Newspaper Proprietor Research Articles

Visions of the Press in Britain, 1850-1950 (review)

Reviewed by: Visions of the Press in Britain, 1850–1950 Joel H. Wiener Visions of the Press in Britain, 1850–1950. Mark Hampton . Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004. Pp. ix + 218. $35.00 (cloth). Visions of the Press in Britain makes a significant addition to the historiography of media studies and establishes its author as a major scholar in the field. Hampton has written an intellectual and cultural history of the British press, a "think piece" which sets out to place this crucial period of British journalism in a broad social and analytical context. At the same time, he insures the relevance of the book to the current debate about the press by touching upon issues such as privacy, the effects of advertising, press consolidation, and the role and impact of public opinion. Hampton relies primarily on the press writings of "elite" thinkers, a choice that is in my judgment a little too limited. But he argues his thesis with considerable panache and subtlety. He maintains that during the mid-nineteenth century, the heyday of Victorian journalism, an optimistic, educational ideal of the press prevailed. This drew upon the writings of John Stuart Mill and other liberals who urged free expression and a diversity of opinions in the belief that in this way truth would have the best opportunity to rise to the top. Such a rational interchange of ideas offered the opportunity to enlighten the working classes and prepare them for self-government. At its best this ideal validated the influence of quality newspapers like The Times, in whose pages parliamentary and financial news predominated along with well-written leaders. By the 1880s the very nature of journalism had begun to shift dramatically and according to Hampton a representative theory of the press slowly and fitfully replaced the educational one. During the years following the 1880s the circulation of newspapers greatly increased and news coverage was extended to many areas of popular choice including sports, gossip, and crime. Subjects thought to be of particular interest to women readers were featured on special pages and press agencies provided synopses of events. This New Journalism (as it came to be known in Britain) was dependent upon advertising and heavy capitalization and drew significantly upon American models, characterized by an emphasis on speed and human interest. Hampton contends that the representative ideal of these decades, which extended broadly to the 1920s, was rooted in an organic pessimism and that the essential difference from earlier journalism was that readers were now spoken for, or "represented," rather than encouraged to make authentic [End Page 768] choices for themselves. This was the famous model of a "Fourth Estate" of the realm in which, in its most extreme version, the press was conceived as a substitute for parliament. Hampton demonstrates in a highly sophisticated way that by the middle of the twentieth century both strands of media theory had been melded into a third view of the press which essentially represented the interests of the great proprietors, such as Lords Rothermere and Beaverbrook. This ideal, which was not as clearly enunciated as its predecessors, justified itself on libertarian grounds and fought vigorously both against state control of newspapers and critics on the left like Harold Laski who attacked the undue concentration of wealth and power in newspaper ownership. In his final chapter, Hampton focuses on the Royal Commission on the Press (1947–49) and shows how evolving views of journalism, paralleling a century of unprecedented economic and social transformation, created a modern perception of the press that, for the most part, has tended to become overwhelmingly negative. Yet he makes clear that both defenders and critics of this contemporary journalism, with its tabloid excesses and heavy focus on light matter and "celebrity journalism," need to understand the antecedents of the current debate if they are to participate intelligently in it. Hampton's book does not make significant use of the newspapers themselves. But this is not necessarily a weakness, for he draws effectively upon the views of scores of journalists, proprietors, and others connected with the press, and incorporates numerous references from novels, caricatures, and, when dealing with the 1930s, from the valuable...

Broadcast Research in the Americas: Revisiting the Past and Looking to the Future

