CRCC hosts ‘How Media Ownership Matters’

The Centre for Research in Communication and Culture was very happy to host a talk by Dr Timothy Neff (University of Leicester) this week on How Media Ownership Matters. The event was held at Loughborough University (Brockington Building, B111) on Wednesday 5 February 2025.

At the talk, Dr Neff gave an overview of his co-authored book How Media Ownership Matters (Benson et al., forthcoming), which will be out later this year from Oxford University Press. Dr Vaclav Stetka, who chaired the event, then offered some opening reflections on the book, which were followed up by a discussion with the author and a Q&A period with the audience.

Offering “a major advance of our understanding of media ownership and how it matters”, the book starts from a question that seems to have taken on renewed importance in recent years:

Does it matter who owns and funds the media? As journalists and management consultants set off in search of new business models, there’s a pressing need to understand the new economic underpinnings of journalism and its role in democratic societies.

How Media Ownership Matters provides a fresh approach to understanding news media power, moving beyond the typical emphasis on market concentration or media moguls. Through a comparative analysis of the US, Sweden, and France, as well as interviews of news executives and editors and an original collection of industry data, this book maps and analyzes four ownership models: market, private, civil society, and public. Highlighting the effects of organizational logics, funding, and target audiences on the content of news, the authors identify both the strengths and weaknesses various forms of ownership have in facilitating journalism that meets the democratic ideals of reasoned, critical, and inclusive public debate. Ultimately, How Media Ownership Matters provides a roadmap to understanding how variable forms of ownership are shaping the future of journalism and democracy.

The Centre would like to thank Dr Neff for his insightful talk – and we look forward to the release of what we are sure will become a classic study of media ownership for many years to come.