Unit 2 lab
- 1. Structure of a media sector Media sectors such as publishing, press, film, tv, radio and advertising, are typically structured into departments that all co-operate collectively to help the business run, there is a hierarchy is creative sectors so there will be a finance division so budgets and sales margins can be worked out which then helps the creative division who designs or creates all the products or edits the film, also the marketing division who decide where and how the product gets released to a specific researched audience. Then there also manager roles within these sectors who make creative and finance decisions depending on the role, e.g. a director in Film and TV, or a producer, or even a head of editing in publishing. Public service media Public Service Media is broadcasting, financed and controlled by the public, their goal typically is to inform and educate. PSM broadcasters are often established by law but are non-partisan, independent and run for the benefit of society as a whole, in the uk an example of a PSM broadcaster would be the BBC which is funded by the British government and is the default and main channel for across the UK. Commercial media Commercial media or broadcasting is the opposite to public service media where it is privatised and typically owned by a company or person, who makes money from the channel from advertisers, they also overlap with “cable” television which is very big in the USA where it is funded by subscriptions from audiences. An example of a commercial broadcaster would be a major channel like ITV. Independent Media Independent media is any media, such as television, newspapers or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. It may also be known as alternative media but basically independent media distinguish themselves from mainstream media, which could be channels such as ITV or BBC, and have complete control of their censorship, alternative/independent media suggest that PMS or Commercial media hold a bias towards government and such so independent media strides itself on unbiasedness Vertical Integration Vertical Integration is when a Company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution, it helps companies reduce costs and improve efficiency by decreasing transportation expenses and reducing turnaround time. However, sometimes it is more effective for a company to rely on the expertise and economies of scale of other vendors rather than be vertically integrated. A real life example would be that 20th Century Fox owns the studios in Hollywood, they also own the cinemas, the TV channels and the DVD rental shops. They own parts of chain so that they can make money from every part of it.
- 2. Horizontal Integration Horizontal Integration is a Company’s Ownership of several businesses of the same value. A Media Company can own a Magazine, Radio, Newspaper, Television. Almost all Media companies have horizontal integration. It helps to create more money and makes the company more popular among readers. Also, not all media readers prefer reading magazines. The more technology literate people will read the magazine online, so horizontal integration helps to reach a wider audience. Cross Media Cross media is when content such as, music, pictures, and video, etc. Are distributed across different mediums, the combinations can vary but most frequently the ones used are; television, newspaper/magazines, and social media’s/online. Cross media is implemented for media campaigns to reach a broader audience. Multiplatform media Multiplatform Media is a strategic approach where media companies are focused on making or putting together products and services with a view towards delivery and distribution of that content on not just one but across multiple platforms. A multi-platform approach means that new ideas for content are considered in a wide range of possibilities e.g. online, mobile, interactive games etc. and not just a single delivery platform such as print or linear television Multinational Media Multinational media is a company that owns and distributes content into multiple countries, an example of this would be, Liberty Global which operates between the US/Netherlands and the UK, it owns Lionsgate filmand television in the US, then All3Media and ITV plc in the UK and lastly, Ziggo TV in the Netherlands. This is also an Example of Horizontal integration because this company focuses on Film and Television exclusively. Career Opportunities In A Media Sector The sector I chose to focus on and break down was the publishing industry. In the uk, the publishing industry produces a variety of publications, including magazines, books, newspapers, and directories. It also produces greeting cards, data bases, calendars, and other published material, excluding software. Newspapers employ the largest number of workers in the publishing industry, in the uk alone, The UK publishing industry has a turnover of £6 billion, with export income accounting for almost 60% and directly employs 29,000 people in the UK and supports more than 70,000 jobs. The major UK publishing houses are diverse in retrospect, the biggest publishing house; Penguin Random House, works with many household-name authors – Lee Child, Ian McEwan and Jojo Moyes, and has roughly a 25% share of the UK’s book market and a sales value of about £400m according to Book Scan. Originally called penguin publishing up until 2013, when it made a deal with Random House (an American publishing firm), to merge together to create a multinational conglomerate company which then went on to profit and invest in digital publishing- making it one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. It then went on to