Canada, Latin America, and the United States have assumed great international significance in the past few decades as borders wither, goods and people move more freely around the globe, and finance takes on a more integrated and powerful role in global marketplaces. Trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), transnational production ventures such as those springing up in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Miami, and heavily traded regional markets in Latin America, for products such as telenovelas, to some degree advance trends that are likely to grow with little incentive to arrest development. The long experience of almost all the nations in the Americas with various modifications on commercial broadcasting also reveals trends that may be coming elsewhere. In this respect, the United States has been the leader in developing this pattern in both North and South America. Until recently, Canada resisted the trend to prioritize the commercial approach to electronic media. It should be noted that Canada is under no obligation to open its cultural markets to NAFTA. The Canadian government regards broadcasting as a cultural industry (Bird, 1988). Nonetheless, Canadian media are strongly supported by advertising, which has long been a significant force in industrializing nations like Brazil and Mexico and to a degree in smaller, heavily challenged cultures and states like Bolivia and Haiti. Another fascinating precedent is the burgeoning U.S. Hispanic market, which represents both a settled large minority and a mobile diasporic population of recent migrants. In spite of its growing economic and cultural importance, the Hispanic culture and Hispanic language are not treated as equals to Anglo-Saxon and African American cultures and communities. Its extended history, its size, and its affluence may give some indication where other minority or migrant and scattered audiences in other American nations are headed, and particularly how they relate to the cultural industries and broadcasters in both their cultures of origin and the culture that now holds them. Will they willingly abandon their respective heritage symbols to join the unilingual U.S. market? Will they react as others have done before them and retreat to the protection of culturally defined communities? Will they emerge as a multilayered audience attending to both? In this respect, Canada has greatly outdistanced the United States in dealing with similar kinds of factors. Globalization, Transnationalism, and Regionalism Latin America and North America are interesting to other regions around the globe because they are advance harbingers of many trends associated with current market-driven or capital-driven globalization. All of the Americas, with the partial exception of Canada, have been primarily focused on commercial broadcasting since the early 20th century, due in part to the major economic influence of the United States and its models for commercial media (Janus, 1977; Schwoch, 1990). At the time, many Latin American countries saw these relations as top-heavy economic entities that in turn resulted in a cultural dependency on the United States (Cardoso, 1970). However, they can also see them as early developments in what is now called globalization. That is particularly true of economic globalization and cultural globalization. Here the Canadian experience is a notable exception and to many degrees it remains that way. The first decade in Canadian broadcasting development was as haphazard and confusing as anything produced in the United States (Nolan, 1989). In essence, all licenses granted by the federal Department of Marine and Fisheries were intended for private development. Heavy restrictions were placed on the commercial use of broadcasting almost from the beginning, although the regulations did not hamper the curious and the adventuresome (Vipond, 1992, 2000). The broadcasting scene in Canada in the 1920s was populated by speculators, newspaper owners, churches, a large Toronto-based distillery, a Montreal electronics manufacturer and shortwave broadcaster, a couple of universities, and any one of a number of people wanting to test the waters. …

Arabic in the Service of Regeneration of Jews

The first periodical publications carrying news written by and for Arabs appeared during the first part of the 19th century. The major developments in the field of non-governmental Arabic press occurred, however, only during the second half of that century. That was also the time when Jews started to take an active part in founding, editing, and writing for Arabic newspapers, periodicals, and professional journals in various parts of the Arab world. First it included newspapers and periodicals in Judeo – Arabic dialects and only later in standard Arabic language. The main centres of journalistic activity by Jews in the Arab world were Baghdad, Cairo, Beirut, Alexandria, Damascus and Tunis. Newspapers founded by Jews were mostly ephemeral, however, there were also periodicals that prospered for decades. There was a connection between the involvement of Arab Jews in canonical Arab culture and the development of the Arabic – Jewish press and journalism: wherever Jews tried to integrate politically, socially and culturally into society (Iraq, to a lesser extent in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria) there were always active Jewish owners of Arabic newspapers and periodicals as well as editors and journalists writing in standard literary Arabic. But wherever Jews showed no significant interest in the canonical Arabic cultural activities of their society (e.g. North Africa), only periodicals in Judeo – Arabic dialects written in Hebrew letters are to be found (in addition to newspapers in other languages). Jewish newspapers published in both Judeo – Arabic dialects and standard Arabic had generally one main aim in common: promoting modernisation of Jewish life in Arab societies and encouraging Jews to become acquainted with the achievements of Western civilisation. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there has been a sharp decline in Arabic journalism by Jews; in fact we are currently witnessing the demise of Arab – Jewish culture. A tradition that started more than fifteen hundred years ago is vanishing before our eyes.

Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence

Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence, Walter C. Soderlund and Kai Hildebrandt, Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta, 2005, pp. 194.This timely book contributes to ongoing debates in Canada about media ownership. The opening chapters summarize government responses to concentrated media ownership since the 1970s and survey some academic studies on the issue. The study's carefully compiled data on the influence of changes in ownership on content poses a strong challenge to those who see media moguls as using the media to pursue their own ideological and corporate agendas. Journalistic values, organizational realities and the relentless challenge of new technologies severely constrain such action, claim Soderlund, Hildebrandt and two others who contribute to this volume, Ron Wagenberg and Walt Romanow. Perhaps the best chapters in the book are those dealing with the creation by CanWest, one of Canada's largest media organizations, of its ill-fated National Editorial Policy and the dismissal of Ottawa Citizen publisher Russell Mills.

