does not seem to be a reality, at least not yet.
Will this improve...will we eventually have increased diversity of communication
rather than homogeneity?
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