Abstract

The new global media

The realm of media is on the brink of a profound transformation in the nineties. Whereas previously media systems were primarily national, in the past few years a global commercial-media market has emerged. Together, the deregulation of media ownership, the privatization of television in lucrative European and Asian markets, arid new communications technologies have made it possible for media giants to establish powerful distribution and production networks within and among nations. But as in the United States, at a global level this is a highly concentrated industry. A few global corporations are horizontally integrated; that is. they control a significant slice of specific media sectors, like book publishing, which has undergone extensive consolidation in the late nineties. INSET: Global media moguls.