Late Capitalism and the United States in The Apple Cart

In his biography of Bernard Shaw, Michael Holroyd makes noteworthy claim about Shaw's relationship with United States. Assessing disjointed, antagonistic speech Shaw made to Academy of Political Science in New York in 1933, Holroyd claims that Shaw's ringing warfare against United States sounds like an echo from within his disunited self . . . mak[ing] his objection heard to feted progress of G.B.S. around world. Was not spell of money on G.B.S. an American spell; his trick of overstatement 'an American trick; his gift for monologue, an American gift,' as Blanche Patch was to suggest?1 Shaw's public bashing of United States reached its sardonic height in newsreel he recorded in 1931. In A Little Talk on America, Shaw calls Americans dear old boobs and America a most awful country, even as he claims immense popularity with American readers.2 He appears, as Holroyd notes, at his most child-devilish encircled by immense lights like furnaces welcoming Americans into hell.3 That Shaw mocks from position he imagines he shares with his audience lends support to claim that author suffered internal divisions. It also reminds us of Shaw's savvy about media environment in which he operated. Shaw's relationship to film industry further illustrates this position. In 1933 he visited Hollywood and pronounced it the most immoral place in world.4 At same time, he actively sought ways to make money through industry and to increase his fame. Shaw even stayed with William Randolph Hearst, who, though primarily newspaper owner, represented many of excesses of new media Shaw enjoyed mocking. His theatrics were clearly intended to goad his American audience, but in each case they were performed on platforms associated with United States well-paid American lecture circuit, press, and budding film industry. During these public appearances Shaw inhabited paradoxical critical posture: on one hand, he denounced his hosts and audience

THE BRITISH POPULAR PRESS AND VENEREAL DISEASE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

This article examines the role of the British popular press in the campaign against venereal diseases during the Second World War. Concern about the rapidly rising incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea prompted the Ministry of Health to ask the press to carry a series of informative advertisements about VD, but the Newspaper Proprietors' Association refused to publish them until they had been made less explicit. A major controversy erupted in Fleet Street as the two most popular dailies, the Mirror and the Express, took opposing views about the suitability of ‘family newspapers’ educating the public about sexual health. While the Express refused to print even the edited VD advertisements, the Mirror broke away from the popular press's tradition of evasiveness on this issue and discussed the problem in unusual detail. The Mirror's bold approach won widespread public support, with investigations by Mass-Observation and the Wartime Social Survey finding that information about VD was, in general, gratefully received by a public hungry for more knowledge about sex. Although many editors continued to treat the subject very cautiously, the article argues that the campaigns run by the Mirror and the Ministry of Health marked an important moment in the public discussion of sex and encouraged the belief that all citizens should be sexually informed.

Canadian newspaper ownership in the era of convergence: rediscovering social responsibility

Harry Stallworthy's Life of Adventure A Young Mountie and Prosecutor From the Chocolate Trade to Chesterfield Inlet From a Near-Death Experience to Jasper' Stony Rapids, 1928-30 Bache Peninsula Searching for Kruger, 1932 Moving to Craig Harbour Marriage and Honeymoon The Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition 1934-1935 North to Lake Hazen, Spring 1935 Southern Mountie Timberlane Index.

Parliamentary rhetoric, enlightenment and the politics of secrecy: the printers’ crisis of March 1771

The 1770s witnessed an attempt by Parliament to control how it was represented in the press: questions of parliamentary reporting and parliamentary privilege quickly became a national political crisis. Key political figures such as Edmund Burke, John Wilkes, George Onslow and the Marquis of Rockingham were involved with printers and booksellers such as John Almon, Robert Wheble and Henry Woodfall. The British Enlightenment was effectively interrupted, and its fault lines highlighted, as politicians clashed with the book trade—and with newspaper and periodical proprietors in particular.

The consequences of fear.

