Regulatory Issues

What is the definition of monopoly?

A monopoly is where a single company or group have a hold over the majority of a specific market. This causes an absence of competition which results in the smaller companies having an unfair chance to be successful. An example of this is: ‘Rupert Murdoch’s hold over the world’s press and media. He owns the majority of the world’s media industry that there aren’t enough opportunities for other companies.’ Monopoly increases the income of a company, meaning that the company can afford to invest in things that they need that will help benefit the business more. Some companies have better and newer products than others due to their high profit margin. Companies that have a monopoly don’t tend to invest in to other businesses leaving a detrimental effect on the market.

Why is it important to ensure that no single media producer in the UK has a monopoly?

It is important to uphold a variety of producers that own different aspects of the media industry. This is because if one producer has control over the complete media sector then they gain monopoly. Having one producer owning a monopoly could be harmful to the media industry, this is due to the fact that one company will have complete control over the sector giving other companies or producers an unfair chance.

Why is consumer choice important?

Consumer choice means giving the customers of your selling product the right of choice of how they purchase and use that product. An example of this is: ‘Apple, they initially manufactured music devices. But through the use of vertical integration they now create many types of other similar products. These are ranging from mobile phones to tablets and TVs. This gives their consumers more choice range from them to buy from.

What is the definition of censorship?

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication, which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body.

China’s Censorship:

Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching a wide audience including television, print media, radio, film, theatre, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature and the Internet.

Political Censorship: Censorship is mostly seen as a measure to keep the rule of the Communist Party of China. Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist, separatist, ‘counter-revolutionary’ or religious ideas from spreading around.

Moral Censorship: This type of censorship is mainly used to help with the prevention of political conflicts from occurring within the social background. For example: people are allowed to talk about politics on the Internet, but China blocks certain websites enclosing anti-government material. China also has large restrictions on pornography, extreme pornography and violence in films.

Cultural Censorship: The PRC (Peoples Republic of China) has factually required the use of censorship to ‘protect the country’s culture’.  Religious works and symbols are believed intolerant and are set for destruction. China also has a ban on foreign cartoon from the Chinese prime time TV.

Religious Censorship: A huge amount of religious texts, publication and materials are banned or limited in the PRC. Foreign citizens are forbidden from preaching in China, and information regarding the action of some religious groups is tightly controlled.

 Why do some people think there is a fine line between censorship and protecting the public interest?

 Without censorship many harmful and offensive advertisements could be published to the views of the public. This could provoke illegal activities depending on the situation of the advertisement. Obscene advertisements could be issued in magazines which would have a negative effect on the public, most commonly on the younger generation of the public.

 Examples:

The Prada advert featured a 14 year old actor in a potentially life-threatening situation. This was banned by the ASA as it was irresponsible as it shown a child looking upset sitting in an unsafe location. This was said to be innapropiate as it could encourage a young person in the same state to copy off the advert.

Why should under-18s be subject to particular consideration by regulators? 

There are many exceptions for under 18s to the rules that are set in place by regulatory bodies. This is because there is many rules within media regarding under 18s that have to be abided by. If a person is under the age of 18 they will not be classes as an adult so therefor they need to be protected under many acts that have been put in place to keep them safe. In regards to censorship, minors can not be portrayed negatively in advertisements, if they are this can lead to discrimination. For example alcohol advertisments are not aimed at minors this is so that they are not encouraged to drink, also car advertisements are also aimed at more older people who are legal to drive this is so that it does not give young people an idea to drive illegally.