Media and Culture Industry Ownership in Canada

The State Of Media and Culture Industry Ownership in Canada

Introduction

Radio, film, television and all other products of the media culture make available the materials, out of which we build our selfhood sense, identities, conception related to genders of what it meant to be a female or male, sense of ours related to class, race and ethnicity, of sexuality and nationality. The stories of media provide us such symbols, resources and myths with the help of which a common culture is constituted. In recent years, the consumer markets for all kinds of news media are dramatically fragmented.

The media sector of Canada is well-developed, but specifically in the English television shows, film and magazines the cultural output of Canada is often overlooked because of imports from United States. In Canada, there are government owned broadcasters that are responsible for operating the Radio and T.V networks in French and English. The common examples related to electronic and print media that Canadian society use comprises of radio, film, television, newspaper, magazines, printed books and the internet. The model of mass media that is applicable in Canada is different from that of United States and other countries.

The firms of Canadian media are more powerful, and they grew larger because of protection and strong financial support by the Canadian state. Such protections made Canadians fortunate enough, and in this country there is an extensive tradition of excellence in journalism. The Canadians are proud of its news media's overall quality. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms section 2 in Canada, not only assure the freedom of expression, the freedom of communication and other press media are also guaranteed by this Charter.

Discussion

Mass Media

Mass media refers to any kind of technology or means that is use to communicate a message specifically to the larger audiences or groups of people (dictionary.reference.com). It is a term which is divided into two broad categories as; the print mass media and the electronic mass media. Famous type of mass media includes billboards, newspapers, magazines, wall posters, television, radio, film and internet. The images of media help us to shape our views about the world and all our deepest values that we consider as moral or evil, good or bad, positive or negative. According to the scholars of media, over the past three decades the industries of media have radically changed having four fundamental dimensions including:

Growth

Media corporations got bigger than ever through all the acquisitions, mergers and buyouts.

Horizontal And Vertical Integration

There is horizontal and vertical integration in the new media giants. They move into multiple forms of media like, radio, television, film and publishing integrated horizontally. Owning different distribution and production stages or at times both, new media giants take vertical moves.

Globalization

By marketing wares worldwide, prominent media conglomerates become global entities to the extent of varying degrees.

Ownership Concentration

The media ownership has become more concentrated because the key players of media acquire more holdings of media (Dines & Humez, 2011).

Culture

The term mass media is complex, and ...