Our modern world is a risky place and evokes many well-founded fears. But these fears themselves create a new risk for our health and well-being that needs to be addressed

Consumer Techonolgy Update

SO MUCH interesting technology news has been released in the last few months that it is difficult to decide just what to write about. Examples of these big news stories involve digital TV, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, location-based cell phones, and a major security flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Since this news affects nearly everyone, it seems appropriate to discuss some of it in detail. Over the summer, the Federal Communications Commission's deadline for all nonpublic television stations to broadcast digital TV (DTV) passed. However, according to Bruce Johnson, writing in DV-Digital Video magazine, only 27% of all stations are actually able to broadcast a DTV signal, and only 15% are licensed to do so.1 Of the 1,688 licensed TV stations in the US, only 256 can currently broadcast DTV. Apparently, hundreds of small- market stations just can't afford the million-dollar-plus price tag to upgrade all the necessary equipment. (So much for the effectiveness of government edicts.) More discouraging news from the same magazine. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, it is projected that, by the year 2006, only 20% of all TVs in the U.S. will be able to receive and show DTV. (This 20% figure is probably higher than it looks, since some households have more than one TV.) Why should you care about DTV? There are two reasons. First, the difference between broadcast television and DTV is roughly the equivalent of moving from videotape to DVD, especially in the area of sound quality. Second, if you purchase a new TV in the next few years, you will be faced with the decision of buying a plain television (TV), a DTV display, a DTV display with a DTV tuner, or some combination thereof. This situation warrants further explanation. Today there are four main types of television sets on the market. The old standard TV -- the set we all know -- is the one with the 4:3 aspect ratio (nearly square). The second type is what Johnson labels the Scam, a 4:3 DTV display with no DTV tuner. If you buy this set, you will need an external tuner (expensive), and you will not have the required 16:9 aspect ratio (wide screen) of DTV. The third type of set Johnson labels the eunuch, a 16:9 DTV display without a DTV tuner. This is probably the set most salespeople will try to sell you, but anything other than specially prepared DVDs will not take full advantage of the wide-screen format. The fourth type of set is a true 16:9 DTV display with a DTV tuner. True DTV sets like this one are hard to find in most stores, and they are expensive. Just imagine the massive amount of consumer confusion this whole mess causes! You may not have noticed, but due largely to deregulation, your local TV station may well be in trouble. In Johnson's words, I think the writing is on the wall for local television in the United States: it's doomed to a future of central-cast programming with no local flavor. Here's how deregulation over the last 20 years or so has brought us to this undesirable future. Again quoting Johnson, Up until the early '80s, the limit on ownership for any company was seven TV stations, seven AM radio stations, and seven FM ratio stations. In addition, there were limits on cross ownership. For example, a company that owned a TV station in a market couldn't own a cable system in the same market, and newspaper owners were generally not allowed to own broadcast properties in the same city. This all began to change when Ronald Reagan and his band of deregulators had the FCC change from 7-7-7 into 12-12-12, and that was only the beginning. The Communications Act of 1996 removed almost all meaningful restrictions on radio station ownership: in fact two companies own 70% of all radio stations in the United States. The caps on TV ownership now stand at 35% coverage of the United States. In other words, a company can own as many TV stations as it wants, so long as the size of all markets do not add up to more than 35% of the U. …

