Media Hegemonies: Who Owns What?

Hearst Corporation is a very prominent media corporation and is located in one of the busiest cities in the world, New York City. This corporation is very diverse with interests such as newspaper and magazine publishing, business publishing, television and radio broadcasting, cable networks and internet business.

Hearst owns over 15 newspapers that are delivered to people all over the United States on a daily basis. This company owns close to 20 US magazines and creates nearly 200 international editions of these magazines (Hearst Corporation). Some magazine titles include Cosmopolitan, CosmoGIRL, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and O, The Oprah Magazine. Their broadcasting sector includes 29 television stations in different states across the country, and two radio stations. Some of their major television channels include ESPN, A&E, Lifetime and Cosmopolitan TV (Columbia Journalism Review). This corporation also owns Sirius/XM radio. Their business media ownerships include 20 business-to-business information services and electronic databases (Hearst Corporation).

There are a number of implications that can arise out of cross media ownership. One of these implications is that a number of the company’s sectors could publish/air the same information in order shine a positive light on the company. Because the information is coming from just one source, the information is likely bias. Although this may contribute to the success of the company, this can make for inaccurate news. This issue is touched on in Toxic Sludge is Good for You. On page 89 of the book there is a quotation stating “he can make a strategically planned program look like a spontaneous explosion of community support” (Stauber and Rampton). This is what media corporations do by putting a news story/advertisement/PR segment in one of their publications or on one of their broadcast station. They then continue to support the story using their other media ownerships. They create a hegemony: an influence or control over a group of people.

Works Cited
Columbia Journalism Review. 25 October 2008. 2 November 2009 .
Hearst Corporation. 2009. 5 November 2009 .
Stauber, John and Sheldon Rampton. Toxic Sludge is Good for You. Monroe: Common Courage Press, 1995.