- 3. join and be a conglomerate company after it was acquired by Bertlesmann- a German Private Media Conglomerate, in 2020, primarily working in the service and education sectors. However apart from these mass media groups there is also companies like Faber & Faber, which is an independent London-based multinational publishing house who distribute their books to the UK and US, and have published the works of T.S Elliot, Ted Hughes, and Sylvia Plath. Faber is also apart of a larger company known as Faber Independent Alliance that work with US/UK independent publishing houses to help compete with conglomerate companies like Penguin Random House, they have partnered with independent book companies such as Atlantic Books, Portabello Books and Profile books plus many others. Collectively they have a £57 million sales value, a 3.3% share in the UK’s book market and are in the top 10 biggest publishing houses within the UK. These examples present the diversity in business especially when it comes to publishing by the many iterations and regulations publishing houses take on, by mergers, takeovers, their individual franchises and licenses. Within this industry there are many roles and career opportunities that make up structures in the publishing sector, at the top of publishing is Management/Administration which runs the company and oversees a lot of the work, The Publisher who is the foreman of the company – the owner of the publishing house. This person regulates all the transactions at an executive level including the recruitment of employees, firing, fixing wages, and including significant decisions for the company. All employees, staff, etc. work under his supervision. Then there are the editing team who manage the publishing of a book, there is the editor in chief who is in the position under the Publisher and is considered as the person spearheading the editing team. He is responsible for the control of the main production content and has a crucial role in budget decisions and under him is the editors department this is part of the managing editorial team that is responsible for editing, and copyediting manuscripts and other publishing documents, as well as providing alternatives for writers. The editors play a significant role in finalising books. Then there are the creative structures within the publishing industry, with the two main departments being the production department and the art department. The Art Department focuses on book cover designs, both interior texts, and exteriors. They design, but the sales and marketing departments make the approval of the covers. The managing editorial department head regulates the designs, in some cases, the department will also commission artists externally to design special covers and this is when illustrators or animators get brought in to design something out of their teams skill sets. The production Department is responsible for the physical production of the book that includes the physical materials composing the book. Physical entities such as the method of bookbinding, paper stock, the trimming size, page signatures, page count, and so on. It is a vital role as the production scale costings of the books will have an effect on the editor’s profit-and-loss statements Apart from these departments who have a key role in the books creation there is also the technical structure and distribution structure. When it comes to the technicality of these books, they need a literary agent who makes sure this is the employee who is responsible for helping the publication of literature and oversees the payment process to the writer of the books. Their job as agents is to follow up and pursue the contracts of unpublished
- 4. authors. A legal team for licensing and any copyright problems, and proof readers to make sure the book is ready for distribution. The final part of the book process is the distribution department who are mainly composed of the marketing team are responsible for creating the right marketing strategies for the publishing house. Their work includes coming up with promotions and advertisements. Aswell as this there is also a fraction of the finance team who mock up and predict the sales fromthe book, but mostly the finance team are there for the full process of the book distributing budgets for the departments under the supervision and permission of the publisher themselves. Ethical Issues for Employees in the publishing sector Representations of groups, religions and individuals Within the publishing sector the editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. When nominating potential editorial board members, the editor shall take account of the need for appropriate, inclusive and diverse representation. The editorial policies of the journal should encourage transparency and complete, honest reporting, and the editor should ensure that peer reviewers and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. There are also many social expectations to meet when it comes to publishing, there is a demand of diversity from audiences and in the publishing houses best interest, it is key to meet this demand by publishing a diverse set of literature whether that be from Queer, BIPOC, Neurodivergent, Religious writers, etc Accessibility Books and newspapers are accessible to most people, as they only require sight, however for some blind people some books are not published in Braille due to recourses however there are some publishers that exclusively print in Braille to make it accessible to everyone Use of language The use of language is a divisive topic in publishing, in a politically correct world, an editor must decide what not to include and what to include to best appeal to an audience, but there they must also maintain a fine line between staying true to the original manuscript and censorship, which goes against the author. It depends on the context and nature of the publication and an editor must decide wether an audience will receive it well or not. Codes of conduct Ethical oversight - should include, but is not limited to, policies on consent to publication, publication on vulnerable populations, ethical conduct of research using animals, ethical conduct of research using human subjects, handling confidential data and ethical business/marketing practices