How Ownership, Competition Affect Papers' Financial Performance

Iver the decades, media scholars and public policy makers have observed with trepidation the intensified acquisition of U.S. daily newspapers by public corporations. They fear these corporations are sacrificing public interest and reader welfare to pursue financial incomes.1 In 1993, Blankenburg and Ozanich,2 using data from 1986 to 1989, found that the degree of public ownership in terms of inside control or voting stock held by company managers, affected the financial performance of news corporations. They suggested a positive association between public ownership and financial management pressure. Blankenburg and Ozanich tested five hypotheses and concluded that publicly traded newspapers had more short-term financial aims, concentrating more on gaining a higher return on equity and earnings predictability than did privately run newspapers. Three years later, Lacy and associates,3 using data from 1990 to 1993, basically supported the initial study.4 Lacy and associates5 also concluded that public ownership and newspaper competition influenced news corporations' financial performance. The recovering economy may have caused the market-driven newspaper industry to shift its business strategy to public ownership, enabling a greater investment in order to compete in the long term. Our study re-examines the potential effects of public ownership and competition on newspaper operations. This research is important because it explores the effects of increased mergers, acquisitions and newspaper ownership clustering since Lacy et al.'s earlier study. Another study should provide a clearer understanding of media economics and related public policies dealing with public ownership, market competition and market performance. Brief Background Media scholars6 have investigated public newspaper ownership influence on newspaper performance. Conclusions about newspaper corporations' attitudes toward organization profits and newspaper quality are mixed across different types of ownership-- public vs. private. Daily newspaper competition, while examined less than newspaper ownership, has received considerable attention from scholars. For instance, Litman and Bridges'7 financial commitment theory served as the thread of many studies on newspaper performance. Method The present study followed the same method used by Lacy and associates: The researchers ran a multiple regression on eight performance variables for each newspaper (See Table 1).8 Eleven newspaper groups, reported in the Value Line Rating and Reports from 1994 to 1997, were used. The newspapers chosen met previous criteria: The groups had headquarters in the United States, had yearly revenues over $100 million, obtained more than half their incomes from newspapers and were highly traded. As in previous studies, public ownership was conceptualized and operationalized as a continuous variable measured as the percentage of inside control, which the Value Line data provided as the percentage of voting stock controlled by managers and initial owners. The average operating margin is the percentage of revenue after expenses are deducted. Cash flow is the earnings deducted from depreciation; average cash-flow margin equals cash flow as a percentage of revenue. Return on equity is earnings per share divided by equity per share, and earnings predictability is a Value Line index that calculates how well a company fulfills market analysis expectations. The plowback ratio is the ratio of retained earnings to common equity. The percentage of revenues used for expense is the percent of income used to operate, and the percentage of market with competition, found in the Standard Rate and Data Services Circulation, is the newspaper's percentage of market penetration. Finally, a competitive market is defined as any market that has an additional daily newspaper or has an additional daily with more than five percent of penetration.9 Findings The average percentage of inside control for newspaper groups over the years had dropped from 61. …

Convergence: An investment perspective

Convergence is a very exciting model and one that holds, unforeseen opportunities. However in the current economic environment, the investment community is hesitant to recommend that communications companies devote many resources in that area. The convergence mode must prove that it can generate revenue and profits. Yet, it is limited to an advertising-supported model—a part of the communications industry that has struggled during the past, year due to the recession. The increased advertising revenue that would be generated by the convergence model is tainted—most likely taking advertising share away from the traditional media segments that are supporting the model. Tied to the convergence model is a high dependency on the Internet. Internet advertising is not local. In addition, financial data clearly illustrates that the Internet has caused profit margins to decrease substantially, something that the traditional media company supporting the convergence model can not allow to happen. Finally, FCC deregulation with regards to television station cap restrictions, cable system operators owning broadcasters in the same market, and cross ownership of newspapers and television stations in the same market, will most likely have a negative impact on the convergence model.

Who controls the editorial content at corporate news organizations? An empirical test of the managerial revolution hypothesis

Corporate news organizations are often accused of placing more emphasis on profits than on information diversity and other non‐profit goals considered crucial for creating or maintaining a political democracy. These charges contradict the managerial revolution hypothesis, which expects that as power shifts from the owners to the professional managers and technocrats, a corporate organization should place less emphasis on profits and more emphasis on non‐profit goals. This study reviews the literature on the managerial revolution hypothesis and empirically tests hypotheses related to the control question. The data generally support the managerial revolution thesis: newspaper owners (proprietors and stockholders) and publishers have less control over editorial content the more “corporatized” the newspaper. This shift in power, if true, has major implications for theories of democracy and information diversity.

What kinds of more mean better? Continuous scholarisation or lifelong learning

I write from an institution which has been concerned for 175 years with the education of adults. The Mechanics Institutes, of which Birkbeck was an early member, were set up in the early part of the nineteenth century to provide educational opportunities for working people. They flourished greatly, with tens of thousands attending hundreds of these institutions by the mid 1850s. Arguably -- indeed, Roderick Floud has argued precisely this in one of Birkbeck's recent Millennium lectures -- the education system then, small as it was in its post-primary sector, had more claims than today's to be one that fostered lifelong learning, in the sense of one that enabled significant numbers of adults to participate. `Significant' here is a crucially relative term, comparing the respective populations in initial and continuing education. Today, with ever-increasing numbers staying on at school and university, a coherent conception of lifelong learning remains one which distributes learning opportunities sensibly over the lifecourse, benefiting different groups at different moments. Such historical perspectives undermine notions of inevitability. Things do not have to go on happening the way they do. Earlier, the challenge may have been primarily to the more static areas of our life, so that such a perspective lent positive power to the forces of change. The closed circle did not have to continue to turn. Today, change is always with us, and needs no propulsion; the challenge is to its direction. The purpose of this brief paper is to question the assumed inevitable prolongation of the initial phase of education, and especially the commitment to including more and more young people in higher education. With only mild exaggeration one could say that the Mechanics have largely given way to mass institutionalisation of our youth; must this continue? Expansion of what? I had better be clear. I am in favour of expansion of educational opportunity, and of a larger and more diverse system of tertiary education. I do not wish to see a return to the socially and fiscally regressive arrangements which characterised mid-twentieth century higher education. But the drive for linear expansion and social inclusion has generated incoherences. These are disguised on the one hand by a widespread, well-meaning but underscrutinised assumption that all expansion promotes equity, because more people are brought into the system, and on the other by the incentives, even compulsions, for institutions to expand if they are to survive -- a kind of educational version of the inherent tendencies which Marx espied in capitalism. If we had the courage to believe that a system can be lifelong, and that therefore if young people do not progress directly to higher education from school their life chances are not ruined, imagine what would follow. Basta to the absurd pictures of school-leavers weeping on each others' shoulders, for joy or sorrow, at their A-level results as if they were now irrevocably defined as sheep or goats. Cut the clearing-house advertising budgets, which enrich the newspaper owners and, possibly but doubtfully, help the universities concerned to balance the books, but do little for those scooped up (or for the others in the pool into which they are scooped). Instead, let more young people go to learn outside the system, and let them return when they want to learn. Dramatically improve student commitment, and therefore learning achievement. And recognise -- for the whole population, not just youth -- the value of forms of learning other than those embodied in universities, good or not so good. This government has done much to help those who wish to return to learning. The list of specific initiatives and broader policies here has flaws and wrinkles, but there has been serious commitment to enabling adults to take part in formal and informal education. Moreover, one minor but symbolically hugely important step has been the conversion of the `relevant age group' from 18-21 to up to 30, so that age participation rates are now calculated very differently. …

“I told you so”: Newspaper Ownership in Canada and the Kent Commission Twenty Years Later

I told you so was part of Tom Kent's reply when asked recently about the state of the industry in Canada (Cobb 1996b, A1). Kent, Chairperson of the 1980 Royal Commission on Newspapers, might be forgiven his expression of self-satisfaction. Deprecated and dismissed when the Commission's report first appeared, Kent and his report are now being cited for their prescient analysis. Shelved as either dangerous or impracticable, the Commission's recommendations are now being seriously debated. This paper aims to explain this renewed interest in the Kent Commission. Background The Royal Commission on Newspapers, popularly known as the Kent Commission, was created in 1980 in response to allegations of collusion following the same-day closings of the Thomson-owned Ottawa Journal and the Southam-owned Winnipeg Tribune. These closings left each company--Southam in Ottawa and Thomson in Winnipeg--with monopolies in their respective cities. The closings were followed by expressions of public concern over concentration in Canada and worries that the fourth estate was not fulfilling its democratic function. The Commission's mandate was to explore these concerns and make recommendations for improvement. At the time of the Kent Commission, these two chains, Thomson and Southam, were dominant. Together, they accounted for 77 percent of the 117 dailies in Canada. Significantly, this proportion was up from 58 percent just ten years previously when the first government inquiry on newspapers had been established under Senator Keith Davey. In 1980 Thomson owned the largest number of Canadian newspapers. As well as publishing the Globe and Mail, Canada's only national at the time, Thomson owned forty other dailies. The Southam chain, on the other hand, had the largest total daily circulation, capturing 32.8 percent of the English Canadian newspaper-buying public (Canada, Royal Commission 1981, Chapter 1). The Kent Commission was generally critical of Canada's business, confirming the fears that instigated the Commission. Kent reserved his harshest criticism, however, for the Thomson chain. While praising Thomson for maintaining the quality of the Globe and Mail, the Commission saw the Thomson-controlled smaller dailies as epitomizing the worst aspects of corporate ownership in the print media. The Kent Commission argued that Thomson was squeezing the quality from most of its newspapers in exchange for higher profits. As well, the Thomson conglomerate owned large assets outside the business. Kent argued that Thomson ran its newspapers much the way it operated its other businesses--profit was its dominant goal. By contrast, Southam (then owned by the Southam family) was focussed primarily on newspapers, and quality was not necessarily sacrificed to profit. As Kent put it, Southam still had a newspaper conscience: They spend, on the contents of their newspapers, many millions of dollars a year that are by the simple criterion of the bottom line, entirely wasted (Kent 1982). A paper bought out by Thomson, on the other hand, inevitably becomes a little thinner and the share of advertising increases as a percentage of the newspaper's total space (Kent 1982). Cost-cutting measures are frequently introduced, especially with regard to editorial and news space. These cost-cutting measures occur in an already highly profitable industry, Kent argued. The Thomson conglomerate was (and is) owned by Ken Thomson. But the philosophy behind Thomson newspapers seems to have come from Roy Thomson, Ken's father and founder of the Thomson empire. Roy Thomson famously said that owning television stations and daily newspapers in Canada is like owning money-making machines--only with ownership, unlike television, one doesn't need a license (Siegel 1996, 123). Focusing on ownership, the Kent Commission predicted conglomerate ownership would increase in the 1980s and 1990s. …