- 5. Conflicts of interests - There must be clear definitions of conflicts of interest and processes for handling conflicts of interest of authors, reviewers, editors, journals and publishers, whether identified before or after publication Complaints and Appeals - Journals should have a clearly described process for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher Authorship and contributor-ship - Clear policies (that allow for transparency around who contributed to the work and in what capacity) should be in place for requirements for authorship and contributorship as well as processes for managing potential disputes Legal Issues for Employees in the publishing sector A set of challenges publishers comes across is the shifting boundaries of the laws of privacy, publicity, and libel. Publishers can be sued for publishing false and defamatory statements and, sometimes, even just embarrassing private facts about individuals and in our highly litigious age, more references to individuals, living or deceased bring claims of defamation, breach of privacy, or violation of publicity rights. Primarily, these issues face publishers of nonfiction. Publishers have to be extremely careful about what content they produce as there are many laws in place that protect people from any kind of defamation, whereas that be hate speech that creates harmful stereotypes or opinions about groups of individuals based on their ethnicity, culture, sexuality, religion etc. this spreading of lies could lead people to commit crimes. Book publishers are creators, acquirers, and managers – owners and users of intellectual property rights. They possess certain rights in the books they produce and sell, and they hold other rights on behalf of third parties. Their business involves exploiting the rights of others, just as they equally seek to defend and protect what is theirs and what they have been entrusted to defend. Publishers therefore have a professional interest in exploiting these rights to the best advantage of their authors as well as themselves. They are then obliged to treat the rights of others with respect. This is a moral obligation, which is equivalent to their legal responsibilities. There is also a responsibility to society, for intellectual property rights are central to the promotion of cultural advancement and the flow of knowledge and information. The most valuable assets of most book publishers are the copyrighted contents of their books. It is copyright law, that provides the framework that enables publishers to control content, which in turn enables them to make money by selling books and licensing subsidiary rights, such as serial, book club, foreign translation, adaptation (e.g., into drama, film, television, and multimedia), and merchandising (e.g., calendars, toys, and lunchboxes). A key legal challenge for publishers is to learn how to understand, and avoid infringing copyrights. In the uk copyright automatically applies to any work you have made, therefore as a publisher it is important to draft a fair contract with the representative to then distribute and sell that work. In the uk law it states If you’re self-employed, you usually own
- 6. the intellectual property even if your work was commissioned by someone else - unless your contract with them gives them the rights. A related issue concerns individuals’ rights of privacy. Privacy is usually more of a challenge to publishers of newspapers and magazines, in which up-to-the-minute reporting may propel the disclosure of facts that should not be made public, including medical, financial, or other highly personal information. But really all publishers of nonfiction must be wary of disclosing personal information of a sensitive or embarrassing nature. In the UK, Privacy law is based on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which states that: ‘Everyone has a right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence’ therefore if something is published that goes against said law the defendant could take legal action. You can only publish defamatory material if it comes within one of the recognised legal defences. If it doesn’t, the publication will amount to libel and you may have to pay substantial damages. The most important point is to make absolutely sure that what you are printing is true. Do not produce claims or accusations that you as a publisher or editor cannot prove. Proving things in court can be very difficult and the test of what the words mean is what a reasonable reader is likely to take as their natural and ordinary meaning, in their full context – what you intended as the publisher is irrelevant. If you write something that cannot be substantiated, the credibility of your site, organisation or cause may be questioned. It can also land you with an expensive lawsuit and there is no legal aid for libel cases. In the uk libel law protects individuals or organisations from unwarranted, mistaken or untruthful attacks on their reputation. A person is libelled if a publication; Exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt, Causes them to be shunned or avoided, Generally lowers them in the eyes of society, Discredits them in their trade, business or profession