George Cadbury's Contribution to Sport

George Cadbury lived from 1839-1922. With his brother Richard he is best known for the development of his family business which moved under the brothers’ leadership from Bull St. to Bournville. He was also a teacher, a politician, a newspaper proprietor and the founder of the Bournville Village Trust. In fact he was “a national figure” 1 I shall show that throughout his life he was a very keen sportsman and that he had a lot of influence both in the sporting ethos of the Cadbury Firm and in the flowering of sport at Bournville, Rowheath and the Lickeys. His love of sport was within the context of his Christian discipleship and Quaker beliefs. He was once asked by a journalist “What are the two most influential books in your life”? and George replied Thomas a Kempis “The Imitation of Christ” and William Law “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life”. “He loved games for themselves, but he loved them still more as a physical training necessary to keep one fit for the real business of life” 2 . In addition to his participation in cricket, golf, football and swimming “he remained a lifelong devotee of outdoor pursuits like walking, cycling and riding” 3 . There are three parts to George Cadbury’s contribution to sport. Firstly there is his own play. Secondly there is what he did for sport in providing sports facilities for the Cadbury company’s employees and his own participation in this. Thirdly there is what may loosely be described as the sporting legacy left by him and his brother Richard. Firstly let’s consider his own play. George’s enthusiasm for sport and games came from his home. “His childhood was spent in a loving and deeply religious, but somewhat Spartan atmosphere...A carriage was considered too luxurious, however two ponies were kept for the boys to ride, but they had to look after them entirely themselves” 4 .

The Economics of Monomedia and Cross-Media Expansion: A Study of the Case Favouring Deregulation of TV and Newspaper Ownership in the U.K.

Since the early 1990s, regulators across the globehave faced increasing pressure from media firms toliberalise domestic media and cross-media ownershiprestrictions. Based on empirical research carried outin the U.K., this paper examines the ``economic'' case putforward in favour of deregulation. Findings suggestthat, although factors other than size will affectperformance, there is generally a strong and positivecorrelation between the market share and the operatingprofitability of firms involved in either televisionor radio broadcasting or newspaperpublishing. But, with regard to cross-media ownershipof television and newspapers, there is nocompelling evidence that diagonal integration bringsabout inherent synergies, economies of scope or othereconomic benefits. Thus, whereas a variety ofeconomic efficiency gains may be available to justifya relaxation of restrictions over monomedia expansion,few such benefits can be found in support ofderegulating cross-ownership of television andnewspapers.

Discourse Ethics and the Regulation of Media: The Case of the U.S. Newspaper

This article draws on Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics work to build a case for the regulation of U.S. media, with particular attention to the newspaper. The authors focus on two facets of Habermas's theory: they draw on his distinction between the system and the lifeworld to illustrate the need to protect sites for democratic discourse, and outline his idea of the ideal speech situation as a tool for critique. Against this dual-level theoretical backdrop they investigate the conceptions and practices that structure the U.S. newspaper, and take a closer look at the relationship between market metaphors of media operation and the conditions for free expression. Finally, the article analyzes how the potential for public deliberation is affected by three consequences of U.S. newspapers' market orientation: (1) the central role of advertising support, (2) the concentration of newspaper ownership, and (3) the professionalization of journalism.

The Italian-Language Press, Italian American Voters, and Political Intermediation in Pennsylvania in the Interwar Years

Scholars have long acknowledged that the foreign language press could make a significant contribution to the shaping of the political experience of nationality groups in the United States before World War II. Yet, by focusing on five Italian-American newspapers published in Pennsylvania, this article argues that subservience to fascism, short sighted opportunism, the deference to political patrons who were not members of the Italian-American communities, and the necessity of making a living through periodicals with a small circulation generally prevented the editors and owners of Italian-language newspapers from being effective political brokers within their ethnic communities.

New Technology and the Workers’ Response: Microelectronics, Labour, and Society ed. by Amiya Kumar Bagchi and Ranabir Samaddar

358 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE New Technology and the Workers’ Response: Microelectronics, Labour, and Society. Edited by Amiya Kumar Bagchi and Ranabir Samaddar. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1995. Pp. 367; tables, notes, index. $39.95 (hardcover). For developing countries trying to chart a course through the con­ fusing waters of global competition, new technologies present dis­ tressing challenges as well as promising opportunities. Through the 1980s, for example, Marxist scholars warned darkly of the micropro­ cessor’s potential to reduce employment by permanently displacing skilled workers; yet, at the same time, others argued that this same technology could enable third world countries to skip the entire in­ dustrial phase of development, leapfrogging directly to the postin­ dustrial stage. To sort out the pluses and minuses, the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta invited Indian and foreign scholars to share their perspectives on the economic and social im­ pact of microelectronics-based technologies in a variety of business and social settings. This volume stems from that 1991 conference. The papers collected here explore both sides of the theme. Some examine the impact of microelectronics technology in Indian work­ places, while others examine the possibility that India and other de­ veloping countries might profitably import the “flexible specializa­ tion” approach developed in the “Asian miracle” economies. In flexible specialization, firms use advanced microelectronics-based communications and manufacturing technology to create clusters of cooperating firms. Two overriding questions emerge: Is micro­ electronics technology truly a threat to employment in a less-devel­ oped country such as India? Could India benefit by attempting to replicate flexible specialization? The volume’s conclusions are nicely captured by Bagchi, who notes in the introductory essay that microelectronics technology is “neither the panacea that some of the purveyors of the technology or their propagandists would claim; nor is it, in itself, a threat to the working or living conditions of the workers” (p. 22). Laurids S. Lauridsen (“New Technologies, Flexibilization, and Changing Capi­ tal-Labour Relations”) explains why: “The relationship between technology and human labour—between technological change and labour relations—is contingent” (p. 178). The outcome can be af­ fected by the social and political intentions of managers and engi­ neers, as well as by how workers respond, adapt, organize, and try to affect the outcomes of technological change. To understand what happens in any particular instance of technological innovation in the workplace, Lauridsen argues, one must examine how new tech­ nologies interact with labor control at the level of production, with labor market characteristics, and with the changing bargaining power of labor. Microelectronics technology can be used to create worker loyalty, cement good relationships among cooperating firms, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 359 and create the conditions for rapid economic growth. On the flip side, a callous management can use this same technology to beat down wages and casualize labor. These conclusions will not surprise historians of technology, who have learned not only to react skepti­ cally to technological determinism but also to recognize the large role that contingency plays when people, society, and technologies interact. In India, the confrontation between technology and labor has been noisiest in the newspaper industry, one ofthe first to computer­ ize. The role of contingency is quite apparent. Radha D’Souza’s pa­ per on the introduction of microelectronics technology in the Bom­ bay newspaper industry paints a picture more in line with Marxist predictions: newspaper owners would take advantage ofworker lock­ outs and strikes to sneak microelectronics-based technology into the workplace; unions failed to address the issues posed by this technol­ ogy, focusing instead on wages. As the implications of the new tech­ nology revealed themselves in work reassignments and forced retire­ ments, workers lost faith in the unions and refused to accept the settlements, leading to a series of nasty battles—an “unnecessarily costly affair,” in D’Souza’s depiction. But Ranabir Samaddar’s paper shows that there is another way. In south India, when management quickly realized that the new technology could be used to improve layout and increase circulation instead of beating down wages, it worked out a win-win pact with the unions. Microelectronics technology is not necessarily a villain, and...